Isaiah 28:8 This world has nothing to offer

Nothing satisfies! nothing... not car not houses,not the land that I have. nothing. Just to know that am in the favour of my Lord and king is more precious to me than anything the earth has to offer. I am tired, I long for Home. I long for my Saviour Jesus.I am tired of this body of death. This sinful mortal clay. I am tired. I am fed up. I want us to finish this work and go home in a blaze of glory. This place is fill with filth, nothing is clean, it is full of vomit according to Isaiah 28:8.
Isaiah 28:8 For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean .
You may think royalblood is having a bad day. Am not. all is well good salary ,good job ,good family house and land,good vehicle but am fed up of this Earth. With what I have seen in Christ, all that is before me in this world appear to be dull and dark and dirty.

Birth pains of the earth are coming faster and increasing in frequnecy

The signs of Christ's coming are fast fulfilling. Satan sees that he has but a short time in which to work, and he has set his agencies to work to stir up the elements of the world, that men may be deceived, deluded, and kept occupied and entranced until the day of probation shall be ended and the door of mercy be forever shut.

Source :Councel to Student Parent and Teachers page 414
By Ellen G White.

Some conspiracy theories messured againts the Bible truth.

There are a lot of information flying around the world at this time concerning events that are to supposedly come.For years now conspiracy theorists have been publishing material that suggest draconian agendas ahead.

Well does the Bible give any insights ? Lets examine a few popular ones theories.

New World Order/One World Government.

Is this true? Does the Bible give any clues?

Revelation 17:12

12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. Dow compare this with Daniel 11:42.

So we see Ten Horns = Ten kings(world leaders).
They have one mind= a confederacy, a union.
They give power and strength to the beast= One power (one authority).
The whore sitteth on waters,which is represented as peoples, nations,tongues. (that is self explanatory).Bible symbols may help decipher further.

This to me sounds like a few ruling many.

Control of World Economics by one group or entity.

Again lets see if the Bible leaves any clues where this is concern.
Revelation 13:11-17.

11. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
12. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
13. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
14. And deceiveth 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.
15. And 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.
16. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17. 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.

One has to have global control of world finances to cause rich and poor not to by or sell except you have a mark;be it ID, chip, bar-code, smart card whatever .The point is this, a clue is given to suggest global control of commerce and economics. Wait a minute ,there is more!

Daniel 11:43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.

Well the first part "control over the treasures " is straightforward.
But who are the Libyans who do they represent?

Strong concordance gives some additional information on this ,click here.

The Libyans or Lubims as they were called seem to be an afflicted nation, a dry and arid land.
Is this the poor nations represented here ? This sounds like 3rd world countries.

And the Ethiopians ? This one should be easy.
The Ethiopians when you do a Bible search ,you always seem to have wealth on their end.

Acts 8:27 And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,

2Chronicles 16:8 Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen? yet, because thou didst rely on the LORD, he delivered them into thine hand.
Ethiopians seem to suggest nations of wealth ,what we know today as First World Nations.

But what is interesting is that in the scripture of Daniel 11:43. It includes Egypt,which represents the worldly or specifically the whole world.

What does His steps mean? .. have you ever seen soldiers marching. They march in step, in unison ,in agreement with one another. This suggest that what ever happens to the end. All the world will be in agreement of this one power being in control,rich,poor and inbetween. The only way for the world to given to such totalitarian rule is if we have a global financial catastrophe,( a global economic meltdown). James 5:1,2,3,4,5,6,7 talks about such an problem close to the end of the earth's history.
So the conspiracy theorist may be on to something when the talk about a global economic control.

Joining of church and state/ State control religion ?

Some people think freedom to worship will be an issue in this New Order of things.
Hmm lets examine some scripture again.

Daniel 11:45. And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.

Now what is a tabernacle? lets consult an on-line dictionary.

Dictionary.com says:

1.	any place or house of worship, esp. one designed for a large congregation.

2.	(often initial capital letter) the portable sanctuary in use by the Israelites from the time of their wandering in the wilderness after the Exodus from Egypt to the building of the Temple in Jerusalem by Solomon. Ex. 25–27

What is a Palace? lets consult an on-line dictionary again.
Dictionary.com says:

1.	the official residence of a king, queen, bishop, or other sovereign or exalted personage.

2.	a large and stately mansion or building.

we see that :
Tabernacle = Religious /church
Palace = political or state building

Now this is clear to me that some entity would be seeking to control government and worship at the same time. Not one or the other, but both simultaneously. There is only one nation/church/state in the world at this time. It resides in the Vatican ,the place known as the city on seven hills. Is that so ? This is interesting read Revelation 17:9. it says : And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the *woman sitteth.

*Note in Bible a woman represents a church.

• pure woman= pure bride,pure church.
• impure woman =impure church, a harlot decked in gold.

Does Revelation give any clues on this church state entity?

Rev 16 :13 talks about 3 unifying to fulfilled the agenda of one name Babylon.
Revelation 16:13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

False prophet= Religious the beast= political power as we have seen above.
The combination of church and state is consistent with Daniel another prophetic book in the Bible.


Most conspiracy theories are designed to deceive,but what if you design enough conspiracy theories so that its hard to pick the truth out if the truth is labelled as conspiracy theory.Hmm that would be the deception of all deception wouldn't it ?

Finally would we have a time of global war? a third world war maybe ?Civil wars?A Genocide?

A Genocide?

Daniel 11:44. But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.

Revelation 17:14. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

Civil wars?

Daniel12:1
1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

Isaiah 19:1-5,
1 The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbor; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.
3 And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.
4 And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts.
5 And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.
A world war?

Isaiah 19:2
2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbor; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.

Revelation 7:1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
Winds of strife = war,natural disasters etc
four shows the East ,west ,north ,south on compass . This means global.

There are precious trues hidden among the garbage of conspiracy.But we must allow the sifter the one who is truth to point us to the gems among the garbage. He can reveal all the truth necessary for your salvation in and information overburden world.
Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

The truth is there for all to see.Earnest seekers will find it!

royalblood

911. Did God leave us warnings of it ? Is this a marker in this Earths History

In 1840-1844 a group of individuals studying Biblical prophecy came up with this chart Below call the Millerite chart .This chart was not design by Miller himself however preachers preaching the same message drew up in a concise way in one chart all of the prophetic data they have been paying attention to at the time. This chart clearly in one glance has all the information and teachings of the 300 men preaching this millerite message. In fact this chart seems to fulfil a prophecy in itself.

HABAKKUK 2:2 And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.

The designers,Charles Fitch and Apollos Hale were able to clearly lecture from these charts. click here to open it to a larger view

But on to the subject at hand .. I want to zero in on something special about this chart. I want on investigate if signs of 911 coming to past was or is shown in this chart and I believe it is.

This chart among other things gave evidence of Islamic forces in action,excerpts of Revelation9 and Revelation 11 were use to show this of course.

In Revelation chapter 8,9,11 The Bible speaks of seven trumpets. The Milllerite movement at the time all 300 of them taught that the 7 trumpets represented armies attacking Rome .
We know in History that Rome was constantly attack or besiege by barbarian armies as follows.

Armies that attack ancient Rome
(Biblical trumpets of Rev chap 8,9,11)

1. Visigoths under leader Aleric 395 AD.(Barbarian tribes)
2. Vandals under Genseric AD 428-468.(Barbarian tribes)
3. Huns under Attila AD 429-451.(Barbarian tribes)*
4. Huruli under Odoacer AD 476 (Barbarian tribes)
   
5. Saracens under Mohammed 628:The battle of Nineveh (Islamic)
   
6. Ottoman (Othman)Turks under Abubeker AD July 27th-Aug 11,1840 (Islamic)
   
7. The 7th was yet future for the Millerite preachers in 1844.It was not on the 1843 chart.
   

Although the 7th trumpet was yet future the Millerite preachers knew it would come to past for couple reason. They had confidence in there prophetic time interpretations a literal year for a prophetic day in the Bible. The evidence.

1. They had predicted the fall of the Othman empire 10 days prior to it doing so by this verse in Revelation 9:15 which reads" And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. "

When the time there is calculated to suggest as the Bible says in Ezekiel 4:5,6 ,Numbers 14:34

The above 1 hr +1 day +1 month(30days )+1 year(360 days) = 391 years and 15 days.
Now the Othman empire started July 27th 1449 therefore it should expire according to prophecy in 11th Aug 1840 .And indeed it was did fall as predicted days before.

2.The year day principle is also proven in may other prophecies including Christ year of Christ baptism,his death on the cross and the length of His ministry.After you have been through this topic you can further prove the year day theory conclusively from the chart on the right by clicking on it.

It just so happen that Josiah Litch one of the 300 Millerite preachers predicted this 391 years and 15 days peiord to the very day in which it was a couple days from thier time due to be fulfilled.Therefore they new they were on the write path as far as the year day theory.

The Woes and Trumpets

Now noticed above the 6th and 7th Armies to attack Rome were fundamentally the same group, they were Islamic in nature. Note the bible calls the last 3 out of the 7 trumpets Woes.

After the sounding of 4 trumpets in Rev 8:7-12 a new type of trumpet comes on the scene in Rev8:13 . They are called Woe trumpets (or as the Bible describes: woes that come by reason of the other remaining trumpet) all this means is the trumpets brings the woes.

Now what does this have to do with 911 ?

History proves that the 1st and 2nd woes were Islamic in nature.In fact in the Islamic world The History that we have just describe as the the 1st and second woe/5th and 6th trumpet is known among Muslims as the 1st and 2nd Great Jihads. Announced and promoted only by Great Islamic leaders.

If flags have not started going up in your heads by now then lets go more to the Bible and shows its proof in history.
All the Woes trumpets in Revelation are only mention in Revelation chapter 9 and Revelation chapter 11.
Let me explain; I did a PC Bible search on my laptop. And in came up with this result
Woe is mentioned 98 times in The Bible ( KJV) of course, I recommend no other, see "New age Bible Versions" or "Rat poison".

What is interesting is this; Out of the 98 times the word "woe"is mentioned totally in the Bible, in the prophetic book of Revelation it is mentioned only 4 times.
In Revelation 8:13 it warns of the woes to come.
In Revelation 9:1-11 Details are given of the 1st woe and mention of its conclusion in verse 12
In Revelation 9:13-21 Details are given of the 2nd and in Revelation 11:14 The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly. we see the second coming then past.
And finally in Rev 12:12 which talks about grief to fall on the inhabitants of the earth. in general because of Satan

As you read on you will find no details of the 3rd woe,no events are recorded. However strangely In Rev chapter 10 The Bible switches subject ,details are given of the people of God and a state preparedness should attained and also mystery that should be finished etc in Rev10:7 ,what is the mystery of God Colossians 1:25,26,27,28 tells us the mystery is Christ in man or interpreted his character or Christ- likeness in man should be completed at the end of sounding of seventh trumpet or 3rd woe.

However ,you would look in vain for details of the 3rd woe. Were we suppose to figure this out?

• Revelation 8:13 says 3 woes would be coming: Woe, woe, woe.
• We can identify details of woe 1 and woe 2 in Revelation chapter's 9 and 11
  
• Woe 3 is no where to be found.

Was the evidence of the 3rd woe bound up in Revelation chapter's 9 and 11?

Well history and Rev chapter 9 agrees

1. The Armies of Mohammed attacked Roman armies using Guerilla warfare.(Locust)
   
2. They tormented (terrorised) but did not kill, they hurt by exacting tributes from Rome (Rome was damaged economically.The Bible proves this in Rev 9:5,6.
3. They were directed by Mohammed at home, he was never leading the charge in war, the power was left behind at home, the power was in the tale (scorpion) Rev 9:10.Isaiah 9:15
   

Note history and Rev chapter 11 agree also

1. The Armies of Mohammed attacked Roman armies using Guerilla warfare again.
2. They killed (Rev9:18) this time with Fire and Brimstone (this was the fist time gun-powder was used in war ,muskets shut from horse backs appears as Fire and brimstone coming out of horses mouth Rev9:17,18 . History records the Walls of Constantinople blown down by the new weapons of warfare at that time, explosive.
3. Were directed by their tales also this time of serpents ,again the power is in the tail. Abubeker now directed the Islamic tribes to attack Rome.He did from home in a tent somewhere.

Back to the question:
Was the clues of the 3rd woe bound up in Revelation chapter's 9 and 11?

Well when you add the details of the 1st woe and the 2nd woe, we see some things playing out in our time. Woe1 + Woe 2 seem to equal woe3.

1. Did Radical Islam strike suddenly?
2. Does Radical Islam strike with explosives ?
3. Does Radical Islam strike the army now posing as the world super power America ?
4. Is Radical Islam commanded by an Imam somewhere in Afghanistan,Pakistan,in Caves somewhere ( sting is still in tail Isaiah 9:15).
5. What is fundamental is Bin Laden calls this war on the "infidels"the 3rd Great Jihad.Does this sound familiar to Mohammed and Abubeker pronouncements of the 1st and 2nd Jihad?

Did people in 1844 lay down a chart that pointed to events in Sept 11,2001 ?
Has the 3rd woe began ? Note the woes and trumpets are not one time war events but periods of time according to History and the Bible

Remember that chart we have above ,the one we started with the 1843 Millerite chart .Two war horses with Islamic men are seen riding Representing the 5th and 6th trumpets detailed in Revelation chapters 9 and 11. Let me blow it up a bit for you to see its on the right side here now . Notice something. Three trumpet blowing angels representing 5th ,6th ,7th trumpets (Revelation 8:13) these are the same that will bring the 1st ,2nd and 3rd Woe Represented by the turban men on war horses,but notice the 3rd horseman is missing.
Where is the 3rd horseman? For the Millerite the 3rd woe was yet future to them. But they have given us enough clues if not to predict but to notice from hind sight who the 3rd horseman would be.


The Bible does not have things in there that are not important.

2Timopthy3:16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

Matthew 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Also
ECCLESIASTES 1:9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
10 Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.

Daniel 2:22 He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.

Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

The secret things are the prophecies in the prophetic books in the Bible. But does God reveal these secrets ? Yes to special a group who obey all his laws.
Revelation 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
That scripture above eliminate a lot of religious group. A few keep the commandment of God all of it.Others make excuses and one claim to have Ecclesiastical power. so that filters out many groups ,what again can identify this group that secrets, the prophecies are revealed to.

Revelation 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
What is the testimony of Jesus Christ?

Revelation 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

What church or religious group has a credible prophet up to this point ?
The same Group from which the chart above published in 1843
Although many in this group do not even know about this chart due to there sleeping laodecian state. This does not negate the fact the truth resides in this group. Praise God what was given to the Jews have been passed on to the gentiles who believe in the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Why is Rev 9 and Rev11 important to us ,to you and me in this time.
Well in the middle is Rev 10.
Read Rev 10:7 .what does it say ?
Then Colossians 1:25-28. What should completed Christ in us.
These Scriptures tells us the Christ in me ,Christ in you ,That process of sanctification should be completed by the end of the sounding of the 7th trunmpet.
This 3rd woe /7th trumpet is indeed an important part of this earth's history.
specifically for Christian.

details of 911 was given in Rev 9 and Rev 11 .
An there are even more compelling technical evidence that prove this 3rd woe is 911.


Detail Bible evidence on the trumpets and woes could be found here
Or listen to a lovely audio study suggest by an anonymous comment below click here

New: RECENT NEWS SHOW THAT ISLAM IS NOW LEARNING WHO THE "PEOPLE OF THE BOOK" ARE. THEY ARE NOW BEING TAUGHT NOT TO CONVERT OR HURT THESE PEOPLE. SEE HERE

source :royalblood


* thanks to Hollywood everyone knows Attila the Hun

Vaccine experts gives important information on the H1N1 Vaccine

I pass this video personally to my friend who is Medical doctor and she said all the info is correct and in place. She also recommends not taking the vaccine.



Oh I forgot to mention many Doctors do not prescribe taking this vaccine here is just one of them.

The day the Dollar falls.An accurate simulation of what is to come.

I think this is an accurate view of what is happening and a forecast of the storm that is on the horizon. This is from an economic point of view what the "Time of Trouble such as never was " mention in Daniel 12:1. Even those not studying prophecy see it coming.
Its not in english so you would have to read carefully the words on the screen.
Turn down your volume and enjoy.




source :http://www.youtube.com/user/VPROinternational

No co-piloting God is driving this car

There are times in life you just been praying and beseeching God time and time again,yet there is no signs that He is answering or even hearing your prayers.
These dark moments come over us many times,I have felt this before.
Not too long ago I had this experiencing where i have pleaded and prayed for something to come through,but nothing came months past a year past and nothing. Every opportunity where you think that ahahh this is it, this is the light coming at the end of the tunnel here,but nothing. Disappointment rest heavy as the sky made out of lead on you. Then I wonder "Lord am I in your favour ?". You pull breaks on your praying and you pause on the weekly fast wondering "Lord am I still under your watch care ?"Are things between you and me ok ? This is the question.

At this time you forget about the request and you start looking for evidence where God has not forsaken you.

I now have and understanding on how David felt when He penned

Psalms 22:1 To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?

Sometimes we give up.
Most of the times we say "Lord do as you may" .It is at this point when all of self is surrendered ,When we have no hope in our own abilities. Indirectly we now give God room to operate . Not that he is not capable ! But he prefer not to drive unless we ask him to.

Why not let God drive.
Quit taking the wheel when you see precipice on the left and right.
Quit taking the wheel when you see bumpy road ahead.
Quit telling him to run left or turn right. Let Him Drive the car for goodness sake.
He does not need your help.
Oh its my life, I want to ensure it goes the way i want it to. I know how that feels I do it all the time.

Do you think you can have the slightest idea of a better plan than that what God has for you .
Do you think that you can give yourself better than want he wants to give you.
Let go the wheel sit in the passenger seat.
Note, He will only take it when you give it to Him.
He wouldn't force you to drive.
Some-things demands a lot of faith.
Faith means a life depending relationship. In other words your life depends on this relationship.
This is the Greek meaning of the word faith

No co-piloting ,Let Him Drive the car !

source: Royalblood , as easy as this may be to write , I find it is one of the hardest thing for me to do. but I have made a promise i would not take the wheel,even if am going over a bridge,I just have to remember to remind myself to remember that he can fly too.

G20s and Our Current Crisis

We don't know how many more G-20s this world will see again, but what is evident is the public's disdain for such meetings. It seems like the world leaders cannot come up with solutions to overcome the worlds problems. There is information circulating to suggest that people all over the world are fed up of the same policies bringing along worst results every time.
The ingredients leading up to and the effects of these policies was well recorded over a century ago by one woman called by God. See her quotes below. Does God have watchmen here on earth? Indeed he does and the warnings have be given a long time ago.

Note what the media calls those who protest against these policies, Wolf(CNN Correspondent) makes it a point to label these people "Anarchist"

Note What Webster defines as an Anarchist

Main Entry: an·ar·chist

Pronunciation: \ˈa-nər-kist, -ˌnär-\

Function: noun

Date: 1678

1 : a person who rebels against any authority, established order, or ruling power
2 : a person who believes in, advocates, or promotes anarchism or anarchy; especially : one who uses violent means to overthrow the established order

Written in 1899

“In India, China, Russia, and the cities of America, thousands of men and women are dying
of starvation. The monied men, because they have the power, control the market. They purchase at low rates all they can obtain, and then sell at greatly increased prices. This means starvation to the poorer classes, and will result in a civil war. There will be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation. [Daniel 12:1, 2 quoted]” (General manuscript, untitled, typed August 13, 1899.)”
Manuscript Releases, vol. 5, 305.

Written in May17,1909

“The land boom has cursed this country, extravagant prices have been paid for lands
bought on credit; then the land must be cleared, and more money is hired; a house to be built calls
for more money, and then interest with open mouth swallows up all the profits. Debts accumulate,
and then come the closing and failure of banks, and then the foreclosure of mortgages.”
Fundamentals of Christian Education, 317.

Written in 1909

“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… The enemy has succeeded in perverting justice and in filling men's hearts with
the desire for selfish gain. "Justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity
cannot enter." Isaiah 59:14… The cries of starving humanity are coming up before God, while by
every species of oppression and extortion men are piling up colossal fortunes… Those who hold
the reins of government are not able to solve the problem of moral corruption, poverty, pauperism,
and increasing crime. They are struggling in vain to place business operations on a more secure basis.”
Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, 11-13.

The working of Satan also detailed

“While appearing to the children of men as a great physician who can heal all their
maladies, he will bring disease and disaster, until populous cities are reduced to ruin and desolation.Even now he is at work. In accidents and calamities by sea and by land, in great conflagrations, in fierce tornadoes and terrific hailstorms, in tempests, floods, cyclones, tidal waves, and earthquakes, in every place and in a thousand forms, Satan is exercising his power. He sweeps away the ripening harvest, and famine and distress follow. He imparts to the air a deadly taint, and thousands perish by the pestilence. These visitations are to become more and more frequent and disastrous. Destruction will be upon both man and beast.

Then Papal Rome the will see an opportunity to ascend the throne once more

“It will be declared that men are offending God by the violation of the *Sunday Sabbath; that this sin has brought calamities which will not cease until Sunday observance shall be strictly enforced; and that those who present the claims of the fourth commandment, thus destroying reverence for Sunday, are troublers of the people, preventing their restoration to divine favor and temporal prosperity.”
The Great Controversy, 589-590.

All Writings above written by Ellen G White

*Note:The Sunday Sabbath is a spurious Sabbath its the mark of the Roman Catholic church and is counter to the true 7th day Sabbath as mention in the Ten commandments. Biblical evidence can be found here.

The First Angel's Message

(Revelation 14:6-7)

Introduction: The book of Revelation is generally considered to be a book of "last day" events. Among those events is a message from God brought by three angels. This week, we turn our attention to the important message of the first angel. Let's jump in!

1. The Messenger



1. Read Revelation 14:6. Let's look at this first angel for a moment. The text says "I saw another angel." What do you think it means by "another" angel? Isn't this angel the first of three? How can it be "another?" (If you review the book of Revelation, you will see there are many angels who either give or receive heavenly messages.)



1. This angel flies in "midair." What is the significance of flying in midair? Is this angel is a prudent flier who is unlikely to crash anytime soon? (If you wanted to be seen and heard you would get up where everyone could see you. The significance is that this angel has a message that it wants us to hear.)



2. What is the message of this angel? (The "eternal gospel.")



1. To whom is this gospel to be given? (To everyone of every language.)



2. It seems so hard to be able to give the gospel to everyone. Think of all of the people who live from the edge of Eastern Europe to the Eastern boarder of China. This is a vast area in which the gospel has not thoroughly penetrated. Will God finally send an angel because we have not presented the gospel to everyone?



3. The gospel is described as the "eternal" gospel. What does that mean to you? (The gospel does not change.)



4. Our lessons this quarter are about "the pillars" of faith. Why do you think that the first angel's message is the eternal gospel? (First and foremost is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Some might argue this is the only pillar of our faith.)



2. The Preparation



1. Imagine that you want a raise or want to change your work hours, would you just walk into your boss's office without thinking about how you will approach the issue?



1. Do you remember when you were dating? Did you ask for your initial date with a girl without planning what you were going to say first?

1. If you were a girl who wanted to date a specific guy, did you plan how you could meet him and what you would say to show that you were interested in him?



2. We've got an angel with a message to the world about the gospel. Do you think the angel's words were carefully planned? Or did God just say to an angel, "Say a few words about my coming to the world" and the angel ad-libbed a few lines? (This idea sounds impossible, doesn't it? If you were sent by God, went "midair" to be sure everyone could hear, and then proclaimed what was supposed to be the "eternal gospel" I would think your words would be very carefully chosen.)



1. The Message



1. Read Revelation 14:7. What part of the angel's message really grabs your attention? (The angel ties it to the judgment. He tells us that the gospel is relevant now, because the time of judgment is now.)



1. We were talking about planning important discussions. If God especially planned to start out with a declaration about the judgement, why do you think He started that way? (This message is to make us think seriously about our relationship with God.)



2. We concluded earlier that the gospel of Jesus Christ was the first part of the message because of its extreme importance. However, we did not discuss what the "everlasting gospel" meant. What does Revelation 14:7 suggest is the eternal gospel? What are the elements of the message? (List them.)



1. Fear (respect) God



2. Glorify God



3. Hour of judgment has come



4. Worship the Creator.



3. Does this seem to be the gospel that you know about? (It does not seem, at first glance, to be the message of the cross. So, let's look deeper.)



4. What does it mean to fear God? (Fear in Greek is "phobeo" which means to be in awe of God.)



5. What does v. 7 suggest is the reason for us to fear God? (Judgment time has arrived.)



1. We are also told to give God glory because His judgment is at hand. Why would you glorify God because He is judging? Is that a "glorious" event?



1. Do you like people judging you?



2. Would you like someone judging you who could kill you?



2. Perhaps it will be clearer by putting these two ideas together. The first angel says to be in awe and give glory to our God because of His judgment. Under what circumstances can you imagine you would both be in awe and give glory to someone who judged you? (When you successfully passed the judgment! The gospel is not some little story about a teacher, who we decided to follow, who it turns out died like a criminal and we are ashamed about it. This is the watershed event in the history of the world. And our God prevailed! If we decide to follow Him, we too will prevail in the judgment. So fear God. Be in awe of Him and what He did for us!)



6. What do you think it means to "give God glory?" (The Greek word is "doxa." Vines says this word means "good opinion, praise, honor, glory, an appearance commanding respect, magnificence, excellence, manifestation of glory.")



7. Let's get practical: How can we give God glory? (List)



2. Revelation 14:7 also tells us to worship God. When we read that we should worship God, what comes to mind? That is, what does it mean to worship? (List)



1. Consider that the Greek word for worship is "Proskeneo" which literally means to "pros" "towards" and "kuneo" "to kiss." Kisses to God! Friend, do you give "kisses to God?"

1. The angel links fearing God to the judgment. To what does the angel link worshiping God in Revelation 14:7? (His Creation.)



1. Is believing in the Creation a key element to true worship of God?

1. If you do not believe in the Creation, are you able to worship God?



2. If you did not believe in the Creation, on what basis would you be worshiping God? (A literal Creation is one of the most controverted aspects of the Bible. A lot of people believe in God, "believe" in the Bible, yet do not believe in a literal Creation.)



1. Is a literal Creation a fundamental truth? Or is this just one of those debated and debatable things that has little, if anything to do with your salvation? (I believe it is fundamental. This first angel links our worship of God to the Creation. If you do not believe that God made us, then it is more difficult to believe that He "recreated us" when He arose from the grave. If you don't believe either of those (creation or recreation), it is hard to understand the basis for your worship.)

1. Practical Application



1. We have discovered that the first angel has this judgment-time gospel message that our Creator God has given His people victory in the judgment. That is good news! Should we just be sitting back waiting for this angel to share this news with the world? (The word translated "angel" means "messenger." If you look at the first chapters of Revelation you see messages "to the angel of the church" and then it mentions a specific church. Since these messages are to the people of these churches, it seems that "angel" is being used in a much broader sense than just a heavenly angel. The NIV Study Bible has a note on Revelation 1:20 which says that "angels" may be either "heavenly messengers" or "earthly messengers/ministers.")



2. Friend, do you think that God has given part of the responsibility of this "first angel" to spread the "everlasting gospel" about that the time of judgment is at hand? (In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus tells us that we are to be His messengers to share the gospel. So we have the opportunity and responsibility to share the first angel's message.)



1. Will you decide, this week, to help share this important end-time message?

The perfect global salesman

About 400 speeches in 8 months ?
Is he selling something ?

Note what the Bible Revelation 16:13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

Note what does a false prophet do ? in the Bible they seem to move people away from the warnings of true prophet,They distract people from true reformation according to God's purpose, They move people away from serving the true God by the removal,debasing of God's law(10 commandment) . Have you not seen America removing the ten commandments from its public places,schools and other places.

The Other beast ( The false prophet) is fulfilling his role at this time. Represented as America politically and apostate protestants spiritually America is decieving the world. By causing (military might), and the propaganda machinery to go back to the old systems and Regimes of Rome( the other first beast)
Revelation 13:12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
14 And deceiveth 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.
15 And 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.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17 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.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

Revelation 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

The out-come of the false prophet
Revelation 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever

Prophetical mirror

These events line up as a mirror of the events to come.
Note the order of the events shows the mirror.
The events that are yet future we no not the dates but we know the order according to scripture



5)---1755--Great Lisbon Earthquake---------------- Revelation 16:18
4)---1793--French Revolution chaos----------Revelation 16:16
3)---1798--Papacy taken down,Babylon falls---------------Revelation 16:2
2)---1840--Glorious manifestation,Mighty angel come down---- Revelation 15:8
1)---1842--Judgment closes for then world--- Revelation 12:1
0)--1844---Probation closes for churches-----------------Daniel 8:14*
------------------------ MIRROR MIRROR MIRROR ----------------------------------
0)--????---Probation closes for Spiritual Israel@Sunday law Daniel 11:42
1)---????--Michael Stands Judgment closes for the world---Daniel 12:1
2)---????--Glorious manifestation,Sanctuary smoke------------Revelation 15:8
3)---????--support taken from papacy,drying up of Euphrates--Revelation 16:2
4)---????--Armageddon chaos-----------------Revelation 16:16
5)---????-- Great Earthquake to come-----------------Revelation 16:18


* In 1842-44 a message went world wide for people to fear God Give glory to Him,To come out of Babylon the false religious system and Babylon is fallen; Judgment was about to fall on those who refuse the message. According to the 2300 days prophecy The sanctuary was to be cleansed. The 300 millerites at the time thought that this meant Christ would come and purify the Earth by fire. They thought the Sanctuary was the Earth. That was a wrong interpretation but the calculation of the date was correct.
The event was wrong but the time prophecy was correct.
The cleansing was to occur in the heavenly sanctuary in heaven Hebrews 8:5,Exodus 29:36 as was represented when the priest went into the most Holy place in the earthly tabernacle Exodus 26:34, Exodus 26:33. More study of the heavenly sanctuary can be viewed here

God answers our prayers,though the powers of darkness may try to prevent Him

Daniel 9:4 And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;

5 We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:

6 Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spoke in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

7 O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.

8 O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.

9 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him;

10 Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.

11 Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.

12 And he hath confirmed his words, which he spoke against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.

13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.

14 Therefore hath the LORD watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the LORD our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.

15 And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.

16 O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us.

17 Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake.

18 O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.

19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.

20 And while I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God;

21 Yea, while I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.

22 And he informed me , and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.

23 At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment

Post made in August concerning The Bill That Could Starve All America

After going back and reading this post.I realise that i didn't put in the source at least i didn't see a source from this post. I did make an error in not doing so ..
Note the expression in that post was not mine own. As in some cases if if find the content of an analysis on a topic that relates to end times is favourable i will post it on my blog with the source website or the writer.
In this case when i review the content in the article after a reader post her concerns about posting a message that fuels a spirit of fear I decided that his/her concerns were legitimate. so i have pull that post off.

Below is comments on the post. I think that a few thinks were misplaced my the reader thinking that these were my words which they were not .Nevertheless I take the criticism and responsibility upon myself for the error made in posting without a source link. This one i will take on the chin.

My apologies

royalblood


Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "The Bill That Could Starve All America, then the w...":

In response to the blog by Royal Blood: I am sorry to have to give this public rebuke, for I sympathize with the fact this person is overwhelmed; but I feel I must. The Bible says, God has not given us the spirit of fear, but the Spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind. It also says, there is no fear in love, for fear hath torment, but Perfect Love casts out all fear. In other words, God's perfect love in us can take away our fear. I am deeply disappointed that a purportedly "SDA" Christian website would allow a post that has such an attitude of fear and sarcasm. This should not be the message for this hour of earth's history. Psalms 37 is to meditate upon for those of trembling heart. It is not the information shared in the message, but rather the terminology and remarks that are so offensive. This is not the true spirit of Adventism but a counterfeit. The Bible says, speak the truth in love; and honor all men; and every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account for in the day of judgment.--Saying that Hitler is reincarnated and living in Washington, use of terms like nazi, etc. is contrary to the Spirit of the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. It dishonors God and tarnishes the name SDA. Even though the message may be valid, because of the manner of delivery, it falls into the fear mongering category. The Word also says, If you run with the footmen and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace wherein you trust it wearies you, then how will you do in the swelling of the Jordan? In other words, if we can't trust God for safety now, how will we survive during the time of trouble? Our God reigns! and He still hears and answers prayer! Let us go to our knees in these times of uncertainty and peril. Furthermore, the Bible says, the prudent shall keep silent in that time, for it is an evil time. Psalms 91 is a promise for all who believe. The Bible also says-- because you have kept my commandments I will keep you safe in the time of trouble.-- Jesus said, don't fear them that kill the body, but those who kill body and soul. So, for those who fear the H1N1 vaccine enforcement, Jesus also said that a sign of those who believe is that, if they partook of any deadly thing, it would not harm them.--Also, it is not what goes into the mouth/body, but rather what comes out of the mouth that defiles. Now is not the time to dishonor God and promote a spirit of fear, for the Word tells us, faith is the victory that overcomes the world. Now is the time to speak and live so that God can be glorified through us and souls can be won to Christ. Now is the time to be washing our robes in the blood of the Lamb that our characters may be purified, and that we may build up others in the most holy faith, so that we will never deny the name of Jesus Christ,--something that is far worse than any death. As the song goes, I serve a living Savior, He's in the world today, I know that He is leading, whatever man may say, I know that He will keep me through all the stormy blast, The day of His appearing will come at last.--He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today, He walks with me and talks with me, Along life's narrow way.--May God help us to this end, to trust in Jesus; and may our prayer and attitude be as Jesus' was on the cross--Father forgive them, for they know not what they do. This is my prayer. Amen.

royalblood agrees with the sentiments express above. Amen

Hip Hop Truth.The occult vs The Kingdom of God

2THESSALONIANS 2:9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness



Daniel 2:44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.


\

Isaiah 12:14 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High

The Bible and the French Revolution

In the sixteenth century the Reformation, presenting an open Bible to the people, had sought admission to all the countries of Europe. Some nations welcomed it with gladness, as a messenger of Heaven. In other lands the papacy succeeded to a great extent in preventing its entrance; and the light of Bible knowledge, with its elevating influences, was almost wholly excluded. In one country, though the light found entrance, it was not comprehended by the darkness. For centuries, truth and error struggled for the mastery. At last the evil triumphed, and the truth of Heaven was thrust out. "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light." John 3:19. The nation was left to reap the results of the course which she had chosen. The restraint of God's Spirit was removed from a people that had despised the gift of His grace. Evil was permitted to come to maturity. And all the world saw the fruit of willful rejection of the light.

The war against the Bible, carried forward for so many centuries in France, culminated in the scenes of the Revolution. That terrible outbreaking was but the legitimate result of Rome's suppression of the Scriptures. (See Appendix.) It presented the most striking illustration which the world has ever witnessed of the working out of the papal policy-- an illustration of the results to which for more than a thousand

266

years the teaching of the Roman Church had been tending.

The suppression of the Scriptures during the period of papal supremacy was foretold by the prophets; and the Revelator points also to the terrible results that were to accrue especially to France from the domination of the "man of sin."

Said the angel of the Lord: "The holy city shall they tread underfoot forty and two months. And I will give power unto My two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. . . . And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. . . . And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. And after three days and a half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them." Revelation 11:2-11.

The periods here mentioned--"forty and two months," and "a thousand two hundred and threescore days"--are the same, alike representing the time in which the church of Christ was to suffer oppression from Rome. The 1260 years of papal supremacy began in A.D. 538, and would therefore terminate in 1798. (See Appendix note for page 54.) At that time a French army entered Rome and made the pope a prisoner, and he died in exile. Though a new pope was soon afterward elected, the papal hierarchy has never since been able to wield the power which it before possessed.

The persecution of the church did not continue throughout the entire period of the 1260 years. God in mercy to His people cut short the time of their fiery trial. In foretelling the

267

"great tribulation" to befall the church, the Saviour said: "Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." Matthew 24:22. Through the influence of the Reformation the persecution was brought to an end prior to 1798.

Concerning the two witnesses the prophet declares further: "These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth." "Thy word," said the psalmist, "is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Revelation 11:4; Psalm 119:105. The two witnesses represent the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament. Both are important testimonies to the origin and perpetuity of the law of God. Both are witnesses also to the plan of salvation. The types, sacrifices, and prophecies of the Old Testament point forward to a Saviour to come. The Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament tell of a Saviour who has come in the exact manner foretold by type and prophecy.

"They shall prophecy a thousand two hundred and three-score days, clothed in sackcloth." During the greater part of this period, God's witnesses remained in a state of obscurity. The papal power sought to hide from the people the word of truth, and set before them false witnesses to contradict its testimony. (See Appendix.) When the Bible was proscribed by religious and secular authority; when its testimony was perverted, and every effort made that men and demons could invent to turn the minds of the people from it; when those who dared proclaim its sacred truths were hunted, betrayed, tortured, buried in dungeon cells, martyred for their faith, or compelled to flee to mountain fastnesses, and to dens and caves of the earth--then the faithful witnesses prophesied in sackcloth. Yet they continued their testimony throughout the entire period of 1260 years. In the darkest times there were faithful men who loved God's word and were jealous for His honor. To these loyal servants were

268

given wisdom, power, and authority to declare His truth during the whole of this time.

"And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed." Revelation 11:5. Men cannot with impunity trample upon the word of God. The meaning of this fearful denunciation is set forth in the closing chapter of the Revelation: "I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." Revelation 22:18, 19.

Such are the warnings which God has given to guard men against changing in any manner that which He has revealed or commanded. These solemn denunciations apply to all who by their influence lead men to regard lightly the law of God. They should cause those to fear and tremble who flippantly declare it a matter of little consequence whether we obey God's law or not. All who exalt their own opinions above divine revelation, all who would change the plain meaning of Scripture to suit their own convenience, or for the sake of conforming to the world, are taking upon themselves a fearful responsibility. The written word, the law of God, will measure the character of every man and condemn all whom this unerring test shall declare wanting.

"When they shall have finished [are finishing] their testimony." The period when the two witnesses were to prophesy clothed in sackcloth, ended in 1798. As they were approaching the termination of their work in obscurity, war was to be made upon them by the power represented as "the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit." In many of the nations of Europe the powers that ruled in church and state had for centuries been controlled by Satan through the

269

medium of the papacy. But here is brought to view a new manifestation of satanic power.

It had been Rome's policy, under a profession of reverence for the Bible, to keep it locked up in an unknown tongue and hidden away from the people. Under her rule the witnesses prophesied "clothed in sackcloth." But another power --the beast from the bottomless pit--was to arise to make open, avowed war upon the word of God.

"The great city" in whose streets the witnesses are slain, and where their dead bodies lie, is "spiritually" Egypt. Of all nations presented in Bible history, Egypt most boldly denied the existence of the living God and resisted His commands. No monarch ever ventured upon more open and highhanded rebellion against the authority of Heaven than did the king of Egypt. When the message was brought him by Moses, in the name of the Lord, Pharaoh proudly answered: "Who is Jehovah, that I should hearken unto His voice to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah, and moreover I will not let Israel go." Exodus 5:2, A.R.V. This is atheism, and the nation represented by Egypt would give voice to a similar denial of the claims of the living God and would manifest a like spirit of unbelief and defiance. "The great city" is also compared, "spiritually," to Sodom. The corruption of Sodom in breaking the law of God was especially manifested in licentiousness. And this sin was also to be a pre-eminent characteristic of the nation that should fulfill the specifications of this scripture.

According to the words of the prophet, then, a little before the year 1798 some power of satanic origin and character would rise to make war upon the Bible. And in the land where the testimony of God's two witnesses should thus be silenced, there would be manifest the atheism of the Pharaoh and the licentiousness of Sodom.

This prophecy has received a most exact and striking fulfillment in the history of France. During the Revolution, in 1793, "the world for the first time heard an assembly of men,

270

born and educated in civilization, and assuming the right to govern one of the finest of the European nations, uplift their united voice to deny the most solemn truth which man's soul receives, and renounce unanimously the belief and worship of a Deity."--Sir Walter Scott, Life of Napoleon, vol. 1, ch. 17. "France is the only nation in the world concerning which the authentic record survives, that as a nation she lifted her hand in open rebellion against the Author of the universe. Plenty of blasphemers, plenty of infidels, there have been, and still continue to be, in England, Germany, Spain, and elsewhere; but France stands apart in the world's history as the single state which, by the decree of her Legislative Assembly, pronounced that there was no God, and of which the entire population of the capital, and a vast majority elsewhere, women as well as men, danced and sang with joy in accepting the announcement."--Blackwood's Magazine, November, 1870.

France presented also the characteristics which especially distinguished Sodom. During the Revolution there was manifest a state of moral debasement and corruption similar to that which brought destruction upon the cities of the plain. And the historian presents together the atheism and the licentiousness of France, as given in the prophecy: "Intimately connected with these laws affecting religion, was that which reduced the union of marriage--the most sacred engagement which human beings can form, and the permanence of which leads most strongly to the consolidation of society--to the state of a mere civil contract of a transitory character, which any two persons might engage in and cast loose at pleasure. . . . If fiends had set themselves to work to discover a mode of most effectually destroying whatever is venerable, graceful, or permanent in domestic life, and of obtaining at the same time an assurance that the mischief which it was their object to create should be perpetuated from one generation to another, they could not have invented a more effectual plan that the degradation of marriage. . . . Sophie Arnoult, an

271

actress famous for the witty things she said, described the republican marriage as 'the sacrament of adultery.'"--Scott, vol. 1, ch. 17.

"Where also our Lord was crucified." This specification of the prophecy was also fulfilled by France. In no land had the spirit of enmity against Christ been more strikingly displayed. In no country had the truth encountered more bitter and cruel opposition. In the persecution which France had visited upon the confessors of the gospel, she had crucified Christ in the person of His disciples.

Century after century the blood of the saints had been shed. While the Waldenses laid down their lives upon the mountains of Piedmont "for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ," similar witness to the truth had been borne by their brethren, the Albigenses of France. In the days of the Reformation its disciples had been put to death with horrible tortures. King and nobles, highborn women and delicate maidens, the pride and chivalry of the nation, had feasted their eyes upon the agonies of the martyrs of Jesus. The brave Huguenots, battling for those rights which the human heart holds most sacred, had poured out their blood on many a hard-fought field. The Protestants were counted as outlaws, a price was set upon their heads, and they were hunted down like wild beasts.

The "Church in the Desert," the few descendants of the ancient Christians that still lingered in France in the eighteenth century, hiding away in the mountains of the south, still cherished the faith of their fathers. As they ventured to meet by night on mountainside or lonely moor, they were chased by dragoons and dragged away to lifelong slavery in the galleys. The purest, the most refined, and the most intelligent of the French were chained, in horrible torture, amidst robbers and assassins. (See Wylie, b. 22, ch. 6.) Others, more mercifully dealt with, were shot down in cold blood, as, unarmed and helpless, they fell upon their

272

knees in prayer. Hundreds of aged men, defenseless women, and innocent children were left dead upon the earth at their place of meeting. In traversing the mountainside or the forest, where they had been accustomed to assemble, it was not unusual to find "at every four paces, dead bodies dotting the sward, and corpses hanging suspended from the trees." Their country, laid waste with the sword, the ax, the fagot, "was converted into one vast, gloomy wilderness." "These atrocities were enacted . . . in no dark age, but in the brilliant era of Louis XIV. Science was then cultivated, letters flourished, the divines of the court and of the capital were learned and eloquent men, and greatly affected the graces of meekness and charity."--Ibid., b. 22, ch. 7.

But blackest in the black catalogue of crime, most horrible among the fiendish deeds of all the dreadful centuries, was the St. Bartholomew Massacre. The world still recalls with shuddering horror the scenes of that most cowardly and cruel onslaught. The king of France, urged on by Romish priests and prelates, lent his sanction to the dreadful work. A bell, tolling at dead of night, was a signal for the slaughter. Protestants by thousands, sleeping quietly in their homes, trusting to the plighted honor of their king, were dragged forth without a warning and murdered in cold blood.

As Christ was the invisible leader of His people from Egyptian bondage, so was Satan the unseen leader of his subjects in this horrible work of multiplying martyrs. For seven days the massacre was continued in Paris, the first three with inconceivable fury. And it was not confined to the city itself, but by special order of the king was extended to all the provinces and towns where Protestants were found. Neither age nor sex was respected. Neither the innocent babe nor the man of gray hairs was spared. Noble and peasant, old and young, mother and child, were cut down together. Throughout France the butchery continued for two months. Seventy thousand of the very flower of the nation perished.

"When the news of the massacre reached Rome, the

273

exultation among the clergy knew no bounds. The cardinal of Lorraine rewarded the messenger with a thousand crowns; the cannon of St. Angelo thundered forth a joyous salute; and bells rang out from every steeple; bonfires turned night into day; and Gregory XIII, attended by the cardinals and other ecclesiastical dignitaries, went in long procession to the church of St. Louis, where the cardinal of Lorraine chanted a Te Deum. . . . A medal was struck to commemorate the massacre, and in the Vatican may still be seen three frescoes of Vasari, describing the attack upon the admiral, the king in council plotting the massacre, and the massacre itself. Gregory sent Charles the Golden Rose; and four months after the massacre, . . . he listened complacently to the sermon of a French priest, . . . who spoke of 'that day so full of happiness and joy, when the most holy father received the news, and went in solemn state to render thanks to God and St. Louis.'"--Henry White, The Massacre of St. Bartholomew, ch. 14, par. 34.

The same master spirit that urged on the St. Bartholomew Massacre led also in the scenes of the Revolution. Jesus Christ was declared to be an impostor, and the rallying cry of the French infidels was, "Crush the Wretch," meaning Christ. Heaven-daring blasphemy and abominable wickedness went hand in hand, and the basest of men, the most abandoned monsters of cruelty and vice, were most highly exalted. In all this, supreme homage was paid to Satan; while Christ, in His characteristics of truth, purity, and unselfish love, was crucified.

"The beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them." The atheistical power that ruled in France during the Revolution and the Reign of Terror, did wage such a war against God and His holy word as the world had never witnessed. The worship of the Deity was abolished by the National Assembly. Bibles were collected and publicly burned with every possible manifestation of scorn. The law of God

274

was trampled underfoot. The institutions of the Bible were abolished. The weekly rest day was set aside, and in its stead every tenth day was devoted to reveling and blasphemy. Baptism and the Communion were prohibited. And announcements posted conspicuously over the burial places declared death to be an eternal sleep.

The fear of God was said to be so far from the beginning of wisdom that it was the beginning of folly. All religious worship was prohibited, except that of liberty and the country. The "constitutional bishop of Paris was brought forward to play the principal part in the most impudent and scandalous farce ever acted in the face of a national representation. . . . He was brought forward in full procession, to declare to the Convention that the religion which he had taught so many years was, in every respect, a piece of priestcraft, which had no foundation either in history or sacred truth. He disowned, in solemn and explicit terms, the existence of the Deity to whose worship he had been consecrated, and devoted himself in future to the homage of liberty, equality, virtue, and morality. He then laid on the table his episcopal decorations, and received a fraternal embrace from the president of the Convention. Several apostate priests followed the example of this prelate."--Scott, vol. 1, ch. 17.

"And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth." Infidel France had silenced the reproving voice of God's two witnesses. The word of truth lay dead in her streets, and those who hated the restrictions and requirements of God's law were jubilant. Men publicly defied the King of heaven. Like the sinners of old, they cried: "How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the Most High?" Psalm 73:11.

With blasphemous boldness almost beyond belief, one of the priests of the new order said: "God, if You exist, avenge Your injured name. I bid You defiance! You remain silent; You dare not launch Your thunders. Who after this will

275

believe in Your existence?"--Lacretelle, History, vol. 11, p. 309; in Sir Archibald Alison, History of Europe, vol. 1, ch. 10. What an echo is this of the Pharaoh's demand: "Who is Jehovah, that I should obey His voice?" "I know not Jehovah!"

"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." Psalm 14:1. And the Lord declares concerning the perverters of the truth: "Their folly shall be manifest unto all." 2 Timothy 3:9. After France had renounced the worship of the living God, "the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity," it was only a little time till she descended to degrading idolatry, by the worship of the Goddess of Reason, in the person of a profligate woman. And this in the representative assembly of the nation, and by its highest civil and legislative authorities! Says the historian: "One of the ceremonies of this insane time stands unrivaled for absurdity combined with impiety. The doors of the Convention were thrown open to a band of musicians, preceded by whom, the members of the municipal body entered in solemn procession, singing a hymn in praise of liberty, and escorting, as the object of their future worship, a veiled female, whom they termed the Goddess of Reason. Being brought within the bar, she was unveiled with great form, and placed on the right of the president, when she was generally recognized as a dancing girl of the opera. . . . To this person, as the fittest representative of that reason whom they worshiped, the National Convention of France rendered public homage.

"This impious and ridiculous mummery had a certain fashion; and the installation of the Goddess of Reason was renewed and imitated throughout the nation, in such places where the inhabitants desired to show themselves equal to all the heights of the Revolution."--Scott, vol. 1, ch. 17.

Said the orator who introduced the worship of Reason: "Legislators! Fanaticism has given way to reason. Its bleared eyes could not endure the brilliancy of the light. This day an immense concourse has assembled beneath those gothic vaults, which, for the first time, re-echoed the truth. There

276

the French have celebrated the only true worship,--that of Liberty, that of Reason. There we have formed wishes for the prosperity of the arms of the Republic. There we have abandoned inanimate idols for Reason, for that animated image, the masterpiece of nature."--M. A. Thiers, History of the French Revolution, vol. 2, pp. 370, 371.

When the goddess was brought into the Convention, the orator took her by the hand, and turning to the assembly said: "Mortals, cease to tremble before the powerless thunders of a God whom your fears have created. Henceforth acknowledge no divinity but Reason. I offer you its noblest and purest image; if you must have idols, sacrifice only to such as this. . . . Fall before the august Senate of Freedom, oh! Veil of Reason!"

"The goddess, after being embraced by the president, was mounted on a magnificent car, and conducted, amid an immense crowd, to the cathedral of Notre Dame, to take the place of the Deity. There she was elevated on the high altar, and received the adoration of all present."--Alison, vol. 1, ch. 10.

This was followed, not long afterward, by the public burning of the Bible. On one occasion "the Popular Society of the Museum" entered the hall of the municipality, exclaiming, "Vive la Raison!" and carrying on the top of a pole the half-burned remains of several books, among others breviaries, missals, and the Old and New Testaments, which "expiated in a great fire," said the president, "all the fooleries which they have made the human race commit."--Journal of Paris, 1793, No. 318. Quoted in Buchez-Roux, Collection of Parliamentary History, vol. 30, pp. 200, 201.

It was popery that had begun the work which atheism was completing. The policy of Rome had wrought out those conditions, social, political, and religious, that were hurrying France on to ruin. Writers, in referring to the horrors of the Revolution, say that these excesses are to be charged upon the throne and the church. (See Appendix.) In strict justice they are to be charged upon the church. Popery had poisoned the

277

minds of kings against the Reformation, as an enemy to the crown, an element of discord that would be fatal to the peace and harmony of the nation. It was the genius of Rome that by this means inspired the direst cruelty and the most galling oppression which proceeded from the throne.

The spirit of liberty went with the Bible. Wherever the gospel was received, the minds of the people were awakened. They began to cast off the shackles that had held them bondslaves of ignorance, vice, and superstition. They began to think and act as men. Monarchs saw it and trembled for their despotism.

Rome was not slow to inflame their jealous fears. Said the pope to the regent of France in 1525: "This mania [Protestantism] will not only confound and destroy religion, but all principalities, nobility, laws, orders, and ranks besides."-- G. de Felice, History of the Protestants of France, b. 1, ch. 2, par. 8. A few years later a papal nuncio warned the king: "Sire, be not deceived. The Protestants will upset all civil as well as religious order. . . . The throne is in as much danger as the altar. . . . The introduction of a new religion must necessarily introduce a new government."--D'Aubigne, History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, b. 2, ch. 36. And theologians appealed to the prejudices of the people by declaring that the Protestant doctrine "entices men away to novelties and folly; it robs the king of the devoted affection of his subjects, and devastates both church and state." Thus Rome succeeded in arraying France against the Reformation. "It was to uphold the throne, preserve the nobles, and maintain the laws, that the sword of persecution was first unsheathed in France."--Wylie, b. 13, ch. 4.

Little did the rulers of the land foresee the results of that fateful policy. The teaching of the Bible would have implanted in the minds and hearts of the people those principles of justice, temperance, truth, equity, and benevolence which are the very cornerstone of a nation's prosperity. "Righteousness exalteth a nation." Thereby "the throne is established."

278

Proverbs 14:34; 16:12. "The work of righteousness shall be peace;" and the effect, "quietness and assurance forever." Isaiah 32:17. He who obeys the divine law will most truly respect and obey the laws of his country. He who fears God will honor the king in the exercise of all just and legitimate authority. But unhappy France prohibited the Bible and banned its disciples. Century after century, men of principle and integrity, men of intellectual acuteness and moral strength, who had the courage to avow their convictions and the faith to suffer for the truth--for centuries these men toiled as slaves in the galleys, perished at the stake, or rotted in dungeon cells. Thousands upon thousands found safety in flight; and this continued for two hundred and fifty years after the opening of the Reformation.

"Scarcely was there a generation of Frenchmen during the long period that did not witness the disciples of the gospel fleeing before the insane fury of the persecutor, and carrying with them the intelligence, the arts, the industry, the order, in which, as a rule, they pre-eminently excelled, to enrich the lands in which they found an asylum. And in proportion as they replenished other countries with these good gifts, did they empty their own of them. If all that was now driven away had been retained in France; if, during these three hundred years, the industrial skill of the exiles had been cultivating her soil; if, during these three hundred years, their artistic bent had been improving her manufactures; if, during these three hundred years, their creative genius and analytic power had been enriching her literature and cultivating her science; if their wisdom had been guiding her councils, their bravery fighting her battles, their equity framing her laws, and the religion of the Bible strengthening the intellect and governing the conscience of her people, what a glory would at this day have encompassed France! What a great, prosperous, and happy country--a pattern to the nations--would she have been!

279

"But a blind and inexorable bigotry chased from her soil every teacher of virtue, every champion of order, every honest defender of the throne; it said to the men who would have made their country a 'renown and glory' in the earth, Choose which you will have, a stake or exile. At last the ruin of the state was complete; there remained no more conscience to be proscribed; no more religion to be dragged to the stake; no more patriotism to be chased into banishment."--Wylie, b. 13, ch. 20. And the Revolution, with all its horrors, was the dire result.

"With the flight of the Huguenots a general decline settled upon France. Flourishing manufacturing cities fell into decay; fertile districts returned to their native wildness; intellectual dullness and moral declension succeeded a period of unwonted progress. Paris became one vast almshouse, and it is estimated that, at the breaking out of the Revolution, two hundred thousand paupers claimed charity from the hands of the king. The Jesuits alone flourished in the decaying nation, and ruled with dreadful tyranny over churches and schools, the prisons and the galleys."

The gospel would have brought to France the solution of those political and social problems that baffled the skill of her clergy, her king, and her legislators, and finally plunged the nation into anarchy and ruin. But under the domination of Rome the people had lost the Saviour's blessed lessons of self-sacrifice and unselfish love. They had been led away from the practice of self-denial for the good of others. The rich had found no rebuke for their oppression of the poor, the poor no help for their servitude and degradation. The selfishness of the wealthy and powerful grew more and more apparent and oppressive. For centuries the greed and profligacy of the noble resulted in grinding extortion toward the peasant. The rich wronged the poor, and the poor hated the rich.

In many provinces the estates were held by the nobles, and the laboring classes were only tenants; they were at the mercy

280

of their landlords and were forced to submit to their exorbitant demands. The burden of supporting both the church and the state fell upon the middle and lower classes, who were heavily taxed by the civil authorities and by the clergy. "The pleasure of the nobles was considered the supreme law; the farmers and the peasants might starve, for aught their oppressors cared. . . . The people were compelled at every turn to consult the exclusive interest of the landlord. The lives of the agricultural laborers were lives of incessant work and unrelieved misery; their complaints, if they ever dared to complain, were treated with insolent contempt. The courts of justice would always listen to a noble as against a peasant; bribes were notoriously accepted by the judges; and the merest caprice of the aristocracy had the force of law, by virtue of this system of universal corruption. Of the taxes wrung from the commonalty, by the secular magnates on the one hand, and the clergy on the other, not half ever found its way into the royal or episcopal treasury; the rest was squandered in profligate self-indulgence. And the men who thus impoverished their fellow subjects were themselves exempt from taxation, and entitled by law or custom to all the appointments of the state. The privileged classes numbered a hundred and fifty thousand, and for their gratification millions were condemned to hopeless and degrading lives." (See Appendix.)

The court was given up to luxury and profligacy. There was little confidence existing between the people and the rulers. Suspicion fastened upon all the measures of the government as designing and selfish. For more than half a century before the time of the Revolution the throne was occupied by Louis XV, who, even in those evil times, was distinguished as an indolent, frivolous, and sensual monarch. With a depraved and cruel aristocracy and an impoverished and ignorant lower class, the state financially embarrassed and the people exasperated, it needed no prophet's eye to foresee a terrible impending outbreak. To the warnings of his counselors the king was accustomed to reply: "Try to

281

make things go on as long as I am likely to live; after my death it may be as it will." It was in vain that the necessity of reform was urged. He saw the evils, but had neither the courage nor the power to meet them. The doom awaiting France was but too truly pictured in his indolent and selfish answer, "After me, the deluge!"

By working upon the jealousy of the kings and the ruling classes, Rome had influenced them to keep the people in bondage, well knowing that the state would thus be weakened, and purposing by this means to fasten both rulers and people in her thrall. With farsighted policy she perceived that in order to enslave men effectually, the shackles must be bound upon their souls; that the surest way to prevent them from escaping their bondage was to render them incapable of freedom. A thousandfold more terrible than the physical suffering which resulted from her policy, was the moral degradation. Deprived of the Bible, and abandoned to the teachings of bigotry and selfishness, the people were shrouded in ignorance and superstition, and sunken in vice, so that they were wholly unfitted for self-government.

But the outworking of all this was widely different from what Rome had purposed. Instead of holding the masses in a blind submission to her dogmas, her work resulted in making them infidels and revolutionists. Romanism they despised as priestcraft. They beheld the clergy as a party to their oppression. The only god they knew was the god of Rome; her teaching was their only religion. They regarded her greed and cruelty as the legitimate fruit of the Bible, and they would have none of it.

Rome had misrepresented the character of God and perverted His requirements, and now men rejected both the Bible and its Author. She had required a blind faith in her dogmas, under the pretended sanction of the Scriptures. In the reaction, Voltaire and his associates cast aside God's word altogether and spread everywhere the poison of infidelity. Rome had ground down the people under her iron heel; and now the masses, degraded and brutalized, in their recoil from

282

her tyranny, cast off all restraint. Enraged at the glittering cheat to which they had so long paid homage, they rejected truth and falsehood together; and mistaking license for liberty, the slaves of vice exulted in their imagined freedom.

At the opening of the Revolution, by a concession of the king, the people were granted a representation exceeding that of the nobles and the clergy combined. Thus the balance of power was in their hands; but they were not prepared to use it with wisdom and moderation. Eager to redress the wrongs they had suffered, they determined to undertake the reconstruction of society. An outraged populace, whose minds were filled with bitter and long-treasured memories of wrong, resolved to revolutionize the state of misery that had grown unbearable and to avenge themselves upon those whom they regarded as the authors of their sufferings. The oppressed wrought out the lesson they had learned under tyranny and became the oppressors of those who had oppressed them.

Unhappy France reaped in blood the harvest she had sown. Terrible were the results of her submission to the controlling power of Rome. Where France, under the influence of Romanism, had set up the first stake at the opening of the Reformation, there the Revolution set up its first guillotine. On the very spot where the first martyrs to the Protestant faith were burned in the sixteenth century, the first victims were guillotined in the eighteenth. In repelling the gospel, which would have brought her healing, France had opened the door to infidelity and ruin. When the restraints of God's law were cast aside, it was found that the laws of man were inadequate to hold in check the powerful tides of human passion; and the nation swept on to revolt and anarchy. The war against the Bible inaugurated an era which stands in the world's history as the Reign of Terror. Peace and happiness were banished from the homes and hearts of men. No one was secure. He who triumphed today was suspected, condemned, tomorrow. Violence and lust held undisputed sway.

283

King, clergy, and nobles were compelled to submit to the atrocities of an excited and maddened people. Their thirst for vengeance was only stimulated by the execution of the king; and those who had decreed his death soon followed him to the scaffold. A general slaughter of all suspected of hostility to the Revolution was determined. The prisons were crowded, at one time containing more than two hundred thousand captives. The cities of the kingdom were filled with scenes of horror. One party of revolutionists was against another party, and France became a vast field for contending masses, swayed by the fury of their passions. "In Paris one tumult succeeded another, and the citizens were divided into a medley of factions, that seemed intent on nothing but mutual extermination." And to add to the general misery, the nation became involved in a prolonged and devastating war with the great powers of Europe. "The country was nearly bankrupt, the armies were clamoring for arrears of pay, the Parisians were starving, the provinces were laid waste by brigands, and civilization was almost extinguished in anarchy and license."

All too well the people had learned the lessons of cruelty and torture which Rome had so diligently taught. A day of retribution at last had come. It was not now the disciples of Jesus that were thrust into dungeons and dragged to the stake. Long ago these had perished or been driven into exile. Unsparing Rome now felt the deadly power of those whom she had trained to delight in deeds of blood. "The example of persecution which the clergy of France had exhibited for so many ages, was now retorted upon them with signal vigor. The scaffolds ran red with the blood of the priests. The galleys and the prisons, once crowded with Huguenots, were now filled with their persecutors. Chained to the bench and toiling at the oar, the Roman Catholic clergy experienced all those woes which their church had so freely inflicted on the gentle heretics." (See Appendix.)

284

"Then came those days when the most barbarous of all codes was administered by the most barbarous of all tribunals; when no man could greet his neighbors or say his prayers . . . without danger of committing a capital crime; when spies lurked in every corner; when the guillotine was long and hard at work every morning; when the jails were filled as close as the holds of a slave ship; when the gutters ran foaming with blood into the Seine. . . . While the daily wagonloads of victims were carried to their doom through the streets of Paris, the proconsuls, whom the sovereign committee had sent forth to the departments, reveled in an extravagance of cruelty unknown even in the capital. The knife of the deadly machine rose and fell too slow for their work of slaughter. Long rows of captives were mowed down with grapeshot. Holes were made in the bottom of crowded barges. Lyons was turned into a desert. At Arras even the cruel mercy of a speedy death was denied to the prisoners. All down the Loire, from Saumur to the sea, great flocks of crows and kites feasted on naked corpses, twined together in hideous embraces. No mercy was shown to sex or age. The number of young lads and of girls of seventeen who were murdered by that execrable government, is to be reckoned by hundreds. Babies torn from the breast were tossed from pike to pike along the Jacobin ranks." (See Appendix.) In the short space of ten years, multitudes of human beings perished.

All this was as Satan would have it. This was what for ages he had been working to secure. His policy is deception from first to last, and his steadfast purpose is to bring woe and wretchedness upon men, to deface and defile the workmanship of God, to mar the divine purposes of benevolence and love, and thus cause grief in heaven. Then by his deceptive arts he blinds the minds of men, and leads them to throw back the blame of his work upon God, as if all this misery were the result of the Creator's plan. In like manner, when

285

those who have been degraded and brutalized through his cruel power achieve their freedom, he urges them on to excesses and atrocities. Then this picture of unbridled license is pointed out by tyrants and oppressors as an illustration of the results of liberty.

When error in one garb has been detected, Satan only masks it in a different disguise, and multitudes receive it as eagerly as at the first. When the people found Romanism to be a deception, and he could not through this agency lead them to transgression of God's law, he urged them to regard all religion as a cheat, and the Bible as a fable; and, casting aside the divine statutes, they gave themselves up to unbridled iniquity.

The fatal error which wrought such woe for the inhabitants of France was the ignoring of this one great truth: that true freedom lies within the proscriptions of the law of God. "O that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea." "There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked." "But whoso hearkeneth unto Me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil." Isaiah 48:18, 22; Proverbs 1:33.

Atheists, infidels, and apostates oppose and denounce God's law; but the results of their influence prove that the well-being of man is bound up with his obedience of the divine statutes. Those who will not read the lesson from the book of God are bidden to read it in the history of nations.

When Satan wrought through the Roman Church to lead men away from obedience, his agency was concealed, and his work was so disguised that the degradation and misery which resulted were not seen to be the fruit of transgression. And his power was so far counteracted by the working of the Spirit of God that his purposes were prevented from reaching their full fruition. The people did not trace the effect to its cause and discover the source of their miseries. But in the

286

Revolution the law of God was openly set aside by the National Council. And in the Reign of Terror which followed, the working of cause and effect could be seen by all.

When France publicly rejected God and set aside the Bible, wicked men and spirits of darkness exulted in their attainment of the object so long desired--a kingdom free from the restraints of the law of God. Because sentence against an evil work was not speedily executed, therefore the heart of the sons of men was "fully set in them to do evil." Ecclesiastes 8:11. But the transgression of a just and righteous law must inevitably result in misery and ruin. Though not visited at once with judgments, the wickedness of men was nevertheless surely working out their doom. Centuries of apostasy and crime had been treasuring up wrath against the day of retribution; and when their iniquity was full, the despisers of God learned too late that it is a fearful thing to have worn out the divine patience. The restraining Spirit of God, which imposes a check upon the cruel power of Satan, was in a great measure removed, and he whose only delight is the wretchedness of men was permitted to work his will. Those who had chosen the service of rebellion were left to reap its fruits until the land was filled with crimes too horrible for pen to trace. From devastated provinces and ruined cities a terrible cry was heard--a cry of bitterest anguish. France was shaken as if by an earthquake. Religion, law, social order, the family, the state, and the church--all were smitten down by the impious hand that had been lifted against the law of God. Truly spoke the wise man: "The wicked shall fall by his own wickedness." "Though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before Him: but it shall not be well with the wicked." Proverbs 11:5; Ecclesiastes 8:12, 13. "They hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord;" "therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices." Proverbs 1:29, 31.

287

God's faithful witnesses, slain by the blasphemous power that "ascendeth out of the bottomless pit," were not long to remain silent. "After three days and a half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them." Revelation 11:11. It was in 1793 that the decrees which abolished the Christian religion and set aside the Bible passed the French Assembly. Three years and a half later a resolution rescinding these decrees, thus granting toleration to the Scriptures, was adopted by the same body. The world stood aghast at the enormity of guilt which had resulted from a rejection of the Sacred Oracles, and men recognized the necessity of faith in God and His word as the foundation of virtue and morality. Saith the Lord: "Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel," Isaiah 37:23. "Therefore, behold, I will cause them to know, this once will I cause them to know My hand and My might; and they shall know that My name is Jehovah." Jeremiah 16:21, A.R.V.

Concerning the two witnesses the prophet declares further: "And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them." Revelation 11:12. Since France made war upon God's two witnesses, they have been honored as never before. In 1804 the British and Foreign Bible Society was organized. This was followed by similar organizations, with numerous branches, upon the continent of Europe. In 1816 the American Bible Society was founded. When the British Society was formed, the Bible had been printed and circulated in fifty tongues. It has since been translated into many hundreds of languages and dialects. (See Appendix.)

For the fifty years preceding 1792, little attention was given to the work of foreign missions. No new societies were formed, and there were but few churches that made any

288

effort for the spread of Christianity in heathen lands. But toward the close of the eighteenth century a great change took place. Men became dissatisfied with the results of rationalism and realized the necessity of divine revelation and experimental religion. From this time the work of foreign missions attained an unprecedented growth. (See Appendix.)

The improvements in printing have given an impetus to the work of circulating the Bible. The increased facilities for communication between different countries, the breaking down of ancient barriers of prejudice and national exclusiveness, and the loss of secular power by the pontiff of Rome have opened the way for the entrance of the word of God. For some years the Bible has been sold without restraint in the streets of Rome, and it has now been carried to every part of the habitable globe.

The infidel Voltaire once boastingly said: "I am weary of hearing people repeat that twelve men established the Christian religion. I will prove that one man may suffice to overthrow it." Generations have passed since his death. Millions have joined in the war upon the Bible. But it is so far from being destroyed, that where there were a hundred in Voltaire's time, there are now ten thousand, yes, a hundred thousand copies of the book of God. In the words of an early Reformer concerning the Christian church, "The Bible is an anvil that has worn out many hammers." Saith the Lord: "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn." Isaiah 54:17.

"The word of our God shall stand forever." "All His commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness." Isaiah 40:8; Psalm 111:7, 8. Whatever is built upon the authority of man will be overthrown; but that which is founded upon the rock of God's immutable word shall stand forever.

Source :The Great Controversy chap 15 by Ellen G White.