The main characteristic of the antichrist is the subtle denial that Jesus Christ is the begotten Son of the living God. The beloved John wrote: “Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.  Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the father also” (1 John 2:22-23).

Ever wondered why the Jews wanted to kill Christ when He called God His Father (John 5:18)?  “The whole nation of the Jews called God their Father, therefore they would not have been so enraged if Christ had represented Himself as standing in the same relation to God.  But they accused Him of blasphemy, showing that they understood Him as making this claim in the highest sense” (Ellen White, Desire of Ages, 1898, p. 207).  To “obscure, that Christ was the only begotten Son of God” (Ellen White, Letter 42 To Elder DA Parsons, 29 April 1910), Satan through his antichrist has developed a doctrine of co-eternal age of Christ and His Father, reducing Christ to a Symbolic (figurative or role playing) Son – this doctrine too is wine of Antichrist.

God gives us characteristics of the Antichrist so that we avoid being deceived. The Antichrist is identified as the little horn (Daniel 7:8) or the beast (Revelation 13:1-2) or Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth (Revelation 17:5).  The Bible warns God’s people not to worship the Antichrist (Revelation 14:9-11), and calls God’s people out of this religious system (Revelation 18:4).

Satan deceives the whole world in worshipping him through the Antichrist whom he has set up as a Vicar of Christ.  The only way not to be deceived is for us to be determined, as was Paul, “For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).  Beware of Antichrist, “For there shall arise false Christs … insomuch that, if it were possible, they would deceive the very elect” (Matthew 24:24).

Drunken with Blood of Saints

Revelation 17:6-7 “6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.  7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.”  The woman here described is the antichrist.

“Why should John ‘wonder with great wonder,’ as it reads in the original, when he saw the woman drunken with the blood of saints?  Was the persecution of the people of God any strange in his day?  Had he not seen Rome launch its most fiery anathemas against the church, himself being in banishment under its cruel power at the time he wrote?  Why, then, should he be astonished, as he looked forward, and saw Rome still persecuting the saints?  The secret of his wonder was this: All the persecution he had witnessed had been from pagan Rome, the open enemy of Christ. It was not strange that pagans should persecute Christ's followers.  But when he looked forward and saw a church professedly Christian persecuting the followers of the Lamb, and drunk with their blood, he could but wonder with great amazement” (Uriah Smith, Daniel and the Revelation, 1882, p. 749).

Antichrist and his various names

The Antichrist is identified by various names.  But before we look at these names, it is important that we know the Father and Christ His Son so that we are not deceived.  “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3).

Eternal life comes from knowing the Father and Christ His Son.  Yet, the wine of antichrist mystifies the Father-Son relationship as symbolic (figurative or role playing).  To “obscure, that Christ was the only begotten Son of God,” Satan through the antichrist has long deceived many that Christ is merely a symbolic Son of His symbolic Father, for the doctrine at its core teaches that God and Christ are of same co-eternal age.  Through this doctrine, Satan adds a third separate god to such obscurity so that in the end Satan is worshipped through a false doctrine.

“Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:22).  “And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world” (John 4:3); “For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist” (2 John 1:7).

Antichrist is also known as the man of sin.  “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition” (2 Thessalonians 2:3).

Antichrist is also known as the leopard-like beast. “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast” (Revelation 13:1-3).

Antichrist is also known as the little horn. “I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things” (Dan 7:8).

Antichrist identified as Little Horn

In the book of Daniel, the prophetic countdown to the Antichrist identification begins with four kingdoms and identifies the Antichrist as the little horn.  We read: “In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters. Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another” (Daniel 7:1-3).  Here we have winds, sea (or water), and beasts, as prophetic symbols, which we now need to know.

Winds represent strife and war.  “And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come. For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them” (Jeremiah 49:36-37).

Sea (or waters) represents populated area.  “And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues” (Revelation 17:15).  Note though, not wherever you read water in the Bible refers to people, it is only in the context of prophecy that water may symbolize people, as in this case.

Beasts represent kingdoms.  “These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth … Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces” (Daniel 7:17, 23).

The first of the four kingdoms in Daniel 7 was Babylon (Daniel 7:4).  The second was Medo-Persia (Daniel 7:5).  It was raised up on one side because the Persians were stronger.  The three ribs represent Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt.  The third kingdom was Greece (Daniel 7:6).  Its four wings meant it conquered quickly.  Its four heads represents generals that took over after death of Alexander the Great (Cassander, Lysimachus, Seleucus, Ptolemy).  The fourth kingdom was Rome (Daniel 7:7).  Its iron teeth match the iron legs of Daniel 2.

After the four kingdoms, comes the Little Horn or the Little Kingdom (Daniel 7:8, 24).  It is located within Rome, and it is called the Vatican City.  “It is not a country, but rather an independent city-state and is the smallest state in the world. It is roughly triangle-shaped and covers an area of 0.44 sq km (0.11 sq mi), lying entirely within the city of Rome, Italy, near the west bank of the Tiber River and west of the Castel Sant'Angelo” (nationsencyclopedia.com – last accessed 26 February 2012).

The little horn comes up among others (Daniel 7:8).  Located in Rome, Italy, is in the centre of the old Roman Empire or modern Europe.  It comes up after Rome is divided (Daniel 7:8).  The Roman Empire was divided in 476 AD when Odoacer, king of the Heruli, deposed Romulus Agustulus (last western Roman emperor) in 476 AD, and the fragmentation of the Roman Empire was completed.  It is after this the little horn rules.

Antichrist identified as the Papacy

The little horn plucks up or destroys three horns or kingdoms (Daniel 7:8, 24).  The power that fits this is the Papacy.  The Papacy comes to power in AD 538.  The Papacy or the Roman Church did uproot three of the ten kingdoms.  The Vandals (in 534 AD), the Heruli (in 493 AD) and the Ostrogoths (in 538 AD).  These three Arian kingdoms were a threat to the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome (later called the Pope).  These three kingdoms were uprooted by the imperial power, the decree of Justinian (pronounced in AD 533), acting under the influence of the Bishop of Rome, which decree recognized the Pope’s headship over all the churches of east and west.  The effective supremacy of the Papacy started when finally the Ostrogoths were uprooted in February 538 AD (see History of the Christian Church, Vol 3, by Philip Schaff, 1819-1893, German-American theologian and church historian).

The papacy or little horn was different from the other kingdoms (Daniel 7:24).  “The Bishop of Rome, in the seat of the Caesars, was now the greatest man in the West, and was soon forced to become the political as well as the spiritual head. To the Western world Rome was still the political capital – hence the whole habit of mind, all ambition, pride, and sense of glory, and every social prejudice favored the evolution of the great city into the ecclesiastical capital. Civil as well as religious disputes were referred to the successor of Peter for settlement” (Alexander Clarence Flick, The Rise of the Medieval Church, p. 168).

The little horn or the Papacy was a persecuting power (Daniel 7:21, 25).  “That the Church of Rome has shed more innocent blood than any other institution that has ever existed among man kind will be questioned by no Protestant who has a competent knowledge of history” (The History of the rise of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe, Vol. 2, p. 32).

The Papacy first ruled for 1260 days or three and a half prophetic years (Daniel 7:25).  A day is a year in prophecy (Ezra 7:7; Numbers 14:34; Luke 13:31-33), which makes it 1260 years of papal supremacy. The 1260 years foretold in prophecy were therefore AD 538-1798.  The little horn of Daniel 7 and the leopard-like beast of Revelation 13 represent the papacy. This symbol, as most Protestants have believed, represents the papacy, which succeeded to the power and seat and authority once held by the ancient Roman Empire.

David Simpson (1745-1799) theologian and religious writer, educated at St Johns College, Cambridge, a Methodist, wrote in 1798: “Is it not extremely remarkable, and a powerful confirmation of the truth of Scripture prophecy, that just 1260 years ago from the present 1798, in the very beginning of the year 538, Belisarius put an end to the empire of the Goths at Rome, leaving no power therein but the Bishop of that Metropolis? Read these things in the prophetic Scriptures; … and then, I say again, deny the truth of Divine Revelation, if you can. Open your eyes, and behold these things accomplishing in the face of the whole world. This thing is not done in a corner” (A Plea for Religion and the Sacred Writings, p. 166).

Two further quotes identify the papacy as such.  First, “The Roman Church ... pushed itself into the place of the Roman World-Empire, of which it is the actual continuation. ...The Pope ... is Caesar's successor” (Adolf Harnack, What is Christianity? trans. by Thomas Bailey Saunders, New York: Putnam, 2nd ed., rev., 1901, p. 270).  Second, “The mighty Catholic Church was little more than the Roman Empire baptised. Rome was transformed as well as converted. The very capital of the old Empire became the capital of the Christian Empire. The office of Pontifex Maximus was continued in that of Pope” (Alexander Clarence Flick, The Rise of the Mediaeval Church, reprint: New York, Burt Franklin, 1959, pp. 148, 149).

At the end of the 1260 years, the papacy received a deadly wound (Revelation 13:3) when Napoleon's general, Alexander Berthier, entered Rome and took Pope Pius VI captive in February of 1798.  Napoleon decreed that at the death of the pope, the papacy would be discontinued.  The pope died in France in August of 1799.  “Half Europe thought ... that without the Pope the Papacy was dead” (Joseph Rickaby, “The Modern Papacy,” Lectures on the History of Religion, Lecture 24, London: Catholic Truth Society, 1910, p. 1).

The deadly wound would be healed, and the entire world would give homage to the beast (Revelation 13:3).  Since the papacy regained control of the Vatican state, her strength has grown and increased until today she is one of the most powerful religio-political organisations and influence-centres in the world.  Malachi Martin, consummate Vatican insider and intelligence expert, reveals the following in his best-selling book, The Keys of This Blood (New York, Simon & Schuster, 1990) – page numbers in parentheses:

That the pope is as determined to be world ruler as was Constantine in his day (49); He is protected by four governments (120); He is the best-known person of the 20th century (123); He is personal friends with the leaders of 91 countries (490); People of the world seem to him ready for strong worldwide moral government with control (160); and Sixteen thousand journalists covered his American visit (490).  The papacy, the American ambassador says the Vatican is unmatched as a “listening post” (120); The Vatican knows by Saturday what will happen on Monday anywhere in the world (439); and Papal structure is prepared for worldwide rule now (143).

The papacy, the eighth head of the beast of Revelation 17:10-11, also called the beast, is also identified by the mysterious number 666, which “is the number of a man” (Revelation 13:18), which is also “the number of his name” (Revelation 15:2).  Here is a Catholic quote: “The title of the pope of Rome is ‘Vicarius Filii Dei’ ((English: ‘Vicar of the Son of God’) “Answers to Readers' Questions,” Our Sunday Visitor, Nov. 15, 1914).  Malachi Martin, in The Keys of This Blood, applies the same title to the pope (New York, Simon & Schuster, 1990, pp. 114, 122).  A footnote for Revelation 13:18 in some Douay [Catholic] versions of the Bible says, “The numeral letters of his name shall make up this number.”  The numerical letters of his name adds to 666.  Notice, V and U each equals five in Roman numerals, and letters that have no Roman value are given a zero.  VICARIUS (5+1+100+0+0+1+5+0) FILLI (0+1+50+1+1) DEI (500+0+1) equals 666.

Revelation 17 identifies the antichrist, the papacy, as the great harlot, “with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication” (Revelation 17:1-3).  “It was by departure from the Lord, and alliance with the heathen, that the Jewish church became a harlot; and Rome, corrupting herself in like manner by seeking the support of worldly powers, receives a like condemnation” (The Great Controversy, p. 382).  We next turn to examine the deadly wine of the papacy.

All drunk with the wine of her fornication

“The great sin charged against Babylon is that she ‘made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication’ [Rev 14:8]. This cup of intoxication which she presents to the world represents the false doctrines that she has accepted as the result of her unlawful connection with the great ones of the earth. Friendship with the world corrupts her faith, and in her turn she exerts a corrupting influence upon the world by teaching doctrines which are opposed to the plainest statements of Holy Writ” (Ellen G White, The Great Controversy, 1911, p. 388).

“The theory of eternal torment is one of the false doctrines that constitute the wine of the abomination of Babylon, of which she makes all nations drink. Revelation 14:8; 17:2. That ministers of Christ should have accepted this heresy and proclaimed it from the sacred desk is indeed a mystery. They received it from Rome, as they received the false sabbath. True, it has been taught by great and good men; but the light on this subject had not come to them as it has come to us. They were responsible only for the light which shone in their time; we are accountable for that which shines in our day. If we turn from the testimony of God's word, and accept false doctrines because our fathers taught them, we fall under the condemnation pronounced upon Babylon; we are drinking of the wine of her abomination” (The Great Controversy, p. 536).

Most denominations, corporately, not all individual members, have drunk the wine of Babylon – drunken with the trinity error of Catholicism.  Seventh-day Adventist pioneers were not Trinitarians, but our new Adventist theologians are ostensibly Trinitarians.

In 1854, Adventist pioneers quoted the Catholic challenge, calling the Protestants out of Rome’s false doctrines: “Protestants not guided by Scripture.  [‘Doctrinal Catechism’ – pp. 101,174, 351-355.] Q. Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept?  A. Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her; – she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.  Q. Do you observe other necessary truths as taught by the Church, not clearly laid down in Scripture?  A. The doctrine of the Trinity, a doctrine the knowledge of which is certainly necessary to salvation, is not explicitly and evidently laid down in Scripture, in the Protestant sense of private interpretation” (Review and Herald, 22 August 1854).  In the same year, Adventists wrote:

“As fundamental errors, we might class with this counterfeit sabbath other errors which Protestants have brought away from the Catholic church, such as sprinkling for baptism, the trinity, the consciousness of the dead and eternal life in misery. The mass who have held these fundamental errors, have doubtless done it ignorantly; but can it be supposed that the church of Christ will carry along with her these errors till the judgment scenes burst upon the world? We think not” (James White, Review and Herald, 12 September 1854, Par 8).

When the Trinitarians attempted to accuse Seventh-day Adventist pioneers of denying the divinity of Christ in denying the trinity, Adventists responded: “The great mistake of Trinitarians, in arguing this subject, is this: they make no distinction between a denial of a trinity and a denial of the divinity of Christ. They see only the two extremes, between which the truth lies; and take every expression referring to the pre-existence of Christ as evidence of a trinity. The Scriptures abundantly teach the preexistence of Christ and his divinity; but they are entirely silent in regard to a trinity” (JH Waggoner, Review and Herald, 10 November 1863).

To inform the world of their beliefs, Seventh-day Adventist pioneers published in 1874, a statement of their fundamental principles of faith, which declared: “1. That there is one God, a personal, spiritual Being, the Creator of all things, omnipotent, omniscient, and eternal; infinite in wisdom, holiness, justice, goodness, truth, and mercy; unchangeable, and everywhere present by His representative, the Holy Spirit. Psalm 139:7.  2. That there is one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Eternal Father, the One by whom God created all things, and by whom they do consist” (Signs of the Times, 4 June 1874).

When our Seventh-day Adventist pioneers, for rejecting the trinity, were accused of being Arian, they declared that they were emphatically not Arian. That is, they were just as removed from that camp which denies the divinity of Christ and makes Christ a created being as they were removed from the Trinitarian camp.  Adventist pioneers responded:

“The inexplicable Trinity that makes the Godhead three in one and one in three is bad enough; but that ultra Unitarianism that makes Christ inferior to the Father is worse. Did God say to an inferior, ‘let us make man in our image?’” (James White, Review and Herald, 29 November 1877 – James White was at that time the President of the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, as he was the President: 1865-1867, 1869-1871, and 1874-1880).

Adventist pioneers were non-Trinitarian, as their publications show: “God alone is without beginning. At the earliest epoch when a beginning could be, - a period so remote that to finite minds it is essentially eternity, - appeared the Word. ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’ John 1:1. This uncreated Word was the Being, who, in the fulness of time, was made flesh, and dwelt among us. His beginning was not like that of any other being in the universe. It is set forth in the mysterious expressions, ‘his [God’s] only begotten Son’ (John 3:16; 1 John 4:9), ‘the only begotten of the Father’ (John 1:14), and, ‘I proceeded forth and came from God.’ John 8:42. Thus it appears that by some divine impulse or process, not creation, known only to Omniscience, and possible only to Omnipotence, the Son of God appeared. And then the Holy Spirit (by an infirmity of translation called ‘the Holy Ghost’), the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, the divine afflatus and medium of their power, representative of them both (Ps. 139:7), was in existence also” (Uriah Smith, Looking Unto Jesus, 1898, p. 10 – Uriah Smith severed as the Secretary of the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church; he was Secretary: 1863-1868, 1869-1873, 1874-1876, 1877-1881, and 1883-1888).

As were other Seventh-day Adventist pioneers, the prophet, Ellen G White, whilst not mentioning the word “trinity”, taught consistently against the trinity, showing that next to the Father was Christ and next to Christ was Lucifer (not third trinity god), as follows:

“Lucifer in heaven, before his rebellion, was a high and exalted angel, next in honor to God's dear Son. … Christ, God's dear Son, had the pre-eminence over all the angelic host. He was one with the Father before the angels were created. Lucifer was envious of Christ, and gradually assumed command which devolved on Christ alone. The great Creator assembled the heavenly host, that He might in the presence of all the angels confer special honor upon His Son. … The Father then made known that it was ordained by Himself that Christ, His Son, should be equal with Himself; so that wherever was the presence of His Son, it was as His own presence. The word of the Son was to be obeyed as readily as the word of the Father. His Son He had invested with authority to command the heavenly host” (EG White, The Story of Redemption, p. 13).

But the faith once delivered to our Seventh-day Adventist pioneers, once they were laid to their graves, new Adventist theologians embraced the trinity doctrine of the antichrist, denying Christ is the literal Son of God, and drunk the wine of antichrist!

The new Adventist theologians acknowledge that Adventist pioneers rejected the trinity, and would today not join the Adventist church:  “Most of the founders of Seventh-day Adventism would not be able to join the church today if they had to subscribe to the denomination’s Fundamental Beliefs. More specifically, most would not be able to agree to belief number 2, which deals with the doctrine of the trinity” (George Raymond Knight, Ministry, October 1993, p. 10 – Knight is emeritus professor of church history at Andrews University, and author of many books).

The new theologians ascribe the change to the so-called “present truth” that consists of denouncing the pillars established by our Adventist pioneers: “Adventist beliefs have changed over the years under the impact of ‘present truth’. Most startling is the teaching regarding Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord ... the Trinitarian understanding of God, now part of our fundamental beliefs, was not generally held by the early Adventists” (William G Johnsson, Adventist Review, 6 January 1994, p. 10 – Johnsson was editor of Adventist Review 1982-2006).  But the prophet Ellen White tells us that truth remains truth:

“That which was truth in the beginning is truth now. Although new and important truths appropriate for succeeding generations have been opened to the understanding, the present revealings do not contradict those of the past. Every new truth understood only makes more significant the old” (Ellen White, Review and Herald, 2 March 1886).

Worse still, the new Adventist theologians explain the embraced trinity doctrine as the foundation of our salvation and attribute this plan to Three beings:

“A plan of salvation was encompassed in the covenant made by the Three Persons of the Godhead, who possessed the attributes of Deity equally. In order to eradicate sin and rebellion from the universe and to restore harmony and peace, one of the divine Beings accepted, and entered into the role of the Father, another the role of the Son. The remaining divine Being, the Holy Spirit, was also to participate in effecting the plan of salvation” (Gordon Jenson, Adventist Review, 31 October 1996, p. 12 – Jenson was at the time president of Spicer Memorial College of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, India).

The prophet attributes this to only Two: “The plan of salvation devised by the Father and the Son will be a grand success” (EG White, ST, 17 June 1903).  “Before the fall of man, the Son of God had united with his Father in laying the plan of salvation” (EG White, RH, 13 Sep 1906). “The plan of redemption was arranged in the councils between the Father and the Son” (Ellen G White, RH, 28 May 1908).

New theologians imply that the words Father and Son are only symbolic based on an arrangement and not literal. Christ said, “the Father is greater than I” (John 14:28); “The Father was greater than the Son in that he was first.  The Son was equal with the Father in that he had received all things from the Father” (James White, RH, 4 January 1881, Par 2).

Regarding “the trinity, I concluded that it was an impossibility for me to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, was also the Almighty God, the Father, one and the same being” (Joseph Bates, The Autobiography of Elder Joseph Bates, 1868, p. 204).  So fundamental is this truth that Christ is the Son of God that, upon Peter’s confession “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” Jesus declared, “flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven … upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:16-18).  The co-eternal age of Father and Son in the trinity destroys the foundation of the church that Christ built upon Himself as the literal Son of God.

Like ancient Israel, new Adventist theologians have departed from the faith: “And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD, that he did for Israel and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel” (Judges 2: 7, 10).  After the pioneers died, we have abandoned the truth they believed: “But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him” (1 Corinthians 8:6).  But God will reprove His church!

Although new Adventist theologians in Seventh-day Adventist Church have drunk the trinity wine of Catholicism, “The church, enfeebled and defective, needing to be reproved, warned, and counseled, is the only object upon earth upon which Christ bestows His supreme regard” (EG White, TM 49.1).

However, the prophet would today ask our new Adventist theologians these questions: “Shall the ark of the covenant be removed from this people?  Shall idols be smuggled in?  Shall false principles and false precepts be brought into the sanctuary?  Shall antichrist be respected?  Shall the true doctrines and principles given us by God, which have made us what we are, be ignored?” (EG White, 21MR 448.3).  Whilst God may not leave the Seventh-day Adventist Church, He will surely not work with papist ministers!

Antichrist and his Mark

The third angel warns: “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb” (Revelation 14:9-10).  We have already identified the beast as the papacy, which also is the Antichrist.  The best way to discover its mark of authority is to ask the papacy directly.

Notice the following section from a Catholic catechism: Q. Which is the Sabbath day? A. Saturday is the Sabbath day. Q. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday? A. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday (Peter Geiermann, The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, St Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1957 edition, p 50).

Here is another statement from a catechism: Q. Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept? A. Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her – she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority (Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism, New York: P.J. Kenedy & Sons, third American edition, revised, edn., p. 174).

So the papacy is saying that its mark of power and authority is making Sunday a holy day – a change that virtually all churches admit in their official writings that there is no Scripture support for Sunday sacredness.  Tragically, both Protestantism and Catholicism stand guilty before the judgment bar of God for throwing out the Bible Sabbath!  God Himself gave the Sabbath as a sign, or mark, of His power to create and His power to sanctify and save (Exodus 31:17; Ezekiel 20:12).  Dare any man tamper with this sacred sign, which represents the great God of heaven and all that He stands for?  Will God not avenge the transgression of His law?

The forehead represents the mind, and the hand is a symbol of work.  “On the hand” and “between the eyes” are consistent symbols in Scripture for a person’s thoughts and actions (Exodus 13:16; Deuteronomy 6:8; 11:18).  A person will receive the mark of the beast in his forehead by choosing to believe that Sunday is a holy day in spite of Bible truth.  A person will be marked in the right hand by working on God’s Sabbath or by outwardly keeping Sunday laws for convenient reasons – such as a job or family.

No one has yet received the mark of the beast, and it will not be until a universal Sunday law is passes by the lamblike beast, if not already by the time you are reading this booklet.  Sunday keeping is not yet the mark of the beast, and will not be until the decree goes forth causing men to worship this idol Sabbath.  The time will come when this day will be the final test, but that time is nigh before us, if not already by the time you are reading this booklet.

But what is the “image to the beast” and how is it to be formed? “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” (The Great Controversy, p 445).

Soon, if not already by the time you read this, the lamb-like beast (United States) will pass a Universal Sunday Law, to cause the worship of the Antichrist.  “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” (Revelation 13:12).

When you obey the decree that commands you to cease from labour and worship God on Sunday, while you know that there is not a word in the Bible showing Sunday to be other than a common working day, you consent to receive the mark of the beast, and refuse the seal of God – (read Rev 14:6-12).

Hitherto the predictions of Universal Sunday Law have been pronounced groundless and absurd.  But already, the United States Supreme Court in McGowan v Maryland (366 U.S. 420, 1961) held, 8:1, that state “blue laws” (Sunday closing laws) were constitutional.  It should be easy to consolidate states Sunday laws into a National Sunday Law.  Although calls for EU Member States and Institutions to pass a law to protect Sunday as a weekly rest day (DC/763921EN, 2009) failed, as Sunday Law calls abound, a universal Sunday Law is nigh upon us.

Conclusion

The antichrist is the papacy.  Through its false doctrines, the antichrist denies that Christ is the literal Son of God. “He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.  Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father” (1 John 2:22-23).

Babylon is irretrievably fallen, and you must come out of her and separate yourself from fallen churches that disobey God’s holy law.  “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (Revelation 18:4).  As for unfaithful Seventh-day Adventists who albeit are out of Babylon, but continue to drink the trinity wine of Catholicism, they too “shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God” (Revelation 14:9-10) as the wicked.