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An Unchangeable Law, Part 4
The Image to the Beast
But what is the “image to the beast”? and how is it to be
formed? The image is made by the two-horned beast, and is an image to
the beast. It is also called an image of the beast. Then to learn what
the image is like and how it is to be formed we must study the characteristics
of the beast itself—the papacy.
When the early church became corrupted by departing from the
simplicity of the gospel and accepting heathen rites and customs, she lost the
Spirit and power of God; and in order to control the consciences of the people,
she sought the support of the secular power. The result was the papacy, a
church that controlled the power of the state and employed it to further her
own ends, especially for the punishment of “heresy.” In order for the United
States to form an image of the beast, the religious power must so control the
civil government that the authority of the state will also be employed by the
church to accomplish her own ends.
Whenever the church has obtained secular power, she has employed
it to punish dissent from her doctrines. Protestant churches that have followed
in the steps of Rome by forming alliance with worldly powers have manifested a
similar desire to restrict liberty of conscience. An example of this is given
in the long-continued persecution of dissenters by the Church of England.
During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, thousands of nonconformist ministers
were forced to flee from their churches, and many, both of pastors and people,
were subjected to fine, imprisonment, torture, and martyrdom.
It was apostasy that led the early church to seek the aid of the
civil government, and this prepared the way for the development of the
papacy—the beast. Said Paul: “There” shall “come a falling away, . . . and that
man of sin be revealed.” 2 Thessalonians 2:3, KJV. So apostasy in the church
will prepare the way for the image to the beast.
The Bible declares that before the coming of the Lord there will
exist a state of religious declension similar to that in the first centuries.
“In the last days perilous times will come: for men will be lovers of
themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to
parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without
self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers
of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness
but denying its power.” 2 Timothy 3:1-5. “Now the
Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith,
giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.” 1 Timothy
4:1. Satan will work “with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with
all unrighteous deception.” And all that “did not receive the love of the
truth, that they might be saved,” will be left to accept “strong delusion, that
they should believe the lie.” 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11.
When this state of ungodliness shall be reached, the same results will follow
as in the first centuries.
The wide diversity of belief in the Protestant churches is
regarded by many as decisive proof that no effort to secure a forced uniformity
can ever be made. But there has been for years, in churches of the Protestant
faith, a strong and growing sentiment in favor of a union based upon common
points of doctrine. To secure such a union, the discussion of subjects upon
which all were not agreed—however important they might be from a Bible
standpoint—must necessarily be waived.
Charles Beecher, in a sermon in the year 1846, declared that the
ministry of “the evangelical Protestant denominations” is “not only formed all
the way up under a tremendous pressure of merely human fear, but they live, and
move, and breathe in a state of things radically corrupt, and appealing every
hour to every baser element of their nature to hush up the truth, and bow the
knee to the power of apostasy. Was not this the way things went with Rome? Are
we not living her life over again? And what do we see just ahead? Another
general council! A world’s convention! Evangelical alliance, and universal
creed!”—Sermon on “The Bible a Sufficient Creed,” delivered at Fort Wayne,
Indiana, Feb. 22, 1846. When this shall be gained, then, in the effort to secure
complete uniformity, it will be only a step to the resort to force.
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 beast with two horns “causes [commands] all, both small and
great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or
on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark
or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” Revelation
13:16, 17. The third angel’s warning is: “If anyone worships the beast
and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself
shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God.” “The beast” mentioned in
this message, whose worship is enforced by the two-horned beast, is the first, or
leopardlike beast of Revelation 13—the papacy. The “image to the beast”
represents that form of apostate Protestantism which will be developed when the
Protestant churches shall seek the aid of the civil power for the enforcement
of their dogmas. The “mark of the beast” still remains to be defined.
The Great Controversy, pp. 443-445
Next part: God’s Unchangeable Law, Part 5:
The Mark of Allegiance
All Scriptures are quoted from the New King James Version,
including those originally quoted by Ellen White from the King James
Version.—Editors
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