Welcome to the Liberty Insider.
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This is a program
as always designed
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to make you think a
little bit more deeply
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about religious liberty
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and perhaps understand
some of the developments
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taking place around us in
the US and around the world.
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My name is Lincoln Steed,
editor of Liberty magazine.
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And I have no
guests on this program
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as I usually do,
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but I want to share
some things with you.
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For a Seventh-day Adventist,
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religious liberty in some ways
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really kicked
off in the early days
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in the late 1880s,
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with a national
move toward a Sunday law.
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And Seventh-day Adventists
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who had been
studying prophecy in effect
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that's how the group formed
after the Millerite Movement
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because of an expectation
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through prophecy of
the Lord's imminent return.
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Millerites got the date wrong,
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but it was the
correct in time awareness.
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And Seventh-day
Adventists aware of prophecy
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believed that
their reading Revelation
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that there would be a
conflict over loyalty to God
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and they saw the Sabbath worship
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on God's day is
the key issue at hand.
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And I think
there's increasing evidence
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that that is
likely to be the way
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even in the
United States we will go.
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And in 1888, this
national Sunday law movement
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galvanized
Seventh-day Adventists
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with an expectation of
an imminent time of trouble.
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And the final
reckoning with the forces
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that were
against worshiping God.
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Let me just show
you a few sentences
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from the National
Sunday rest bill proposal
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that came before Congress.
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It says, be it an,
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this is Senate Bill number 2983,
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introduced in the first
session of the 50th Congress
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by Senator H. W.
Blair, May 21, 1888.
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And it says, be it an,
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a bill rather to
secure to the people
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the enjoyment of the
first day of the week,
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commonly known
as the Lord's Day,
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as a day of rest,
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and to promote its observance
as a day of religious worship.
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And it's pretty unambiguous,
that's the Sunday law.
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And it says be it enacted,
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that no person or
corporation or the agent,
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servant or employee of
any personal corporation
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shall perform or
authorized to be performed
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any secular
work, labor or business
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to the disturbance of
others works of necessity,
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mercy and humanity accepted,
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nor shall any
person engaged in any play,
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game or amusement or recreation
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to the disturbance of others
on the first day of the week."
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This is shades of the
Taliban and their kite flying.
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Nothing on the
first day of the week,
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commonly known as the Lord's Day
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or during any part
thereof in any territory,
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district, vessel,
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or place subject to
the exclusive jurisdiction
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of the United States.
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Nor shall it be lawful
for any person or corporation
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to receive pay
for labor or service
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performed or rendered in
violation of the section.
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That's a Sunday law
with unambiguously religious
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shut down, go to church.
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Thankfully, it was restricted.
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But again, this is the
talisman that we carry forward
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that will be the unique sign
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of an opposition
to God's principles
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because even though
worship on the Lord's Day,
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it happens to
be the seventh day,
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Saturday Sabbath.
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Worship on the
Lord's Day is something good
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but to compel by
civil law is wrong.
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And I often tell
people that compulsion,
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if there's a compulsion in it,
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you know that it's
not religious liberty.
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Even to compel
people do a good thing
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against their conscience
and the used force is wrong.
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God didn't do it to
Adam and Eve in Eden,
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and He will never do it.
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Not too long ago,
actually five years ago,
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the Pope of Rome came
and spoke to the US Congress,
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was well received
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by a formally
dominantly Protestant society,
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find to be respectful for him,
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but you know, he was
lauded as a great leader
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and things that Protestants
would never have said directly.
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And he spoke well enough,
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but behind his
speech was a document
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called Laudato si'.
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Praise be to Thee.
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And I've spoken on
this program in detail
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about that document.
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It's an environmental document
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that says our
survival as a people depend on
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or as a human race depend
on saving the environment.
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And then he goes further
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and says that
part of that saving
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is to recognize the
rhythms inscribed in nature.
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And it says along those lines
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worship on the
seventh day Sabbath,
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but later he
applies it to Sunday.
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So it's quite obvious
that from a point of Rome,
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which is a
political religious power,
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worship on the seventh,
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on the Sabbath day is
vital and will be encouraged,
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and in other
documents that implies enforced.
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I came back from
hearing that speech.
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We had a meeting with our board.
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And I was sort
of full of the topic
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and a couple of the
lawyers they weren't named
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because they're being
used illustratively here
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to damn them.
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They sort of mocked me
and they said, "Big deal.
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He's not
bringing the Sunday law."
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And I said, "Well, I didn't say
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that the pope is
bringing the Sunday law."
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And Great Controversy
does not say that directly.
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It's that Rome has
been advancing Sunday law
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for most of its history,
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and often persecuting
those who didn't keep it
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and we are told and
believe that at the end of time
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a resurgent Rome will increase
that push which they've done.
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And that finally,
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once Protestant
society and the free,
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religiously free
society in the United States
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will pick up that cajole
and enforce Sunday worship.
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And I said, "You haven't read
Great Controversy, have you?"
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They didn't answer me.
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And I do believe
that, unfortunately,
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even within the
Seventh-day Adventist Church,
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many have not adequately
read Great Controversy
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after not having
adequately read the Bible.
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I want to share a few
pages from Great Controversy
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on this general
topic of the Sunday worship
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and the role of
the United States.
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It's from the
chapter, God's law immutable.
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And it says this,
and so please indulge me,
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but this may be
a way that we all,
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I review it and you hear
it perhaps for the first time.
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It says, "The
importance of the Sabbath
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as a memorial of creation
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is that it keeps ever
present the true reason
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why worship is due to God,
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because He is the Creator
and we are His creatures."
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The Sabbath therefore,
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and this is a
quote from J. N. Andrews,
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History of the Sabbath.
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"The Sabbath therefore lies
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at the very
foundation of divine worship,
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for it teaches this great truth
in the most impressive manner
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and no other
institution does this.
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The true ground
of divine worship,
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not of that on the
seventh day merely,
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but of all worship is
found in the distinction
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between the
Creator and His creatures.
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This great fact can
never become obsolete
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and must never be forgotten.
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It was to keep this truth
ever before the minds of men
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that God instituted
the Sabbath in Eden."
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And the pope dodged that a bit
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because he said it
was given to the Jews,
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but it was given to
mankind at creation.
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And he continues to say that,
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"Had the Sabbath
been universally kept,
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man's thoughts and affections
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would have been
led to the Creator
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as the object of
reverence and worship,
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and they would never
have been an idolater,
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an atheist or an infidel.
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The keeping of the Sabbath
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is a sign of
loyalty to the true God."
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And I think that's just logical.
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And, of course,
prophecy points to this.
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And it says in contrast,
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"To those who keep
the commandments of God
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and have the faith of Jesus."
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"The third
angel of Revelation 14
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points to another class
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against whose errors are solemn
and fearful warning is uttered:
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If any man worship
the beast and his image,
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and receive his mark in
his forehead or in his hand,
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the same shall drink of the wine
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of the wrath of God."
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That's Revelation 14.
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So who are the
beast and the image?
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It says, "The line of prophecy
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in which these symbols are found
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begins with
Revelation 12 with the dragon
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who sought to
destroy Christ at His birth.
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The dragon is said to be Satan."
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That's in Revelation 12:9.
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"He it was that moved upon Herod
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to put the Savior to death.
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But the chief agent of Satan
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in making war upon
Christ and His people
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during the first
centuries of the Christian era
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was the Roman Empire,
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in which the paganism
was the prevailing religion.
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Thus, while the dragon
primarily present Satan,
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it is as a secondary,
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in a secondary sense
the symbol of pagan Rome."
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No question on that.
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Historians
universally know and acknowledge
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that pagan Rome
persecuted early Christianity.
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It says in
Chapter 13 of Revelation
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described another
beast like unto a leopard,
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to which the dragon
gave his power and his seat
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and great authority.
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This symbol as most
Protestants have believed
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represents the papacy.
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And the papacy is a political
and religious combination
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by its own testimonies.
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It's not disputed.
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It says, "Which
succeeded to the power and seat
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and authority once held
by the ancient Roman Empire.
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Of the leopardlike
beast it is declared
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there was given unto him
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a mouth speaking great
things and blasphemies.
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And he opened his mouth
in blasphemy against God
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to blaspheme his
name, and His tabernacle,
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and them that dwell in heaven.
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And it was given unto him
to make war with the saints,
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and to overcome them
and power was given him
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over all kindred
and tongues and nations.
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This prophecy
says great controversy,
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which is nearly
identical with the description
00:10:32.39\00:10:34.26
of the little horn of Daniel 7."
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Another prophetic
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looking forward
to persecuting power,
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unquestionably
points to the papacy.
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And, you know, we
don't want to attack unduly
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another religious
force in this world.
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So we're primarily talking
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about the
historical role of papacy
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played in medieval
persecutions and the claims
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that it made then someone
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of which it carries
forward to this present day
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even in a more quiescent form.
00:11:01.49\00:11:04.23
And it says,
"Power was given unto him
00:11:04.26\00:11:07.03
to continue 40 and 2 months.
00:11:07.06\00:11:09.50
And says the prophet,
00:11:09.53\00:11:10.87
'I saw one of his heads
as it were wounded to death.'
00:11:10.90\00:11:13.13
And again, he that
leadeth into captivity
00:11:13.17\00:11:15.74
shall go into captivity.'"
00:11:15.77\00:11:18.57
Years ago, I
was reading a letter
00:11:18.61\00:11:20.08
between Thomas
Jefferson and President,
00:11:20.11\00:11:23.28
Ex-president
Adams in their old age,
00:11:23.31\00:11:26.15
and they both wondered
00:11:26.18\00:11:27.52
whether Christianity
would survive in America.
00:11:27.55\00:11:30.29
Jefferson thought not.
00:11:30.32\00:11:32.75
Adam said, "Yes, it'll survive."
00:11:32.79\00:11:34.62
But he says "First,
00:11:34.66\00:11:35.99
that Hindu capitalistic system
known as Roman Catholicism
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must die."
00:11:39.76\00:11:41.10
That's what
aggressive Protestantism
00:11:41.13\00:11:43.90
thought in his day.
00:11:43.93\00:11:45.27
That's how they
describe the papacy and he says,
00:11:45.30\00:11:48.54
but first, he says that present,
00:11:48.57\00:11:51.31
it has a mortal wound.
00:11:51.34\00:11:53.54
He understood this prophecy.
00:11:53.58\00:11:56.98
Napoleon Bonaparte
had taken the pope captive
00:11:57.01\00:12:01.92
and destroyed its secular
power or the pope secular power.
00:12:01.95\00:12:06.12
And he says that
present has a mortal wound
00:12:06.15\00:12:08.22
but such is its strength
00:12:08.26\00:12:09.59
that it may take 200
years more for it to fail.
00:12:09.62\00:12:13.53
We're 200 years down and,
of course, it's resurgent.
00:12:13.56\00:12:16.56
But there's a danger
in the persecutory power
00:12:16.60\00:12:20.20
that's inherent in
these absolutist claims
00:12:20.24\00:12:23.61
that Rome falling on,
00:12:23.64\00:12:25.71
Roman Catholic Church
following on from Rome
00:12:25.74\00:12:28.01
had made.
00:12:28.04\00:12:29.94
And it says, at this point,
another symbol is introduced,
00:12:29.98\00:12:34.98
says the prophet,
00:12:35.02\00:12:36.35
"I beheld another beast
coming up from the earth
00:12:36.38\00:12:38.19
and he had two
horns like a lamb.
00:12:38.22\00:12:40.06
Both the
appearance of this beast
00:12:40.09\00:12:41.56
and the manner of its rise
00:12:41.59\00:12:42.92
indicate that the
nation that is represented
00:12:42.96\00:12:45.23
is unlike those in
the preceding symbols."
00:12:45.26\00:12:49.13
And it says,
00:12:49.16\00:12:51.60
"The beast with
the lamblike horns
00:12:51.63\00:12:53.34
was seen coming
out of the earth.
00:12:53.37\00:12:55.54
Instead of
overthrowing other powers,
00:12:55.57\00:12:57.54
this nation
arises from territory
00:12:57.57\00:13:00.21
previously unoccupied."
00:13:00.24\00:13:01.58
Well, unoccupied
in a European sense,
00:13:01.61\00:13:04.08
but still a new land.
00:13:04.11\00:13:06.41
And it says, "It
could not then arise
00:13:06.45\00:13:08.05
among the crowded
00:13:08.08\00:13:09.42
and struggling
nationalities of the old world.
00:13:09.45\00:13:11.95
It must be in the
western continent.
00:13:11.99\00:13:13.99
This is what nation?
00:13:14.02\00:13:16.12
This is the, the
rhetorical question
00:13:16.16\00:13:20.60
asked in Great Controversy.
00:13:20.63\00:13:22.13
What nation of the new world
00:13:22.16\00:13:24.63
was in 1798 arising into power,
00:13:24.67\00:13:29.20
giving promise of
strength and greatness
00:13:29.24\00:13:31.07
and attracting the
attention of the world?
00:13:31.11\00:13:33.27
The application of the
symbol admits of no question,
00:13:33.31\00:13:36.04
one nation and one only meets
00:13:36.08\00:13:38.61
the
specification of this prophecy.
00:13:38.65\00:13:40.62
It points unmistakeably
00:13:40.65\00:13:43.42
to the United States of America.
00:13:43.45\00:13:47.26
It's an interesting point,
00:13:47.29\00:13:48.62
and we're going to
take a break in a moment,
00:13:48.66\00:13:51.43
but I'll bring it
to the point, it says,
00:13:51.46\00:13:52.83
he had two horns like a lamb,
00:13:52.86\00:13:56.50
lamblike, seemingly
specific, but it says,
00:13:56.53\00:13:59.50
"The lamblike
horns indicate youth,
00:13:59.53\00:14:01.34
innocence and
gentleness, fitly representing
00:14:01.37\00:14:03.87
the character of
the United States
00:14:03.91\00:14:06.24
when represented to the
prophet is coming up in 1798."
00:14:06.27\00:14:11.41
But later, it found,
00:14:11.45\00:14:13.18
it's found to be
aggressive and dominant.
00:14:13.21\00:14:15.75
And it says, these
horns figuratively can be seen
00:14:15.78\00:14:19.12
as the two characteristics
of the United States,
00:14:19.15\00:14:21.86
Republicanism, which
is power from the people
00:14:21.89\00:14:25.09
and Protestantism,
fundamental characteristics.
00:14:25.13\00:14:29.70
And I found it very significant
00:14:29.73\00:14:31.13
in a recent
presidential election.
00:14:31.17\00:14:32.83
Senator Santorum,
a fine and upstanding
00:14:32.87\00:14:35.54
and deeply dedicated
Roman Catholic candidate said
00:14:35.57\00:14:40.18
in a shocking commentary
00:14:40.21\00:14:42.34
that was picked up
by media everywhere.
00:14:42.38\00:14:44.08
He says, "Protestantism
is absent in America today."
00:14:44.11\00:14:48.02
Let's take a
break and I'll come back
00:14:48.05\00:14:49.45
and continue and conclude
00:14:49.48\00:14:51.15
this important
segment of the book,
00:14:51.19\00:14:54.06
Great
Controversy by Ellen G. White
00:14:54.09\00:14:56.16
written 120 some years ago.
00:14:56.19\00:14:58.86