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God’s 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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