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At the same time anarchy is seeking to sweep away all law, not only divine, but human. The centralizing of wealth and power; the vast combinations for the enriching of the few at the expense of the many; the combinations of the poorer classes for the defense of their interests and claims; the spirit of unrest, of riot and bloodshed; the world-wide dissemination of the same teachings that led to the French Revolution—all are tending to involve the whole world in a struggle similar to that which convulsed France.
Such are the influences to be met by the youth of today. To stand amidst such upheavals they are now to lay the foundations of character. Ed 228.2 – Ed 228.3
Spiritualism asserts that men are unfallen demigods; that “each mind will judge itself;” that “true knowledge places men above all law;” that “all sins committed are innocent;” for “whatever is, is right,” and “God doth not condemn.” The basest of human beings it represents as in heaven, and highly exalted there. Thus it declares to all men, “It matters not what you do; live as you please, heaven is your home.” Multitudes are thus led to believe that desire is the highest law, that license is liberty, and that man is accountable only to himself.
With such teaching given at the very outset of life, when impulse is strongest, and the demand for self-restraint and purity is most urgent, where are the safeguards of virtue? what is to prevent the world from becoming a second Sodom?
At the same time anarchy is seeking to sweep away all law, not only divine, but human. The centralizing of wealth and power; the vast combinations for the enriching of the few at the expense of the many; the combinations of the poorer classes for the defense of their interests and claims; the spirit of unrest, of riot and bloodshed; the world-wide dissemination of the same teachings that led to the French Revolution—all are tending to involve the whole world in a struggle similar to that which convulsed France.
Such are the influences to be met by the youth of today. To stand amidst such upheavals they are now to lay the foundations of character. Ed 227.6 – Ed 228.3
Education by Ellen G White
Mon, July 24, 2023 at 9:34 AM GMT+3
FILE – Climate activist Greta Thunberg of Sweden attends a press conference in Paris, Thursday, June 22, 2023. Climate activist Greta Thunberg appears in court on Monday July 24 charged with disobeying law enforcement in connection with a protest in Malmö in southern Sweden last month. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)More
MALMÖ, Sweden (AP) — Climate activist Greta Thunberg will appear in court on Monday on a charge of disobeying police at a protest in southern Sweden last month.
Local newspaper Sydsvenskan reported that Thunberg and other activists were detained after they stopped traffic in the oil terminal of the port in Malmö on June 19.
Thunberg was charged because she refused to comply with police orders to leave the scene during the protest, according to Swedish Prosecution Authority spokeswoman Annika Collin and a statement from prosecutors.
Prosecutor Charlotte Ottosen told the newspaper that the crime of disobedience is typically punishable with fines.
Thunberg inspired a global youth movement demanding stronger efforts to fight climate change after staging weekly protests outside the Swedish Parliament starting in 2018.
Europe in need of leaders who go ahead: “Better Future must be built with foreigners” Repel Alien Birds?
Researchers across Europe have found bizarre nests bristling with the sharp metal stakes cities use to repel birds
And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation thereof: The three baskets are three days: Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee. Genesis:40:18-19
Large magpie’s nest made of anti-bird spikes in Antwerp, Belgium. Credit: Auke-Florian Hiemstra/Naturalis
Naturalist Auke-Florian Hiemstra has seen a lot of bird nests, but none were quite like the one he spotted in a photograph from a patient in a Belgian hospital. This nest, high in a sugar maple in the hospital’s courtyard, was massive—and looked like metal.
“It just was this very big ball of metallic, nasty bird spikes,” Hiemstra says. On closer inspection, he realized a Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica) had built the two-foot-wide nest with materials that included some 1,500 spikes of the type cities often use to fend off feathered loiterers. Hiemstra ventured out onto the hospital’s roof only to find that the roof’s edge facing the courtyard was lined by a bare strip of glue, just like the kind often used to attach these spikes. And, perhaps strangest of all, the bird seemed to have arranged the spikes to form a defensive roof over the nest, much like the kind magpies often build out of thorny branches that they travel long distances to collect.
For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them. Ecclesiastes:9:12
“It sounds like a joke,” says Hiemstra, a Ph.D. candidate in evolutionary ecology at Naturalis Biodiversity Center in the Netherlands. “I think it’s so funny that now they’ve started to use these anti-bird spikes in the same way that we intended them to be used.”
Hiemstra is a co-author of a new study published online July 11 in Deinsea, in which the researchers describe the Belgian nest and several similar spiky structures found across Europe: two magpie nests from Scotland and the Netherlands, and one Carrion Crow (Corvus corone) nest, also from the Netherlands. The scientists also mention a spike-embellished Carrion Crow nest reported in a 2009 paper and several reports from social media of birds interacting with rooftop anti-bird spikes—and even building nests directly over them.Anti-bird spikes used in bird nests. Credit: Auke-Florian Hiemstra/Naturalis
Interestingly, the crows whose nests the researchers studied seemed to use the spikes not as defenses but as structural support, with the sharp ends pointed harmlessly inward. Crows and most magpies belong to a group scientists call corvids, which are known for being particularly clever.
“Corvids, as a family, are among the most intelligent of all animals—certainly of birds, but really across all organisms as we understand them,” says Kaeli Swift, an avian ecologist at the University of Washington who specializes in corvids. Swift wasn’t involved in the new research, but she says she isn’t surprised to see crows and magpies experimenting with unconventional nesting techniques.
anti-bird spikes
Birds around the world use human materials in their nests in various ways, says Juan Diego Ibáñez Álamo, an urban ecologist at the University of Granada in Spain, who wasn’t involved in the new research. The use of anti-bird spikes is just an unusually ironic example of the behavior, Hiemstra says.
“It’s not something that is restricted to cities. It’s everywhere.”
In a review published earlier this month, Ibáñez Álamo and his colleagues found that while the most common human material found in birds’ nests is plastic, these structures also incorporate things such as glass, cloth and even cigarette butts. And anthropogenic materials are found even in nests in areas people might consider pristine. “It’s not really related to more polluted areas,” Ibáñez Álamo says. “It’s not something that is restricted to cities. It’s everywhere.”
Because the nests featured in the paper are scattered across Europe, Hiemstra thinks many birds are independently exploring the reuse of anti-bird spikes—and he says he hopes that with the phenomenon now documented, curious observers will report other examples of nests that incorporate these spikes to help scientists better understand the behavior.
helping or hurting
Hiemstra would also like to determine whether the unconventional nest material is helping or hurting these birds. Swift imagines experiments testing whether magpie predators are able to evade the seemingly defensive spikes, as well as observational studies comparing the nesting success rates of spike users with more traditional builders of the same species, that could be done to find out.
successful breeding
“We don’t know what happened in the nests—if there was successful breeding, if there was breeding at all,” says Zuzanna Jagiełło, a biologist at the University of Warsaw in Poland who worked with Ibáñez Álamo on the review of birds’ use of anthropogenic materials but wasn’t involved in the recent spike research.
They hatch cockatrice' eggs, and weave the spider's web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper. Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. Isaiah:59:5-6
For now Hiemstra says he’s taking hope from what he sees as an example of nature fighting back. “Using the material meant to scare birds off, using that to actually make more birds—I think it’s the perfect revenge,” he says.
The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him. Job:20:27, For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.Revelation:18:5
Detecting Aliens: So how can astronomers distinguish between the distant artificial signal and the local ones?
In radio astronomy, there are lots of natural radio signals to observe. The glow of hydrogen gas, the swirl of electrons along a magnetic field, or the pop-pop-pop of pulsars. These signals usually have a very natural character to them, so astronomers can distinguish them from the artificial chirps and chatters of terrestrial sources. But when you’re looking for the signals of alien civilizations, things can get more tricky. They should have an artificial character similar to the radio signals of humans. So how can astronomers distinguish between the distant artificial signal and the local ones?
Citizen of Earth or Heaven? : It’s not an easy challenge, The Papacy
It’s not an easy challenge. Even natural signals can be confused with artificial ones. For example, back in 2007, astronomers began detecting bright radio pulses known as fast radio bursts (FRBs). These millisecond-long bursts are likely caused by magnetars, though there is still much we don’t understand about them. After they were discovered, astronomers at Parkes Observatory combed through their old data and found radio chirps similar to FRBs known as perytons. For a while, astronomers wondered if these were similar phenomena, but they soon figured out that perytons were caused when hungry astronomers opened a microwave oven while it was still running so that the oven released a short radio chirp before stopping. By the way, it’s perfectly safe to do that as long as you aren’t at a radio observatory.
And let it be remembered, it is the boast of Rome that she never changes. The principles of Gregory VII and Innocent III are still the principles of the Roman Catholic Church. And had she but the power, she would put them in practice with as much vigor now as in past centuries. Protestants little know what they are doing when they propose to accept the aid of Rome in the work of Sunday exaltation. While they are bent upon the accomplishment of their purpose, Rome is aiming to re-establish her power, to recover her lost supremacy. Let the principle once be established in the United States that the church may employ or control the power of the state; that religious observances may be enforced by secular laws; in short, that the authority of church and state is to dominate the conscience, and the triumph of Rome in this country is assured. God’s word has given warning of the impending danger; let this be unheeded, and the Protestant world will learn what the purposes of Rome really are, only when it is too late to escape the snare. She is silently growing into power. Her doctrines are exerting their influence in legislative halls, in the churches, and in the hearts of men. She is piling up her lofty and massive structures in the secret recesses of which her former persecutions will be repeated. Stealthily and unsuspectedly she is strengthening her forces to further her own ends when the time shall come for her to strike. All that she desires is vantage ground, and this is already being given her. We shall soon see and shall feel what the purpose of the Roman element is. Whoever shall believe and obey the word of God will thereby incur reproach and persecution. GC 581.1 – GC 581.2
The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan by Ellen G White
But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him. Judges:3:19
The SETI project specifically looks for unusual signals with an artificial character, and they find lots of them. Everything from cars starting to Starlink satellites can create a strong artificial signal. Usually, the way to distinguish between a local source and a distant one is to move the telescope “off-target” a bit, then back to the source. If you’ve ever seen the movie Contact, this is what the astronomers do to confirm the alien signal is coming from Vega. The problem with this method is that it takes time, meaning it can’t be used for short-lived signals. But now a team has developed another method.
For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. Jeremiah:5:26
Distinguish stars from planets by Fishing 🎣 with Pope Francis: WE ARE ALL CATHOLICS NOW
The technique is similar to the way we can distinguish stars from planets with the naked eye. Light passing through our atmosphere is refracted slightly by the turbulent motion of air, causing stars to twinkle. Since planets are much closer than stars, they aren’t a single pinprick of light, so they don’t twinkle. For distant radio sources, their light passes through interstellar gas which causes them to flicker in brightness, which astronomers call scintillation. Local radio sources don’t scintillate.
So the team developed a software package that looks at the scintillation of artificial radio sources. If a radio source flickers on a timescale of less than a minute, then it is likely not terrestrial.
There are some limitations to this approach. For one, a radio source needs to be at least 10,000 light years away to exhibit scintillation, so alien signals from nearby stars wouldn’t pass this test. For another, there are a few human radio sources that can mimic scintillation. But even though the method isn’t perfect, it is a great way to filter out the bulk of Earth-based intelligent signals, which will let astronomers focus on those that just might be a message from an alien civilization.
*Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. *And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.* Matthew:15:14
Hosanna To Pope Magnified Laudato Si’ Our Guide Ev King Osiemo
Men of faith and prayer will be constrained to go forth with holy zeal, declaring the words which God gives them. The sins of Babylon will be laid open. The fearful results of enforcing the observances of the church by civil authority, the inroads of spiritualism, the stealthy but rapid progress of the papal power—all will be unmasked. By these solemn warnings the people will be stirred. Thousands upon thousands will listen who have never heard words like these. In amazement they hear the testimony that Babylon is the church, fallen because of her errors and sins, because of her rejection of the truth sent to her from heaven. GC 606.2
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Colossians:2:8
[17]And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.[18]They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand. Isaiah:44:17-18
With many, a philosophical idol is enthroned in the place of Jehovah; while the living God, as He is revealed in His word, in Christ, and in the works of creation, is worshiped by but few. Thousands deify nature while they deny the God of nature. Though in a different form, idolatry exists in the Christian world today as verily as it existed among ancient Israel in the days of Elijah. GC 583.1
Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them? Ezekiel:14:3
I saw the rapidity with which this delusion was spreading. A train of cars was shown me, going with the speed of lightning. The angel bade me look carefully. I fixed my eyes upon the train. It seemed that the whole world was on board. Then he showed me the conductor, who looked like a stately fair person, whom all the passengers looked up to and reverenced. I was perplexed, and asked my attending angel who it was. Said he, It is Satan. He is the conductor in the form of an angel of light. He has taken the world captive. They are given over to strong delusions, to believe a lie that they may be damned. 1SG 174.2
The assertion that God’s judgments are visited upon men for their violation of the Sunday-sabbath, will be repeated; already it is beginning to be urged. And a movement to enforce Sunday observance is fast gaining ground. Marvelous in her shrewdness and cunning is the Roman Church. She can read what is to be. She bides her time, seeing that the Protestant churches are paying her homage in their acceptance of the false sabbath and that they are preparing to enforce it by the very means which she herself employed in bygone days. Those who reject the light of truth will yet seek the aid of this self-styled infallible power to exalt an institution that originated with her. How readily she will come to the help of Protestants in this work it is not difficult to conjecture. Who understands better than the papal leaders how to deal with those who are disobedient to the church? The Roman Catholic Church, with all its ramifications throughout the world, forms one vast organization under the control, and designed to serve the interests, of the papal see. Its millions of communicants, in every country on the globe, are instructed to hold themselves as bound in allegiance to the pope. Whatever their nationality or their government, they are to regard the authority of the church as above all other. Though they may take the oath pledging their loyalty to the state, yet back of this lies the vow of obedience to Rome, absolving them from every pledge inimical to her interests. History testifies of her artful and persistent efforts to insinuate herself into the affairs of nations; and having gained a foothold, to further her own aims, even at the ruin of princes and people. In the year 1204, Pope Innocent III extracted from Peter II, king of Arragon, the following extraordinary oath: “I, Peter, king of Arragonians, profess and promise to be ever faithful and obedient to my lord, Pope Innocent, to his Catholic successors, and the Roman Church, and faithfully to preserve my kingdom in his obedience, defending the Catholic faith, and persecuting heretical pravity.”—John Dowling, The History of Romanism, b. 5, ch. 6, sec. 55. This is in harmony with the claims regarding the power of the Roman pontiff “that it is lawful for him to depose emperors” and “that he can absolve subjects from their allegiance to unrighteous rulers.”—Mosheim, b. 3, cent. 11, pt. 2, ch. 2, sec. 9, note 17. (See also Appendix note for page 447.) And let it be remembered, it is the boast of Rome that she never changes. The principles of Gregory VII and Innocent III are still the principles of the Roman Catholic Church. And had she but the power, she would put them in practice with as much vigor now as in past centuries. Protestants little know what they are doing when they propose to accept the aid of Rome in the work of Sunday exaltation. While they are bent upon the accomplishment of their purpose, Rome is aiming to re-establish her power, to recover her lost supremacy. Let the principle once be established in the United States that the church may employ or control the power of the state; that religious observances may be enforced by secular laws; in short, that the authority of church and state is to dominate the conscience, and the triumph of Rome in this country is assured. God’s word has given warning of the impending danger; let this be unheeded, and the Protestant world will learn what the purposes of Rome really are, only when it is too late to escape the snare. She is silently growing into power. Her doctrines are exerting their influence in legislative halls, in the churches, and in the hearts of men. She is piling up her lofty and massive structures in the secret recesses of which her former persecutions will be repeated. Stealthily and unsuspectedly she is strengthening her forces to further her own ends when the time shall come for her to strike. All that she desires is vantage ground, and this is already being given her. We shall soon see and shall feel what the purpose of the Roman element is. Whoever shall believe and obey the word of God will thereby incur reproach and persecution. GC 579.1 – GC 581.2
We know something of what is before us. We know that trials await us. We know that unconsecrated Seventh-day Adventists, who have a knowledge of the truth, but who have linked themselves with worldlings, will depart entirely from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits. The enemy will gladly hold out inducements to them, to lead them to carry on a warfare against the people of God. 18LtMs, Lt 127, 1903, par. 15
As the storm approaches, a large class who have professed faith in the third angel’s message, but have not been sanctified through obedience to the truth, abandon their position and join the ranks of the opposition. By uniting with the world and partaking of its spirit, they have come to view matters in nearly the same light; and when the test is brought, they are prepared to choose the easy, popular side. Men of talent and pleasing address, who once rejoiced in the truth, employ their powers to deceive and mislead souls. They become the most bitter enemies of their former brethren. When Sabbathkeepers are brought before the courts to answer for their faith, these apostates are the most efficient agents of Satan to misrepresent and accuse them, and by false reports and insinuations to stir up the rulers against them. GC 608.2
A day of great intellectual darkness has been shown to be favorable to the success of the papacy. It will yet be demonstrated that a day of great intellectual light is equally favorable for its success. In past ages, when men were without God’s word and without the knowledge of the truth, their eyes were blindfolded, and thousands were ensnared, not seeing the net spread for their feet. In this generation there are many whose eyes become dazzled by the glare of human speculations, “science falsely so called;” they discern not the net, and walk into it as readily as if blindfolded. God designed that man’s intellectual powers should be held as a gift from his Maker and should be employed in the service of truth and righteousness; but when pride and ambition are cherished, and men exalt their own theories above the word of God, then intelligence can accomplish greater harm than ignorance. Thus the false science of the present day, which undermines faith in the Bible, will prove as successful in preparing the way for the acceptance of the papacy, with its pleasing forms, as did the withholding of knowledge in opening the way for its aggrandizement in the Dark Ages. 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. And that which gives greater significance to this movement is the fact that the principal object contemplated is the enforcement of Sunday observance—a custom which originated with Rome, and which she claims as the sign of her authority. It is the spirit of the papacy—the spirit of conformity to worldly customs, the veneration for human traditions above the commandments of God—that is permeating the Protestant churches and leading them on to do the same work of Sunday exaltation which the papacy has done before them. If the reader would understand the agencies to be employed in the soon-coming contest, he has but to trace the record of the means which Rome employed for the same object in ages past. If he would know how papists and Protestants united will deal with those who reject their dogmas, let him see the spirit which Rome manifested toward the Sabbath and its defenders. Royal edicts, general councils, and church ordinances sustained by secular power were the steps by which the pagan festival attained its position of honor in the Christian world. The first public measure enforcing Sunday observance was the law enacted by Constantine. (A.D. 321; see Appendix note for page 53.) This edict required townspeople to rest on “the venerable day of the sun,” but permitted countrymen to continue their agricultural pursuits. Though virtually a heathen statute, it was enforced by the emperor after his nominal acceptance of Christianity. The royal mandate not proving a sufficient substitute for divine authority, Eusebius, a bishop who sought the favor of princes, and who was the special friend and flatterer of Constantine, advanced the claim that Christ had transferred the Sabbath to Sunday. Not a single testimony of the Scriptures was produced in proof of the new doctrine. Eusebius himself unwittingly acknowledges its falsity and points to the real authors of the change. “All things,” he says, “whatever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have transferred to the Lord’s Day.”—Robert Cox, Sabbath Laws and Sabbath Duties, page 538. But the Sunday argument, groundless as it was, served to embolden men in trampling upon the Sabbath of the Lord. All who desired to be honored by the world accepted the popular festival. As the papacy became firmly established, the work of Sunday exaltation was continued. For a time the people engaged in agricultural labor when not attending church, and the seventh day was still regarded as the Sabbath. But steadily a change was effected. Those in holy office were forbidden to pass judgment in any civil controversy on the Sunday. Soon after, all persons, of whatever rank, were commanded to refrain from common labor on pain of a fine for freemen and stripes in the case of servants. Later it was decreed that rich men should be punished with the loss of half of their estates; and finally, that if still obstinate they should be made slaves. The lower classes were to suffer perpetual banishment. GC 572.3 – GC 574.3
At this time great perils surrounded the Protestant cause. The anathemas of the pope thundered against Geneva, and mighty nations threatened it with destruction. How was this little city to resist the powerful hierarchy that had so often forced kings and emperors to submission? How could it stand against the armies of the world’s great conquerors? Throughout Christendom, Protestantism was menaced by formidable foes. The first triumphs of the Reformation past, Rome summoned new forces, hoping to accomplish its destruction. At this time the order of the Jesuits was created, the most cruel, unscrupulous, and powerful of all the champions of popery. Cut off from earthly ties and human interests, dead to the claims of natural affection, reason and conscience wholly silenced, they knew no rule, no tie, but that of their order, and no duty but to extend its power. (See Appendix.) The gospel of Christ had enabled its adherents to meet danger and endure suffering, undismayed by cold, hunger, toil, and poverty, to uphold the banner of truth in face of the rack, the dungeon, and the stake. To combat these forces, Jesuitism inspired its followers with a fanaticism that enabled them to endure like dangers, and to oppose to the power of truth all the weapons of deception. There was no crime too great for them to commit, no deception too base for them to practice, no disguise too difficult for them to assume. Vowed to perpetual poverty and humility, it was their studied aim to secure wealth and power, to be devoted to the overthrow of Protestantism, and the re-establishment of the papal supremacy. When appearing as members of their order, they wore a garb of sanctity, visiting prisons and hospitals, ministering to the sick and the poor, professing to have renounced the world, and bearing the sacred name of Jesus, who went about doing good. But under this blameless exterior the most criminal and deadly purposes were often concealed. It was a fundamental principle of the order that the end justifies the means. By this code, lying, theft, perjury, assassination, were not only pardonable but commendable, when they served the interests of the church. Under various disguises the Jesuits worked their way into offices of state, climbing up to be the counselors of kings, and shaping the policy of nations. They became servants to act as spies upon their masters. They established colleges for the sons of princes and nobles, and schools for the common people; and the children of Protestant parents were drawn into an observance of popish rites. All the outward pomp and display of the Romish worship was brought to bear to confuse the mind and dazzle and captivate the imagination, and thus the liberty for which the fathers had toiled and bled was betrayed by the sons. The Jesuits rapidly spread themselves over Europe, and wherever they went, there followed a revival of popery. To give them greater power, a bull was issued re-establishing the inquisition. (See Appendix.) Notwithstanding the general abhorrence with which it was regarded, even in Catholic countries, this terrible tribunal was again set up by popish rulers, and atrocities too terrible to bear the light of day were repeated in its secret dungeons. In many countries, thousands upon thousands of the very flower of the nation, the purest and noblest, the most intellectual and highly educated, pious and devoted pastors, industrious and patriotic citizens, brilliant scholars, talented artists, skillful artisans, were slain or forced to flee to other lands. Such were the means which Rome had invoked to quench the light of the Reformation, to withdraw from men the Bible, and to restore the ignorance and superstition of the Dark Ages. But under God’s blessing and the labors of those noble men whom He had raised up to succeed Luther, Protestantism was not overthrown. Not to the favor or arms of princes was it to owe its strength. The smallest countries, the humblest and least powerful nations, became its strongholds. It was little Geneva in the midst of mighty foes plotting her destruction; it was Holland on her sandbanks by the northern sea, wrestling against the tyranny of Spain, then the greatest and most opulent of kingdoms; it was bleak, sterile Sweden, that gained victories for the Reformation GC 234.1 – GC 235.3
God never forces the will or the conscience; but Satan’s constant resort—to gain control of those whom he cannot otherwise seduce—is compulsion by cruelty. Through fear or force he endeavors to rule the conscience and to secure homage to himself. To accomplish this, he works through both religious and secular authorities, moving them to the enforcement of human laws in defiance of the law of God. Those who honor the Bible Sabbath will be denounced as enemies of law and order, as breaking down the moral restraints of society, causing anarchy and corruption, and calling down the judgments of God upon the earth. Their conscientious scruples will be pronounced obstinacy, stubbornness, and contempt of authority. They will be accused of disaffection toward the government. Ministers who deny the obligation of the divine law will present from the pulpit the duty of yielding obedience to the civil authorities as ordained of God. In legislative halls and courts of justice, commandment keepers will be misrepresented and condemned. A false coloring will be given to their words; the worst construction will be put upon their motives. As the Protestant churches reject the clear, Scriptural arguments in defense of God’s law, they will long to silence those whose faith they cannot overthrow by the Bible. Though they blind their own eyes to the fact, they are now adopting a course which will lead to the persecution of those who conscientiously refuse to do what the rest of the Christian world are doing, and acknowledge the claims of the papal sabbath. The dignitaries of church and state will unite to bribe, persuade, or compel all classes to honor the Sunday. The lack of divine authority will be supplied by oppressive enactments. Political corruption is destroying love of justice and regard for truth; and even in free America, rulers and legislators, in order to secure public favor, will yield to the popular demand for a law enforcing Sunday observance. Liberty of conscience, which has cost so great a sacrifice, will no longer be respected. In the soon-coming conflict we shall see exemplified the prophet’s words: “The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Revelation 12:17. GC 591.2 – GC 592.3
Satan once endeavored to form a compromise with Christ. He came to the Son of God in the wilderness of temptation, and showing Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, offered to give all into His hands if He would but acknowledge the supremacy of the prince of darkness. Christ rebuked the presumptuous tempter and forced him to depart. But Satan meets with greater success in presenting the same temptations to man. To secure worldly gains and honors, the church was led to seek the favor and support of the great men of earth; and having thus rejected Christ, she was induced to yield allegiance to the representative of Satan—the bishop of Rome.
It is one of the leading doctrines of Romanism that the pope is the visible head of the universal church of Christ, invested with supreme authority over bishops and pastors in all parts of the world. More than this, the pope has been given the very titles of Deity. He has been styled “Lord God the Pope” (see Appendix), and has been declared infallible. He demands the homage of all men. The same claim urged by Satan in the wilderness of temptation is still urged by him through the Church of Rome, and vast numbers are ready to yield him homage.
But those who fear and reverence God meet this heaven-daring assumption as Christ met the solicitations of the wily foe: “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” Luke 4:8. God has never given a hint in His word that He has appointed any man to be the head of the church. The doctrine of papal supremacy is directly opposed to the teachings of the Scriptures. The pope can have no power over Christ’s church except by usurpation.
Romanists have persisted in bringing against Protestants the charge of heresy and willful separation from the true church. But these accusations apply rather to themselves. They are the ones who laid down the banner of Christ and departed from “the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” Jude 3. Satan well knew that the Holy Scriptures would enable men to discern his deceptions and withstand his power. It was by the word that even the Saviour of the world had resisted his attacks. At every assault, Christ presented the shield of eternal truth, saying, “It is written.” To every suggestion of the adversary, He opposed the wisdom and power of the word. In order for Satan to maintain his sway over men, and establish the authority of the papal usurper, he must keep them in ignorance of the Scriptures. The Bible would exalt God and place finite men in their true position; therefore its sacred truths must be concealed and suppressed. This logic was adopted by the Roman Church. For hundreds of years the circulation of the Bible was prohibited. The people were forbidden to read it or to have it in their houses, and unprincipled priests and prelates interpreted its teachings to sustain their pretensions. Thus the pope came to be almost universally acknowledged as the vicegerent of God on earth, endowed with authority over church and state.
The detector of error having been removed, Satan worked according to his will. Prophecy had declared that the papacy was to “think to change times and laws.” Daniel 7:25. This work it was not slow to attempt. To afford converts from heathenism a substitute for the worship of idols, and thus to promote their nominal acceptance of Christianity, the adoration of images and relics was gradually introduced into the Christian worship. The decree of a general council (see Appendix) finally established this system of idolatry. To complete the sacrilegious work, Rome presumed to expunge from the law of God the second commandment, forbidding image worship, and to divide the tenth commandment, in order to preserve the number.
The spirit of concession to paganism opened the way for a still further disregard of Heaven’s authority. Satan, working through unconsecrated leaders of the church, tampered with the fourth commandment also, and essayed to set aside the ancient Sabbath, the day which God had blessed and sanctified (Genesis 2:2, 3), and in its stead to exalt the festival observed by the heathen as “the venerable day of the sun.” This change was not at first attempted openly. In the first centuries the true Sabbath had been kept by all Christians. They were jealous for the honor of God, and, believing that His law is immutable, they zealously guarded the sacredness of its precepts. But with great subtlety Satan worked through his agents to bring about his object. That the attention of the people might be called to the Sunday, it was made a festival in honor of the resurrection of Christ. Religious services were held upon it; yet it was regarded as a day of recreation, the Sabbath being still sacredly observed.
To prepare the way for the work which he designed to accomplish, Satan had led the Jews, before the advent of Christ, to load down the Sabbath with the most rigorous exactions, making its observance a burden. Now, taking advantage of the false light in which he had thus caused it to be regarded, he cast contempt upon it as a Jewish institution. While Christians generally continued to observe the Sunday as a joyous festival, he led them, in order to show their hatred of Judaism, to make the Sabbath a fast, a day of sadness and gloom.
In the early part of the fourth century the emperor Constantine issued a decree making Sunday a public festival throughout the Roman Empire. (See Appendix.) The day of the sun was reverenced by his pagan subjects and was honored by Christians; it was the emperor’s policy to unite the conflicting interests of heathenism and Christianity. He was urged to do this by the bishops of the church, who, inspired by ambition and thirst for power, perceived that if the same day was observed by both Christians and heathen, it would promote the nominal acceptance of Christianity by pagans and thus advance the power and glory of the church. But while many God-fearing Christians were gradually led to regard Sunday as possessing a degree of sacredness, they still held the true Sabbath as the holy of the Lord and observed it in obedience to the fourth commandment.
The archdeceiver had not completed his work. He was resolved to gather the Christian world under his banner and to exercise his power through his vicegerent, the proud pontiff who claimed to be the representative of Christ. Through half-converted pagans, ambitious prelates, and world-loving churchmen he accomplished his purpose. Vast councils were held from time to time, in which the dignitaries of the church were convened from all the world. In nearly every council the Sabbath which God had instituted was pressed down a little lower, while the Sunday was correspondingly exalted. Thus the pagan festival came finally to be honored as a divine institution, while the Bible Sabbath was pronounced a relic of Judaism, and its observers were declared to be accursed.
The great apostate had succeeded in exalting himself “above all that is called God, or that is worshiped.” 2 Thessalonians 2:4. He had dared to change the only precept of the divine law that unmistakably points all mankind to the true and living God. In the fourth commandment, God is revealed as the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and is thereby distinguished from all false gods. It was as a memorial of the work of creation that the seventh day was sanctified as a rest day for man. It was designed to keep the living God ever before the minds of men as the source of being and the object of reverence and worship. Satan strives to turn men from their allegiance to God, and from rendering obedience to His law; therefore he directs his efforts especially against that commandment which points to God as the Creator. GC 50.2 – GC 53.3
The signs of the times tell us we are surely in the last days. This know also, that in the last days, perilous times shall come. We can see these perils more distinctly here in Europe. Things are rapidly developing. *All are ranging under their respective banners; all are preparing for some great event; all are watching for the morning. One class is watching and waiting for their Lord, while the other class is waiting for what Lucifer may perform of his wonder-working power.* Kingdoms are in uncertainty, one watching jealously the other. Soldiers are being drilled constantly, preparing for war. There is a rending apart of kingdoms. *The stone cut out of the mountains without hands is surely to smite the image upon the feet.* 4LtMs, Lt 102, 1886, par. 7
Either the evil angels or the angels of God are controlling the minds of men. *Our minds are given to the control of God or to the control of the powers of darkness; and it will be well for us to inquire where we are standing today*—whether under *the blood-stained banner of Prince Emmanuel or under the black banner of the powers of darkness.* 6LtMs, Ms 1, 1890, par. 4
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*The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.* Psalm:18:4
It is urged by many that the intellectual and moral darkness prevailing during the Middle Ages favored the spread of the dogma, superstition, and 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 shining 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.*
Satan will excite the indignation of apostate Christendom *against the humble remnant who conscientiously refuse to accept their customs and traditions.* Blinded by the prince of darkness, *popular religionists will see only as he see, and feel as he feels.*
They will determine as he determines, and oppress as he has oppressed.
*Liberty of conscience, which has cost this nation so great a sacrifice, will no longer be respected. The church and the world will unite, and the world will lend to the church her power to crush out the right of the people to worship God according to His Word.*
*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 toward Mordecai. *Not that Mordecai had done Haman harm, but he had refused to flatter his vanity by showing him the reverence which belongs only to God*. The king’s decision against the Jews was secured under *false pretenses, through a misrepresentation of that peculiar people.*
Satan instigated the scheme *in order to rid the earth of those who preserved the knowledge of the true God.* But his plots were defeated by a counter-power that reigns among the children of men. *Angels that excel in strength were commissioned to protect the people of God, and the plots of their adversaries returned upon their own heads*.
*History repeats itself*. The same masterful mind that plotted against the faithful in ages past is now at work *to gain control of the falling 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 men, as it may appear. *We war not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits 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.*
*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.*
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.* In this closing scene false teachers are employing every possible device *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 faith of Jesus”? Revelation 14:12*. 14LtMs, Ms 51, 1899, par. 23 – 14LtMs, Ms 51, 1899, par. 28
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*The line of distinction between professed Christians and the ungodly is now hardly distinguishable. Church members love what the world loves and are ready to join with them, and Satan determines to unite them in one body and thus strengthen his cause by sweeping all into the ranks of spiritualism.*
Papists, who boast of miracles as a certain sign of the true church, will be readily deceived by this wonder-working power; and Protestants, having cast away the shield of truth, will also be deluded. *Papists, Protestants, and worldlings will alike accept the form of godliness without the power, and they will see in this union a grand movement for the conversion of the world and the ushering in of the long-expected millennium.*
Through spiritualism, Satan appears as a benefactor of the race, *healing the diseases of the people, and professing to present a new and more exalted system of religious faith; but at the same time he works as a destroyer.* His temptations are leading multitudes to ruin. *Intemperance dethrones reason; sensual indulgence, strife, and bloodshed follow.*
*Satan delights in war, for it excites the worst passions of the soul and then sweeps into eternity its victims steeped in vice and blood. It is his object to incite the nations to war against one another, for he can thus divert the minds of the people from the work of preparation to stand in the day of God.*
Satan works through the elements also to garner his harvest of unprepared souls. *He has studied the secrets of the laboratories of nature, and he uses all his power to control the elements as far as God allows. When he was suffered to afflict Job, how quickly flocks and herds, servants, houses, children, were swept away,* *one trouble succeeding* another as in a moment.
It is God that shields His creatures and hedges them in from the power of the destroyer. *But the Christian world have shown contempt for the law of Jehovah; and the Lord will do just what He has declared that He would—He will withdraw His blessings from the earth and remove His protecting care from those who are rebelling against His law and teaching and forcing others to do the same.*
*Satan has control of all whom God does not especially guard.* He will favor and prosper some in order to further his own designs, and he will bring trouble upon others and lead men to believe that it is God who is afflicting them.
*While appearing to the children of men as a great physician who can heal all their maladies, he will bring disease and disaster, until populous cities are reduced to ruin and desolation. Even now he is at work*. In accidents and calamities by sea and by land, in great conflagrations, in fierce tornadoes and terrific hailstorms, in tempests, floods, cyclones, tidal waves, and earthquakes, in every place and in a thousand forms, Satan is exercising his power. *He sweeps away the ripening harvest, and famine and distress follow. He imparts to the air a deadly taint, and thousands perish by the pestilence*. These visitations are to become more and more frequent and disastrous. Destruction will be upon both man and beast. “The earth mourneth and fadeth away,” “the haughty people … do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.” Isaiah 24:4, 5.
*And then the great deceiver will persuade men that those who serve God are causing these evils*. The class that have provoked the displeasure of Heaven will charge all their troubles upon those *whose obedience to God’s commandments is a perpetual reproof to transgressors.*
*It will be declared that men are offending God by the violation of the Sunday sabbath; that this sin has brought calamities which will not cease until Sunday observance shall be strictly enforced; and that those who present the claims of the fourth commandment, thus destroying reverence for Sunday, are troublers of the people, preventing their restoration to divine favor and temporal prosperity.*
Thus the accusation urged of old against the servant of God will be repeated and upon grounds equally well established: *“And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim.”* 1 Kings 18:17, 18.
As the wrath of the people shall be excited by false charges, they will pursue a course toward God’s ambassadors *very similar to that which apostate Israel pursued toward Elijah.*
The miracle-working power manifested through spiritualism will exert its influence *against those who choose to obey God rather than men.*
*Communications from the spirits will declare that God has sent them to convince the rejecters of Sunday of their error, affirming that the laws of the land should be obeyed as the law of God.* They will lament the great wickedness in the world and second the testimony of religious teachers that the *degraded state of morals is caused by the desecration of Sunday.* Great will be the indignation excited against all who refuse to accept their testimony.
*Satan’s policy in this final conflict with God’s people is the same that he employed in the opening of the great controversy in heaven. He professed to be seeking to promote the stability of the divine government, while secretly bending every effort to secure its overthrow*. And the very work which he was thus endeavoring to accomplish he charged upon the loyal angels. *The same policy of deception has marked the history of the Roman Church*.
It has professed to act as the vicegerent of Heaven, *while seeking to exalt itself above God and to change His law. Under the rule of Rome, those who suffered death for their fidelity to the gospel were denounced as evildoers;* they were declared to be in league with Satan; and every possible means was employed to cover them with reproach, to cause them to appear in the eyes of the people and even to themselves as the vilest of criminals.
So it will be now. *While Satan seeks to destroy those who honor God’s law, he will cause them to be accused as lawbreakers, as men who are dishonoring God and bringing judgments upon the world.*
God never forces the will or the conscience; *but Satan’s constant resort—to gain control of those whom he cannot otherwise seduce—is compulsion by cruelty.* Through fear or force he endeavors to rule the conscience and to secure homage to himself.
*To accomplish this, he works through both religious and secular authorities, moving them to the enforcement of human laws in defiance of the law of God.*
*Those who honor the Bible Sabbath will be denounced as enemies of law and order, as breaking down the moral restraints of society, causing anarchy and corruption, and calling down the judgments of God upon the earth.*
Their conscientious scruples will be pronounced obstinacy, stubbornness, and contempt of authority. *They will be accused of disaffection toward the government.*
Ministers who deny the obligation of the divine law will present from the pulpit the duty of yielding obedience to the civil authorities as ordained of God. *In legislative halls and courts of justice, commandment keepers will be misrepresented and condemned. A false coloring will be given to their words; the worst construction will be put upon their motives.*
As the Protestant churches reject the clear, *Scriptural arguments in defense of God’s law, they will long to silence those whose faith they cannot overthrow by the Bible*. Though they blind their own eyes to the fact, they are now adopting a course which will lead to the persecution of those who conscientiously refuse to do what the rest of the Christian world are doing, *and acknowledge the claims of the papal sabbath.*
*The dignitaries of church and state will unite to bribe, persuade, or compel all classes to honor the Sunday. The lack of divine authority will be supplied by oppressive enactments.* Political corruption is destroying love of justice and regard for truth; *and even in free America, rulers and legislators, in order to secure public favor, will yield to the popular demand for a law enforcing Sunday observance*.
*Liberty of conscience, which has cost so great a sacrifice, will no longer be respected.* In the soon-coming conflict we shall see exemplified the prophet’s words: *“The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”* Revelation 12:17. GC 588.3 – GC 592.3
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