01_07 The Day of Christ is at Hand
All of the major denominations of Christianity were Judged, by God, in 1844, and FOUND FALLEN! All had partaken of false doctrines that have led the people of God, in them, into sin!
How can this be??
01_07 The Day of Christ is at Hand, reveals the long history of the downward slide by God’s people into apostasy. Excuses aside, they changed the very Commandments of God! The “Dark Ages” were the woeful result! The Reformation was a climb back up into the Light, but over time, it revealed its fatal flaw. Men could not reform the church from within. Though much Light was revealed, and it was commendable for that, the full return to the real Commandments of God was, and is, the only real Reformation that could succeed.
This the churches would not do. Will you? Will you personally be part of the solution, rather than part of the problem? Choose, as we progress through this study. Today, you will not be alone.
A MOVEMENT to do just that developed in the years just following 1844, and is today alive and well, world-wide! It is the Seventh-day Adventist Church!
Scripture Text: 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8 [Read!]
Title: “The day of Christ” is at hand!
The apostle Paul stated categorically that “that day [the Second Coming of Christ] shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and, that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposes, and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he, as God, sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” [St. Peter’s Basilica is supposed, by many, to be the New Testament Temple of God!]
Jesus would not come till the man of sin was revealed. He has long since been revealed, as you shall now see. Read carefully!
In 1798, the Papal religio-political system, which was suspected of being the Biblical “anti-Christ” – 1 John 4:3; 1 John 2:22 – by the Protestant reformers, was given a “mortal wound” by Napoleon’s army – Rev. 13:3. The head of that system, the Pope, was stripped of his kingdom. No longer was he ruler of Rome (and of the kings of all Europe). He was also stripped of his long-ages-held power to persecute true Christians who dared to disagree with his dogmas [his enforced teachings- Biblical or not].
When he was “taken out of the way,” exactly 1260 years after the Papacy received his power as “the corrector of heretics” from the Roman Emperor Justinian, by written decree that went into effect in 538 A.D., the Bible Societies sprang up, in England, by 1805, and thereafter in America; very quickly allowing free access to the Bible world-wide. When Bible students began to compare the time prophecies of Rev.12 and 13 and those of Dan.12, with Second Thessalonians, ch. 2, the 1260 day prophecy proved that the Pope was the anti-Christ!. He was “revealed!”
Daniel’s book was to be “shut up and sealed” (not understood) till the “time of the end.” Dan.12:4,9. When would that be? Verse 7 -until “a time, times, and an half.”
*It is the “times” in the book of Daniel that were not understood; until 1798, when the “beast” received his “mortal wound” (Rev.13:3) and was “taken out of the way.” [of the Bible!]. Until that time, you could be burned at the stake if you were caught with a Bible, or even a small part of it – a few verses!
The key to all of these time prophecies (Isaiah 28:9-13) is to compare every verse about these “times” with the others, “line upon line” (using a Concordance to the Bible) while applying history to them. (Principle – Prophecy is History in advance!) History revealed that the Papacy was “taken out of the way” exactly 1260 years after he received the power, by the Emperor’s decree, to persecute all who dared question his dogmas.
Rev.12:6 compared with Rev.12:14 (found “line upon [compared to] line”) reveals that “a time, times, and half a time” is 1260 prophetic days! Further, Rev.13:5 reveals that 42 prophetic months is also 1260 days. Therefore, a “time” is a prophetic year, which is only 360 days. Thus, a “time” – 360 days; two “times” – 360 + 360= 720 days; plus 1/2 a “time” – 180 days = 1260 days. Or, 42 months X 30 days = 1260 days.
Re-read the above paragraph again and again until it is very clear in your mind.
History had now revealed that 1260 days is 1260 years in prophecy! It was soon found, by comparing line with line of Scripture, that Ezekiel 4:6 and Numbers 14:34 confirm that a prophetic “day” is a literal year!
Numbers 14:34 is about the arrival of the Exodus at the entry to the Promised Land, but they lost faith and refused to go forward, after spying out the land. It says, Numbers 14, verse 34, “After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know My breach of promise.”
The second one is Ezekiel 4:6. There the Scripture says, “And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.”
Because of these 1260-day prophecies (there are many references to it) the Papacy was revealed to be not only “the anti-Christ,” but also “the man of sin,” of Second Thessalonians, the “little horn” in Daniel 7 and 8, and, the “beast,” of Revelation, chapters 13, 14 and 17, by this 1260 day (year) prophecy! The “little horn” began to be developed into a “beast” power, after Emperor Constantine, in 330 A.D., moved to his new capital city, Constantinople, today’s Istanbul, leaving the Western Roman Empire under the ecclesiastical (supreme church) leadership of the bishop of Rome! Eventually, the Pope made himself ruler of the Holy Roman Empire of the Dark Ages! (a “beast,” – a great power.)
He is the one whose “mark” we must avoid, and whose “image” we must not worship (Rev.14:9-11) or lose eternal life!
Just here, I must make my position very clear. It is the Papal SYSTEM of worship, which combines religion and the power of the state (to enforce its dogmatic decrees regarding doctrines [teachings] of the church) that is Babylon the Great, the FALLEN church (Rev. 17:5, 9). I believe that all Catholics, and the people of the Protestant daughter churches of the Catholic church, are capable of receiving salvation in Christ, even to the Pope himself! But the Papal SYSTEM of worship is FALLEN, according to the Second Angel’s Message – Rev.14:8, and the update of that message by the Fourth angel, NOW, in Rev.18: 1-5 (read!) See also Rev. 13:2b!
God is calling everyone out of its confusion of doctrine (darkness) into His marvelous light! So states the First letter of Peter, chapter 2,verse 9, and Rev. 18, verse 4.
*The “falling away” under the teachings of the Papacy, had become obvious, and now, the “man of sin” was revealed!
He was solidly revealed by Daniel 7, verse 25: “He shall speak great words against the most High and shall wear out the saints of the most high, and think to change times and laws…and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time!” 1260 years!
No longer, after 1798, could the Papacy seek to change the (prophetic) “times” that pointed to the Papal religio-political system as the “little horn” in Daniel 7:8, and also the “beast” in Revelation 13:1, and, to the Pope as “the man of sin!”
Further, its changes to the “law” (the Law of God, the Ten Commandments) also were unveiled! The Papacy had removed the Second Commandment from the 10, and split the 10th into two Commandments to make up the 10 (see a Catechism from the Roman Catholic church). Exodus 20, verses 4 and 5, the Second Commandment, says: “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image…nor bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God…” [Jealous of worship due only to Him!]
To attract the Pagans into his universal church, the Bishop of Rome created an “image” of his own, for them to worship. [The same bishop who had Constantine, Emperor of Rome, make the first Sunday Rest law, in 321 A.D., instituted MARY worship in 325 A.D., and had images of her made for the people to worship – research by Doug Bachelor, television evangelist – Amazing Facts Television channel].
MARY is the Papal “image” [idol] the “image of the “beast,” warned against in Rev.14:9! See Daniel 11, verse 38, and its context, verses 36 – 39!
And that’s not all that he thought to change!!
The 4th Commandment was also changed, transferring the solemnities of Sabbath, the 7th day of the week, to the first day of the week, Sunday! The Catholic church boasts that it is the “mark” (their own very word!) of her authority, that the Papacy could change even the Law of God! Thus he shows that he is god!
“Sin is the transgression (breaking) of the Law” [of God] – 1st John 3:4 – this is the Biblical definition! Thus it is my opinion, based on my study of the Biblical data, that:
The Papacy is the “little horn” in Daniel, which developed into the “beast”(Revelation 13:1 – 10) warned against worship of in Revelation 14:6 – 13;
that the Pope is the “man of sin;”
that his “image” is the idols of MARY that they worship;
and, that his “mark” is the change of the Commandment Sabbath to Sunday as the day of worship!
Also, “the time of the end” began in 1798! Daniel 12, vs. 4 and 7. Since all this has been revealed, The day of Christ is “at hand!!”
Further; consider the Great Tribulation, of which Jesus spoke in Matthew 24:29, where He said, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” [the Advent!- which means Second Coming of Jesus].
These signs were to follow the “tribulation of those days” [1260 prophetic days]! That tribulation was the 1260 years of Papal oppression of true Christians! For 1260 terrible years the Pope was given power to be “the corrector of heretics,” by awful torture, beheading, or the burning stake!
Those signs followed, just as Jesus predicted, as the Tribulation was coming to an end, and Jesus shortened the time of persecution, or “no flesh would be saved,” by causing the Reformation to interfere with the Papal Inquisition! Also, the true believers in the Gospel fled to America, and “the earth swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.” – Rev.12:16.
By 1830, the other great time prophecies of Daniel were unsealed, further revealing the soon coming of Jesus, in the Second Advent!
As we will see in the document Present Truth (of this series) the 2300 days (years) of Dan.8:14 revealed the very date of the “cleansing of the Sanctuary,” October 22, 1844, which, it was discovered, was the beginning of the Investigative Judgment “day” just before Jesus comes! It was in free America that the book of Daniel was unsealed. The warnings of Rev.14:6-12, those Three Angel Messages, are now “Present Truth” for the “hour of His Judgment is come,” Rev.14:7!
We are in the Premillenial Judgment hour!! “We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ” (see Romans 14:10) prior to His Coming or Advent, for His “reward is with Me [Him], to give every man according as his work shall be.” Rev. 22:12.
Prepare now to meet thy God!! Rev. 14:12 says, “…keep the Commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus” – faith in the Bible. “Worship Him who made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters” – not the “beast” nor his “image.” Rev.14:7 and 9.
Now is the day of salvation! Do not neglect to receive so great a Salvation, that cost the life of the Son of God, at great risk, for you and me!
According to Isaiah 59, verses 1 and 2, we cannot have a relationship with Jesus if we continue to sin willfully! It says there:
“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities (rebellious choosing to sin) have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear.”
Adventists (believers in the soon Coming of Jesus) say, “We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin: that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him!” (2 Corinthians 5:20, 21) “For we must all appear before the Judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” (verse 10).
“Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all…If you commit no adultery, yet if you kill, you are become a transgressor of the law. So speak, and so do, as they that shall be Judged by the Law…” (James 2:8-12).
Compare that with James 1:25, where he says, “Whoso looks into the perfect Law of liberty, and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”
The 10 Commandments is the Standard in the Judgment of all mankind. Will you continue to worship the Papacy, as a god, by keeping his commandments (as he thought to change God’s Ten Commandments)??
Will you receive, by your conscious choice, his “mark” (his false Sabbath)??
Have you been, or will you be, deceived into worshipping his “image,” idols of MARY??
We beseech you, in Christ’s stead, come out of Babylon and out of her daughters also!
“Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues!” Rev.18:4.
The Protestant DAUGHTER churches, by keeping GREAT BABYLON’S changed Sabbath Commandment (to Sunday worship) are also leading their people into SIN! The Protestant church of England, the High Anglican Church, decided to also openly worship her idol, idols of MARY, about 1990! How soon may most other Protestant Churches follow their lead?
Please take a Moment of Meditation with me:
Lord Jesus! I see now that Your Second Coming is “at the very doors!”
I now realize that most of the world is deceived by the Papal “beast” power, and that I must come out of the confusion of doctrine (teachings) that is in the world, and into Your marvelous light! Help us to keep learning the meaning of Your 3 Angel’s Messages from this study series!
In the name of Jesus, our Savior and King, Amen
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