Johnson Amendment ,Church and State is soon to Come But God is Holding the winds till His servants are sealed

The VP candidate made a last-ditch pitch to evangelicals on November 6.

Some evangelical Christians in America saw Mike Pence at church on November 6.

Not Pence in the flesh, of course — the Republican vice presidential candidate was on the campaign trail in Panama City, Florida, and Hickory, North Carolina. But a five-minute video in which Pence, clad in a navy blue suit, stands in front of a white wall and delivers a direct pitch to congregants in churches was uploaded to Vimeo on Thursday under the title “Church Greeting.”

The video seems like it was produced in some kind of parallel universe to the actual Trump campaign, with its references to the civil rights movement and slavery and its very specific bid for evangelical votes made in clean, positive evangelical lingo. 

But the video also encapsulates the campaign’s promises to evangelicals that it hopes will sway their vote, despite widespread reticence due to Trump’s behavior and promises on many fronts. And furthermore — especially in its reiteration of Trump’s pledge to repeal the Johnson Amendment — it’s an indicator of the greatest anxiety among the aging moral majority, who feel their influence waning: a lessening grip on the political power they’ve enjoyed over the past few decades.

Reports on Friday from right-leaning sources the Blaze, the Christian Post, and the Christian Broadcasting Network (founded by Pat Robertson) said that “thousands” of churches would be airing the ad. That’s hard to substantiate. And it’s not clear how the churches were alerted to the ad; Pence’s Twitter account, for instance, didn’t mention it. 

But from Twitter it’s clear at least a few churches did screen the ad during their morning services:

The Johnson Amendment first became interesting to Trump in June

Pence made sure to mention the Johnson Amendment, which seems to have first surfaced among Trump’s talking points on June 22, a month before his nomination as his party’s presidential candidate, when Trump met in New York City with hundreds of evangelical leaders in a closed-door meeting in New York City. 

During that meeting, Trump delivered the outlines of what would be one of his two promises to woo evangelicals:

The government has gotten so involved in your religion. Especially your religion, that it makes it very difficult. We’ll talk about that. Mike and I have been discussing it, and I think we have some very important things to say. The next president — it’s going to be vital. Not only with Supreme Court justices, which we’ll also talk about at length. But also in things like freeing up your religion, freeing up your thoughts, freeing up your… 

You talk about religious liberty and religious freedom. You really don’t have religious freedom, if you really think about it, because when President Johnson had his tenure, he passed something that makes people very, very nervous to even talk to preserve their tax-exempt status. It’s taken a lot of power away from Christianity and other religions. 

I’ve seen it … I said, “Why is it that the whole thing with Christianity, it’s not going in the right direction? It’s getting weaker, weaker, weaker from a societal standpoint?” And over the course of various meetings, I realized that there are petrified ministers and churches. They speak before 25,000 people, the most incredible speakers you could ever see, better than any politician by far. And yet when it comes to talking about it openly or who they support or why they support somebody because he’s a person — a man or a woman — who is into their values, they’re petrified to do it.

And I couldn’t get the answer. And then one day, at one of our meetings, somebody said, “They’re petrified of losing their tax-exempt status.” And I said, “What is that all about?” And they went into it. It was what happened during the Johnson administration. And I will tell you folks that some of you will agree, some of you will disagree, and some of you, it’s been ingrained and that’s the worst thing because you don’t even think about it. You can’t see the forest for the trees, some of you are so close to it. But I can tell you, I watched this during the last year, and I watched fear in the hearts of brave, incredible people. And we are going to get rid of that, because you should have the right to speak.

Here, Trump incorrectly says that Johnson passed the amendment while president — Johnson served as president from 1963 to 1969, and the amendment was passed by Congress in 1954. Johnson was then a senator, and the amendment was designed at least in part to keep tax-exempt organizations from endorsing or opposing candidates during the McCarthy era. 

The issue resurfaced in Trump’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention on July 21, in which he talked about “an amendment, pushed by Lyndon Johnson many years ago, threatens religious institutions with a loss of their tax-exempt status if they openly advocate their political views." (We fact-checked.)

Alex Wong/Getty

The Johnson Amendment is about churches — and a lot of other organizations

The Johnson Amendment doesn’t only target churches. About a million and a half organizations in the US are registered as tax-exempt. As of May 2016, only 312,373 of those were congregations (which includes congregations of all religions). 

As the Internal Revenue Service interprets the Johnson Amendment, tax-exempt organizations — that is, those which fall under the 501(c)(3) designation — include “religious, educational, charitable, scientific, literary, testing for public safety, to foster national or international sports competition, or prevention of cruelty to children or animals organizations,” according to IRS code. That includes fraternities, civic leagues, and chambers of commerce. 

Such an organization “may not attempt to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities and it may not participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates.” 

Interestingly, the Donald J. Trump Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization, as is the Clinton Foundation.

The Johnson Amendment has been a special interest of the right-wing Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a legal fund that litigates on behalf of conservative Christian causes. A blog post on the organization’s website mirrors Pence’s take, but with a stronger statement about actual endorsement:

Historically, churches frequently spoke for and against candidates for government office. Such sermons date from the founding of the United States, including those against Thomas Jefferson for being a deist and sermons opposing William Howard Taft as a Unitarian. Churches have also been at the forefront of most of the significant societal and governmental changes in our history, including ending segregation and child labor, and advancing civil rights.

The ADF maintains that the amendment unconstitutionally restricts the First Amendment rights of pastors and churches (an argument that is disputed by others) as well as the Free Exercise clause in the Constitution, which states that Congress cannot make laws that keeps people from freely exercising their religion. 

The ADF’s blog post concludes on what might be a surprising note:

After the 1954 Johnson Amendment, churches faced a choice: speak freely on all issues addressed by Scripture and potentially risk their tax exemption, or remain silent and protect their tax-exempt status. Unfortunately, many churches have silenced their speech, even from the pulpit. Ironically, after 60-plus years of the IRS strictly interpreting the amendment, there is no reported situation where a church lost its tax-exempt status or was punished for sermons delivered from the pulpit. Nonetheless, the law remains unchanged and many churches remain silent due to the IRS’s interpretation of the amendment.

That is, the Johnson Amendment is rarely enforced. And it has never been actually used to strip a congregation of its 501(c)(3) status. 

It is challenged at times, though. For instance, in 2014, Houston Mayor Annise Parker subpoenaed five sermons from churches in her city. After widespread outcry, Parker dropped the subpoena. Though, interestingly, the story is referenced in the successful 2016 Christian film God’s Not Dead 2 and teased as the probable plot for the inevitable God’s Not Dead 3. 

So it’s easy to reason that in the background of Trump’s sudden interest in the laws about speech in tax-exempt status for churches is the specific case in Houston, which rattled congregations across the country, in which clergy are understandably reticent to submit their sermons for approval every week. 

But the Pence’s argument also rests on the idea that churches and other congregations are restricting their speech for fear of something that has not happened.

And there’s at least a few additionally disingenuous matters in Pence’s statements about civil rights, the Revolution, and slavery (even leaving aside the campaign’s and the GOP’s handling of matters around race): As it’s practiced, the Johnson Amendment would never have kept clergy from preaching that slavery — the practice of one human owning another human — is a violation of God’s law. It would just keep them from endorsing Abraham Lincoln. 

The ad points to the waning influence of the old religious right — and that they know it

But that fact that some churches even showed the Pence ad is an indicator of the state of the Johnson Amendment. (Under the IRS’s interpretation, 501(c)(3) organizations are allowed to provide a forum for candidates, which “is not, in and of itself, prohibited political activity,” so this may technically fall under that provision. But without an accompanying voice from the Clinton campaign, this seems a bit blurry — especially with Pence’s hard sell for a Trump vote.)

More interestingly, the Pence video articulates what the Trump/Pence campaign thinks is important to the evangelical voter. Since the Reagan era, white evangelicals have been a solid and reliable voting bloc, but that has been thrown into question during this election, largely because of Trump. Pence does take pains to underline his own personal common ground with congregants’ faith — while not mentioning Trump’s — and talks briefly about Supreme Court appointments, two points rooted in traditional conservative Christian conviction.

(Ralph Freso/Getty Images)

But the third seems tied to the decline of the traditional religious right as embodied in aging leaders like James Dobson and Jerry Falwell, who no longer hold the same sort of influence over evangelicals and, by extension, the political establishment as they did in their heyday.

The former moral majority is giving way to what is increasingly being called the “moral minority,” a term some younger evangelicals and their leaders — like Southern Baptist leader Russell Moore — are embracing. “Moore thinks that the idea of a moral majority is wrong, and was probably wrong when it was created: he suspects that earnest, orthodox Christians have always been outnumbered,” Kelefa Sanneh wrote of Moore in the November 7, 2016, issue of the New Yorker. “Like any believer, he wants his church to grow, but he doesn’t seem particularly threatened by the thought that it might not.”

However, that same loss of power, which has been going on for a while, does threaten some leaders. And Trump and Pence have managed to identify this and find a way to tap into it: suggesting the Johnson Amendment is to blame for churches’ declining influence. At the meeting of evangelical leaders in June, Trump spoke further:

And I say to you folks, because you have such power, such influence. Unfortunately the government has weeded it away from you pretty strongly. But you’re going to get it back. Remember this: If you ever add up, the men and women here are the most important, powerful lobbyists. You’re more powerful. Because you have men and women, you probably have something like 75, 80 percent of the country believing. But you don’t use your power. You don’t use your power…

You used to go to church, and you know, when I’d go there … It’s much different today. I know, as an example, the young people aren’t going as much.

But we have to bring that back. We have to bring those values back. We have to bring that spirit back. And in a way, it’s been taken away from you by the federal government and by these horrendous things that have been allowed in the past. But just remember this: You are the most powerful group in this country. But you have to realize that. You have to band together. You have to band together. If you don’t band together, you’re really not powerful. You have a powerful church. I see it. I see some of these incredible pastors and ministers and people that speak so brilliantly. And I see it. But they’re great within their audience, but then outside they don’t have it. You have to band together as a group. And if you do that, you will bring it back like nothing has ever been brought back.

Power, as the Trump campaign sees it, is the greatest good — and it’s what has been stolen from churches. The way to please churches is to bring power back.

Ironically, it’s become increasingly clear that Donald Trump’s candidacy has created rifts that may keep the group from ever “banding back together.” Near the end of the ad, Pence quotes the Pledge of Allegiance — “one nation, under God” — but it’s hard not to think about Lincoln quoting Mark 3:25, that a house divided itself cannot stand. That’s something no five-minute Sunday morning ad can fix.

source https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/11/7/13546186/johnson-amendment-mike-pence-donald-trump-evangelicals-religious-right-moral-majority

President of Leading Nation, Capital of the Caribbean Trinidad and Tobago,gets direct invitation to the Vatican

PRESIDENT Anthony Carmona (Trinidad and Tobago also a "Devoted Catholic ") is due to meet Pope Francis, head of the Roman Catholic Church, on a State visit to Vatican, Rome, Italy next week. Carmona is scheduled to leave for Rome next Thursday, July 4, and will have an audience with the Pope on Saturday, July 6. Newsday understands His Excellency was invited to meet the Pope when he was listed by the Vatican as being among the few Heads of State who are followers of the Catholic faith. Carmona will make the official visit with his wife, Reema. Newsday was unable to confirm whether their children, Christian, 11, and Anura, eight, will make the trip. Newsday has learned that Archbishop of Port-of-Spain Joseph Harris was last month notified by the Vatican of the invitation to Carmona to make the State visit. Carmona attends the Church of the Assumption, Maraval and St Theresa’s RC Church, Woodbrook. Efforts to contact officials of the Archdiocese in Port-of-Spain were unsuccessful but there are reports that the Catholic community in Port-of-Spain and Fyzabad, where Carmona grew up, are overjoyed by the Vatican’s invitation. It will be the Vatican’s first invitation to a Head of State in Trinidad and Tobago, to visit the Holy See. His Excellency will be afforded all of the protocols associated with a Head of State’s visit to the Vatican. Carmona’s cousin, Sister Antonette Fahay, principal of the Home for the Mentally Retarded in Vistabella, could not be reached last night for a comment, but a source said she was elated by the Vatican’s invitation. Coincidently, Carmona leaves for Italy on the day his father, Dennis Stephen Carmona celebrates his 88th birthday. Newsday was unable to ascertain the duration of Carmona’s visit and when he will return to the country. On Monday, Carmona appointed four commissioners to the Integrity Commission, and they are expected to be sworn in and issued their instruments of appointment before the President leaves for Rome. The controversy surrounding the commission’s chairman Kenneth Gordon meeting at his Glencoe home with Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley is ongoing with the Law Association, being the latest organisation to deem Gordon’s action as wrong and improper.

Story Created: Jul 6, 2013 at 10:16 PM ECT
Story Updated: Jul 6, 2013 at 10:41 PM ECT

President Anthony Carmona spent five hours at the Vatican in Rome, Italy yesterday with his family.
Carmona left Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday night with his wife, Reema, his two children, his aide-de-camp, an assistant and a security officer.
They arrived in Rome and were officially received at the airport by Vatican officials and the Ambassador of Trinidad and Tobago to the Holy See Margaret Allison King-Rousseau.
A statement from the Apostolic Nunciature in St Clair yesterday said following the receiving ceremony, Carmona and his delegation were escorted by motorcades of Italian police to their hotel in Rome.
Carmona’s itinerary at the Vatican was precisely mapped out, so that at 10 a.m. he and his delegation, escorted by Italian police were accompanied at the border of the Italian and Vatican states (Saint Peter’s Square).
By 10.15 a.m. Vatican police were expected to escort Carmona and the delegation through Vatican City at the Courtyard San Damaso, where they were to receive the official honours by the Swiss Guard and other Vatican authorities.
At 11 a.m. President Carmona was introduced by His Excellency Msgr Gänswein to the Private Studio of Pope Francis for a private meeting, while the delegation stayed in the library with the Chief of Protocol and other Vatican officials.
Pope Francis and Carmona left the private studio of the Pope for the library where Carmona would have presented the members of his family and the delegation to Pope Francis.
Following which there would have been an exchange of gifts.
Carmona and his delegation were expected to return to Vatican City at 2.30 p.m. led by a protocol official to visit the Sistine Chapel, which is a selected section of the Vatican Museum (Raphael’s Rooms) and Saint Peter’s Basilica.

The delegation was scheduled to leave Vatican City at approximately 4 p.m. through the Vatican Gardens.

I am reminded of this story 

Cover Story: The Holy Alliance

By CARL BERNSTEIN

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,159069,00.html#ixzz2YVP5y1qY

Only President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II were present in the Vatican Library on Monday, June 7, 1982. It was the first time the two had met, and they talked for 50 minutes. In the same wing of the papal apartments, Agostino Cardinal Casaroli and Archbishop Achille Silvestrini met with Secretary of State Alexander Haig and Judge William Clark, Reagan's National Security Adviser. Most of their discussion focused on Israel's invasion of Lebanon, then in its second day; Haig told them Prime Minister Menachem Begin had assured him that the invasion would not go farther than 25 miles inside Lebanon.

But Reagan and the Pope spent only a few minutes reviewing events in the Middle East. Instead they remained focused on a subject much closer to their heart: Poland and the Soviet dominance of Eastern Europe. In that meeting, Reagan and the Pope agreed to undertake a clandestine campaign to hasten the dissolution of the communist empire. Declares Richard Allen, Reagan's first National Security Adviser: "This was one of the great secret alliances of all time."

The operation was focused on Poland, the most populous of the Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe and the birthplace of John Paul II. Both the Pope and the President were convinced that Poland could be broken out of the Soviet orbit if the Vatican and the U.S. committed their resources to destabilizing the Polish government and keeping the outlawed Solidarity movement alive after the declaration of martial law in 1981.

Until Solidarity's legal status was restored in 1989 it flourished underground, supplied, nurtured and advised largely by the network established under the auspices of Reagan and John Paul II. Tons of equipment -- fax machines (the first in Poland), printing presses, transmitters, telephones, shortwave radios, video cameras, photocopiers, telex machines, computers, word processors -- were smuggled into Poland via channels established by priests and American agents and representatives of the AFL-CIO and European labor movements. Money for the banned union came from CIA funds, the National Endowment for Democracy, secret accounts in the Vatican and Western trade unions.

Lech Walesa and other leaders of Solidarity received strategic advice -- often conveyed by priests or American and European labor experts working undercover in Poland -- that reflected the thinking of the Vatican and the Reagan Administration. As the effectiveness of the resistance grew, the stream of information to the West about the internal decisions of the Polish government and the contents of Warsaw's communications with Moscow became a flood. The details came not only from priests but also from spies within the Polish government.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,159069,00.html#ixzz2YVOu2RiR

Take A look at the final rise of the Papacy as It enters into the Glorious Land USA and the countries of the World on its way to ascendance to  the throne of the earth once my by Influence .Bible shows it clearly here. .

The wickedness of the heart of man, Sandy Cook shooting

What happened last Friday was devastating. The world is a dangerous place,the heart of man is growing cold and more wicked. Satan is lier and a wicked being. Only in God can we trust.

Title :The Last Crisis from the book  Testimonies to the Church volume 9 the same book that predicted the tragedy in New York 911.Written in 1909.

"We are living in the time of the end. The fast-fulfilling signs of the times declare that the coming of Christ is near at hand. The days in which we live are solemn and important. The Spirit of God is gradually but surely being withdrawn from the earth. Plagues and judgments are already falling upon the despisers of the grace of God. The calamities by land and sea, the unsettled state of society, the alarms of war, are portentous. They forecast approaching events of the greatest magnitude. – {9T 11.1} 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. – {9T 11.2} The condition of things in the world shows that troublous times are right upon us. The daily papers are full of indications of a terrible conflict in the near future. Bold robberies are of frequent occurrence. Strikes are common. Thefts and murders are committed on every hand. Men possessed of demons are taking the lives of men, women, and little children. Men have become infatuated with vice, and every species of evil prevails. – {9T 11.3}

A Great Crisis is ahead.Policies are being shape,infrastructure are being put in place, Human beings are being educated to receive collective decisions, The time is at hand.

Sunday Laws predicted since 1800s.

Arguments Used by Sunday-Law Advocates

Satan puts his interpretation upon events, and they think, as he would have them, that the calamities which fill the land are a result of Sundaybreaking. Thinking to appease the wrath of God these influential men make laws enforcing Sunday observance.--10MR 239 (1899). {LDE 129.4}
This very class put forth the claim that the fast-spreading corruption is largely attributable to the desecration of the so-called "Christian sabbath" and that the enforcement of Sunday observance would
130
greatly improve the morals of society. This claim is especially urged in America, where the doctrine of the true Sabbath has been most widely preached.--GC 587 (1911). {LDE 129.5}

Protestantism and
Catholicism Act in Concert


Protestantism shall give the hand of fellowship to the Roman power. Then there will be a law against the Sabbath of God's creation, and then it is that God will do His "strange work" in the earth.--7BC 910 (1886). {LDE 130.1}
How the Roman church can clear herself from the charge of idolatry we cannot see. . . . And this is the religion which Protestants are beginning to look upon with so much favor, and which will eventually be united with Protestantism. This union will not, however, be effected by a change in Catholicism, for Rome never changes. She claims infallibility. It is Protestantism that will change. The adoption of liberal ideas on its part will bring it where it can clasp the hand of Catholicism.--RH June 1, 1886. {LDE 130.2}
The professed Protestant world will form a confederacy with the man of sin, and the church and the world will be in corrupt harmony.--7BC 975 (1891). {LDE 130.3}
Romanism in the Old World, and apostate Protestantism in the New, will pursue a similar course toward those who honor all the divine precepts.--GC 616 (1911). {LDE 130.4}

Sunday Laws Honor Rome

When the leading churches of the United States, uniting upon such points of doctrine as are held by them in common, shall influence the state to enforce their decrees and to sustain their institutions, then Protestant America will have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy, and the infliction of civil penalties upon dissenters will inevitably result. . . . {LDE 131.1}
The enforcement of Sundaykeeping on the part of Protestant churches is an enforcement of the worship of the papacy. . . . {LDE 131.2}
In the very act of enforcing a religious duty by secular power, the churches would themselves form an image to the beast; hence the enforcement of Sundaykeeping in the United States would be an enforcement of the worship of the beast and his image.--GC 445, 448, 449 (1911). {LDE 131.3}
When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near.--5T 451 (1885). {LDE 131.4}

Rome Will Regain Her Lost Supremacy

As we approach the last crisis it is of vital moment
132
that harmony and unity exist among the Lord's instrumentalities. The world is filled with storm and war and variance. Yet under one head--the papal power--the people will unite to oppose God in the person of His witnesses. This union is cemented by the great apostate.--7T 182 (1902). {LDE 131.5}
Laws enforcing the observance of Sunday as the Sabbath will bring about a national apostasy from the principles of republicanism upon which the government has been founded. The religion of the papacy will be accepted by the rulers, and the law of God will be made void.--7MR 192 (1906). {LDE 132.1}
A day of great intellectual darkness has been shown to be favorable to the success of popery. It will yet be demonstrated that a day of great intellectual light is equally favorable for its success.--4SP 390 (1884). {LDE 132.2}
In the movements now in progress in the United States to secure for the institutions and usages of the church the support of the state, Protestants are following in the steps of papists. Nay, more, they are opening the door for the papacy to regain in Protestant America the supremacy which she has lost in the Old World.--GC 573 (1911). {LDE 132.3}

A National Sunday Law
Means National Apostasy


To secure popularity and patronage, legislators will yield to the demand for a Sunday law....By the
133
decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. . . . {LDE 132.4}
As the approach of the Roman armies was a sign to the disciples of the impending destruction of Jerusalem, so may this apostasy be a sign to us that the limit of God's forbearance is reached.--5T 451 (1885). {LDE 133.1}
We must take a firm stand that we will not reverence the first day of the week as the Sabbath, for it is not the day that was blessed and sanctified by Jehovah, and in reverencing Sunday we should place ourselves on the side of the great deceiver.... {LDE 133.2}
When the law of God has been made void and apostasy becomes a national sin, the Lord will work in behalf of His people.--3SM 388 (1889). {LDE 133.3}
The people of the United States have been a favored people, but when they restrict religious liberty, surrender Protestantism, and give countenance to popery, the measure of their guilt will be full, and "national apostasy" will be registered in the books of heaven.--RH May 2, 1893. {LDE 133.4}

National Apostasy Will Be
Followed by National Ruin


When our nation, in its legislative councils, shall enact laws to bind the consciences of men in regard to their religious privileges, enforcing Sunday observance, and bringing oppressive power to bear against those who keep the seventh-day Sabbath, the law of
134
God will, to all intents and purposes, be made void in our land, and national apostasy will be followed by national ruin.--7BC 977 (1888). {LDE 133.5}
It is at the time of the national apostasy when, acting on the policy of Satan, the rulers of the land will rank themselves on the side of the man of sin. It is then the measure of guilt is full. The national apostasy is the signal for national ruin.--2SM 373 (1891). {LDE 134.1}
Roman Catholic principles will be taken under the care and protection of the state. This national apostasy will speedily be followed by national ruin.--RH June 15, 1897. {LDE 134.2}
When Protestant churches shall unite with the secular power to sustain a false religion, for opposing which their ancestors endured the fiercest persecution, then will the papal sabbath be enforced by the combined authority of church and state. There will be a national apostasy, which will end only in national ruin.--Ev 235 (1899). {LDE 134.3}
When the state shall use its power to enforce the decrees and sustain the institutions of the church--then will Protestant America have formed an image to the papacy, and there will be a national apostasy which will end only in national ruin.--7BC 976 (1910). {LDE 134.4}

The Seal. Who will receive the mark of the Beast. The coming Sunday law

The message containing this warning is the last to be proclaimed before the revelation of the Son of man. The signs which He Himself has given declare His coming to be near at hand. For well-nigh forty years has the message of the third angel been sounding. In the issue of the great contest two parties are developed, those who "worship the beast and his image," and receive his mark, and those who receive "the seal of the living God," who have the Father's name written in their foreheads. This is not a visible mark. The time has come when all who have an interest in their soul's salvation should earnestly and solemnly inquire, What is the seal of God? and what is the mark of the beast? How can we avoid receiving it? {ST, November 1, 1899 par. 8}

The seal of God, the token or sign of His authority, is found in the fourth commandment. This is the only precept of the Decalogue that points to God as the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and clearly distinguishes the true God from all false gods. Throughout the Scriptures the fact of God's creative power is cited as proof that He is above all heathen deities. {ST, November 1, 1899 par. 9}

The Sabbath enjoined by the fourth commandment was instituted to commemorate the work of creation, thus to keep the minds of men ever directed to the true and living God. Had the Sabbath always been kept, there would never have been an idolater, an atheist, or an infidel. The sacred observance of God"s holy day would have led the minds of men to their Creator. The things of nature would have brought Him to their remembrance, and they would have borne witness to His power and His love. The Sabbath of the fourth commandment is the seal of the living God. It points to God as the Creator, and is the sign of His rightful authority over the beings He has made. {ST, November 1, 1899 par. 10}

What, then, is the mark of the beast, if it is not the spurious sabbath which the world has accepted in the place of the true? {ST, November 1, 1899 par. 11}

The prophetic declaration that the Papacy was to exalt itself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped, has been strikingly fulfilled in the changing of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week. Wherever the papal Sabbath is honored in preference to the Sabbath of God, there the man of sin is exalted above the Creator of heaven and earth. {ST, November 1, 1899 par. 12}

Those who assert that Christ changed the Sabbath are directly contradicting His own words. In His Sermon on the Mount He declared: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever, therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." {ST, November 1, 1899 par. 13}

Roman Catholics acknowledge that the change in the Sabbath was made by their church, and they cite this very change as evidence of the supreme authority of this church. They declare that by observing the first day of the week as the Sabbath, Protestants are recognizing her power to legislate in divine things. The Roman Church has not relinquished her claim to infallibility, and when the world and the Protestant churches accept the spurious sabbath of her creating, they virtually acknowledge her claim. They may cite the authority of the apostles and fathers in defense of this change, but the fallacy of their reasoning is easily discerned. The papist is sharp enough to see that Protestants are deceiving themselves, willingly closing their eyes to the facts in the case. As the Sunday institution gains favor, he rejoices, feeling assured that it will eventually bring the whole Protestant world under the banner of Rome.

{ST, November 1, 1899 par. 14}

November 8, 1899 The Seal of God. No. 2.

A Sign of Authority--How Receive the Mark--National

Apostasy--Rome the Same--An Image to

the Papacy--The Trials of the Remnant Church.

The change of the Sabbath is a sign or mark of the authority of the Romish Church. Those who, understanding the claims of the fourth commandment, choose to observe the false sabbath in the place of the true, are thereby paying homage to that power by which alone it is commanded. The mark of the beast is the papal sabbath, which has been accepted by the world in the place of the day of God's appointment. {ST, November 8, 1899 par. 1}

There are true Christians in every church, not excepting the Roman Catholic communion. None are condemned until they have had the light and have seen the obligation of the fourth commandment. But when the decree shall go forth enforcing the counterfeit sabbath, and the loud cry of "the third angel" shall warn men against the worship of the beast and his image, the line will be clearly drawn between the false and the true. Then those who still continue in transgression will receive the mark of the beast. {ST, November 8, 1899 par. 2}

With rapid steps we are approaching this period. When Protestant churches shall unite with the secular power in sustaining a false religion, for opposing which their ancestors endured the fiercest persecution, then will the papal Sabbath be enforced by the combined authority of church and State. There will be a national apostasy, which will end only in national ruin. {ST, November 8, 1899 par. 3}

Marvelous in her shrewdness and cunning is the Roman Catholic Church. She presents a fair front to the world, covering with apologies her record of horrible cruelties( note this was written in 1899 ,also the Roman Church boast that it does not change ), and declaring that her spirit of persecution no longer exists. But she is the same as in the days of the Reformation, when men of God stood up at the peril of their lives to expose her iniquity; the same as when she assumed the power to control kings and princes, and claimed the prerogatives of God. She may clothe herself in Christlike garments, the better to carry forward her purposes; but she still retains the venom of the serpent, and her principles are exerting their influence in legislative halls, in churches, and in the hearts of men. Her spirit is no less cruel and despotic now than when it crushed out human liberty, and slew the saints of the Most High. ( Inquisitions/ Dark ages/1260 year period of papal persecution ) {ST, November 8, 1899 par. 4}

By compromises and concessions, Protestants have tampered with and patronized popery, giving her vantage-ground which papists themselves are surprised to see and fail to understand. The Protestant world needs to be aroused to resist the advances of this most dangerous foe to civil and religious liberty. {ST, November 8, 1899 par. 5}

When the State shall enforce the decrees and sustain the institutions of the church, then will Protestant America have formed an image of the Papacy. Then the true church will be assailed by persecution as were God's people in ancient times. Almost every century furnishes instances of what human hearts, controlled by rage and malice, can do under a plea of serving God by protecting the rights of the church and State. The Protestant churches that have followed in the steps of Rome by forming alliances with worldly powers have manifested a similar desire to restrict liberty of conscience. How many non-conformist ministers have suffered under the power of the Church of England! Persecution always follows a restriction of religious liberty on the part of secular governments. {ST, November 8, 1899 par. 6}

Rejection of Great Light.

It is urged by many that the intellectual and moral darkness prevailing during the middle ages favored the spread of dogma, superstition, and the oppression of popery, and that the general diffusion of knowledge, and the well-nigh universal acceptance of the principles of religious liberty, forbid a revival of superstition and tyranny. It is true that great light, intellectual, moral, and religious, is shinning upon this generation. Since 1844 light from the heaven of heavens has beamed from the open door of the temple of God. But it is to be remembered that the greater the light bestowed, the greater the delusion and darkness of those who reject the Word of God and accept fables, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men. {ST, November 8, 1899 par. 7}

Satan will excite the indignation of apostate Christendom against the humble remnant who conscientiously refuse to accept false customs and traditions. Blinded by the prince of darkness, popular religionists will see only as he sees, and feel as he feels. They will determine as he determines, and oppress as he has oppressed. Liberty of conscience, which has cost so great a sacrifice, will no longer be respected. The church and the world will unite, and the world will lend to the church power to crush out the right of the people to worship God according to His Word. {ST, November 8, 1899 par. 8}

The decree which is to go forth against the people of God in the near future is in some respects similar to that issued by Ahasuerus against the Jews in the time of Esther. The Persian edict sprang from the malice of Haman against Mordecai. Not that Mordecai had done Haman harm, but he had refused to flatter his vanity by showing him the reverence which is due only to God. The king's decision against the Jews was secured under false pretenses. Satan instigated this scheme in order to rid the earth of those who preserved a knowledge of the true God. But his plots were defeated by a counter-power that reigns among the children of men. Angels who excel in strength were commissioned to protect the people of God, and the plots of their adversaries returned upon their own heads. {ST, November 8, 1899 par. 9}

History repeats itself. The same masterful mind that plotted against the faithful in ages past is now at work to gain control of the Protestant churches, that through them he may condemn and put to death all who will not worship the idol sabbath. We have not to battle with man, as it may appear. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. But if the people of God will put their trust in Him, and by faith rely upon His power, the devices of Satan will be defeated in our time as signally as in the days of Mordecai. {ST, November 8, 1899 par. 10}

The decree is to go forth that all who will not receive the mark of the beast shall neither buy nor sell, and, finally, that they shall be put to death. But the saints of God do not receive this mark. The prophet of Patmos beheld those that had gotten the victory over the beast and over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having the harps of God, and singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. {ST, November 8, 1899 par. 11}

To every soul will come the searching test, Shall I obey God rather than men? The decisive hour is even now at hand. Satan is putting forth his utmost efforts in the rage of a last despairing struggle against Christ and His followers. False teachers are employing every device possible to stimulate the hardened sinner in his rebellious daring, to confirm the questioning, the doubting, the unbelieving, and, by misrepresentation and falsehood, to deceive, if it were possible, the very elect. Who are prepared to stand firmly under the banner on which is inscribed, "The commandments of God and the faith of Jesus"? {ST, November 8, 1899 par. 12}

Christ never purchased peace and friendship by compromise with evil. Tho His heart overflowed with love toward the human race, He could not be indulgent to their sins. Because He loved men and women, He was a stern reprover of their vices. His life of suffering, the humiliation to which He was subjected by a perverse nation, show His followers that there must be no sacrifice of principle. God's tried people must maintain watchfulness, with fervent prayer, lest, in their eagerness to prevent discord, they surrender truth, and thus dishonor the God of truth. Peace is too dearly obtained if purchased by the smallest concession to Satan's agencies. The least surrender of principle entangles us in the snare of the enemy. {ST, November 8, 1899 par. 13}

Paul writes to the Romans, "If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." But there is a point beyond which it is impossible to maintain union and harmony without the sacrifice of principle. Separation then becomes an absolute duty. The laws of nations should be respected when they do not conflict with the laws of God. But when there is collision between them, every true disciple of Christ will say, as did the apostle Peter when commanded to speak no more in the name of Jesus, "We ought to obey God rather than men."