We’re going to look at some of the waymarks identifying the purification of the church. A waymark is defined as a mark along the way. A way-mark is a mark on a line of prophecy. Prophecy can be illustrated on a time line that leads down to the end of the world. Prophetic waymarks are historical events that demonstrate the fulfillment of prophecy leading down to the end of the world. We’re presenting a line with an arrow pointing to the end of the world and we’re going to draw certain events out on this line in a specific order.

The focus of our study is the purification of God’s church which takes place at the Sunday Law. Right in the center of this line we’re going to draw a line and identify that as the Sunday Law. We’re going to show where we are in prophetic time and most way-marks, past and future, are directly connected with the Sunday issue.

This understanding gives us a focus to bring prophecy into alignment here at the end of the world.

One of the most important prophetic waymarks is the Sunday law, and when we put it on a time line like this and show how it relates to the other waymarks, we see why it is so important. The Sunday Law divides up the different waymarks into an easy to see sequence that we should understand.

2 Peter 3:2-14: "That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as [they were] from the beginning of the creation.

"For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day [is] with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. [Seeing] then [that] all these things shall be dissolved, what manner [of persons] ought ye to be in [all] holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

"Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless."

The emphasis of prophecy is our need as God’s people to be found in Him, without spot and blameless and that the day of the Lord is going to come as a thief in the night. This is no doubt talking about the Second Coming of Christ but the events that lead up to the Second Coming of Christ are going to come as an overwhelming surprise as well.

"The events connected with the close of probation and the work of preparation for the time of trouble, are clearly presented. But multitudes have no more understanding of these important truths than if they had never been revealed." The Great Controversy, 594.

"The events of the future will be discerned by prophecy, and will be understood." Review and Herald, April 4, 1893.

Some hesitate to study prophecy because they’re not so sure that we can really have confidence in what’s ahead. We can have a good understanding of what’s taken place in the past in fulfillment of prophecy but we can’t be too dogmatic about what’s ahead. That is not how the Spirit of Prophecy describes the situation, it says the events of the future will be discerned by prophecy; the events connected with the close of probation are clearly presented; these will be understood. These are important truths and we need to understand these things. This is how we will be able to walk through these end time events, if we understand their relationship to one another and what comes before what and what follows after.

In Selected Messages, book 2, 102: Sister White is giving us a good definition of prophecy. She’s speaking of how the Millerites were presenting their messages.

"Historical events, showing the direct fulfillment of prophecy, were set before the people, and prophecy was seen to be a figurative delineation of events leading down to the close of this earth’s history."

Prophecy was seen to be a delineation of events set out on a line, one after another. The marks that you put on this line are historical events that demonstrate the fulfillment of prophecy. The historical events on this line that leads down to the end of the world in the days of the Millerites were the falling of the stars; 1798 the Papacy receives it’s deadly wound; 1844 the 2300 day prophecy comes to its end; 1843 the 1335 day prophecy comes to its end. They were demonstrating fulfillment of prophecy based on historical events that took place.

This is what we’re going to do as well. We’re looking forward in the future to the Sunday Law but the Sunday Law will be a historical event. Historical events will precede the Sunday Law and follow it that will be fulfillments of prophecy having a specific sequence.

When we begin to look at these waymarks In Adventism today, you’ll find different understandings of the place in the flow of events different way-marks take. That is unfortunate, because Sister White is very clear about the sequence, if you take the time and trouble to pull the information together, as a student of prophecy should. Bring it together and it’s very simple and very clear.

Testimonies, vol. 5, 452: shows an event that we should look for in our time and I believe that this is under way as we speak.

"God has revealed what is to take place in the last days, that His people may be prepared to stand against the tempest of opposition and wrath. Those who have been warned of the events before them are not to sit in calm expectation of the coming storm, comforting themselves that the Lord will shelter His faithful ones in the day of trouble. We are to be as men waiting for their Lord, not in idle expectancy, but in earnest work, with unwavering faith. It is no time now to allow our minds to be engrossed with things of minor importance. While men are sleeping, Satan is actively arranging matters so that the Lord’s people may not have mercy or justice. The Sunday movement is now making its way in darkness. The leaders are concealing the true issue, and many who unite in the movement do not themselves see whither the undercurrent as tending. Its professions are mild and apparently Christian, but when it shall speak it will reveal the spirit of the dragon. It is our duty to do all in our power to avert the threatened danger. We should endeavor to disarm prejudice by placing ourselves in a proper light before the people. We should bring before them the real question at issue, thus interposing the most effectual protest against measures to restrict liberty of conscience. We should search the Scriptures and be able to give the reason for our faith. Says the prophet: ‘The wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand."‘ Testimonies, vol. 5, 452.

Today in the United States everything seems to be going just fine. It seems that everything is fine but one thing we need to remember as Seventh-day Adventists, is right now the movement for Sunday legislation is under way according to the prophet. It may be difficult in our humanity to see this or believe it but by faith we can accept it. We need to be doing our part to prepare those around us to understand the issues connected with religious liberty.

Review and Herald, December 21, 1897: "In this time of prevailing iniquity, the Protestant churches that have rejected a ‘Thus saith the Lord,’ will reach a strange pass. They will be converted to the world. In their separation from God, they will seek to make falsehood and apostasy from God the law of the nation. They will work upon the rulers of the land to make laws to restore the lost ascendancy of the man of sin, who sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. The Roman Catholic principles will be taken under the protection of the state. The protest of Bible truth will no longer be tolerated by those who have not made the law of God their rule of life." Review and Herald, December 21, 1897.

The work going on right now by the Christian Coalition is a total fulfillment of this last statement. The work going on by the Promise Keeper movement is a total fulfillment of this passage right here. Right now, the Protestant churches that have rejected a ‘thus saith the Lord’ have been converted to the world and they are doing a work to return Catholic principles to the ascendancy in the world and in this country, even if they do not understand what they are doing. It’s under way, we can see it in the world today.

Review and Herald, June 1, 1886: "And this is the religion which Protestants are beginning to look upon with so much favor, and which will eventually be united with Protestantism. This union will not, however, be effected by a change in Catholicism; for Rome never changes. She claims infallibility. It is Protestantism that will change. The adoption of liberal ideas on its part will bring it where it can clasp the hand of Catholicism. ‘The Bible, the Bible, is the foundation of our faith,’ was the cry of Protestants in Luther’s time, while the Catholics cried, ‘The Fathers, custom, tradition.’ Now many Protestants find it difficult to prove their doctrines from the Bible, and yet they have not the moral courage to accept the truth which involves a cross; therefore they are fast coming to the ground of Catholics, and, using the best arguments they have to evade the truth, cite the testimony of the Fathers, and the customs and precepts of men." Review and Herald, June 1, 1886.

In the past ten years this has been fulfilled before our very eyes! If you haven’t paid close attention, if you read the encyclicals coming from the pope or the statements that come out from the Catholic church, they haven’t changed. This pope is one of the most dogmatic Catholic theologians of all the popes in modern history. He’s just as much a defender of Catholic customs and tradition as any pope has ever been and yet Protestant America comes closer and closer to him every day. We have prophetic reason to be alarmed, to be awakened to a crisis that is getting closer and closer every day.

We’re going to look at what takes place before and at the Sunday law and then after. This is some of the way-marks that will precede the Sunday Law,

The movement for Sunday, even if you’re not hearing about it in congress, is underway—Sister White tells us it’s underway.

Also during this time Protestant America will be coming closer and closer to Catholicism, that’s easy to see, it’s easy to demonstrate.

Review and Herald, July 16, 1901: "In his work Satan pretends to be very religious. He finds this the most effective way of carrying on the work he began in heaven. Under his guidance the Christian world has made void the law of God by tearing down the seventh-day Sabbath, and exalting in its stead a common working day. As men depart further and further from God, Satan is permitted to have power over the children of disobedience. He hurls destruction among men. There is calamity by land and sea. Property and life are destroyed by fire and flood. Satan resolves to charge this upon those who refuse to bow to the idol which he has set up. His agents point to Seventh-day Adventists as the cause of the trouble. ‘These people stand out in defiance of law,’ they say. ‘They desecrate Sunday. Were they compelled to obey the law for Sunday observance, there would be a cessation of these terrible judgments.’

"The civil power is called to the aid of the Church in persecuting those who keep holy the seventh day. The Church and the world are united in trampling upon God’s commandments, and those who obey these commandments they threaten with death. John declares, ‘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.’ The decree goes forth that no man shall be allowed to buy or sell save he that has the mark or the number of the Beast.

"As God’s people approach the final crisis, they must with increasing power proclaim the message He has given them. The warning must be given to the churches. God’s requirements must be laid before those who are transgressing His law. They must be made to understand that this is a life and death question. God’s remnant people are to fill the earth with the cry of the third angel." Review and Herald, July 16, 1901."

This is no doubt after the Sunday Law when the disasters are increased and there’s a movement to bring the Sunday legislation throughout the world. Here Adventists are being pointed to as ones breaking the law of the land, the Sunday Law. The principle we need to see here is as men depart further and further from God, Satan has more and more power to hurl destruction among them. We can see the world departing further and further away from God, so we know that Satan has more of this power and this accelerates as we get closer to the end of the world.

Knowing that the power Satan has is increasing daily, and looking around at all the disasters taking place around us, we can see that it is increasing. We see an easy avenue for Satan to bring an economic crisis and the Spirit of Prophecy makes it clear that an economic crisis precedes the Sunday Law.

What we want to see is that Satan has more and more opportunity and power and authority to bring disasters everyday—because the world is departing from God more and more everyday. We can expect some major turn of events, some major catastrophe that’s going to bring about an economic crisis here in the United States. In Evangelism, 62-63 Sister White says, "Money will soon depreciate in value very suddenly when the reality of eternal scenes opens to the senses of man."

We have a warning that suddenly money is going to depreciate in value. This of course hopefully brings conviction to our hearts that if we haven’t all that we posses right now on the altar of the Lord, we ought to. We ought to have everything that we posses on the Lord’s altar that He might convict us of where to use these assets for His work before it’s too late. Before a hundred dollars is only worth 10 cents.

The Great Controversy, 590; "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."

It’s that last phrase in there that we need to wrap our mind around. The people of the United States are going to lean upon the legislators to pass a Sunday Law in order for divine favor and temporal prosperity to be returned unto them. Something has removed this temporal prosperity, something has taken away what they believe is divine favor. It’s these calamities that Satan has been allowed to do as the Protestant world gets further and further away from the Lord, to where the people of the United States will lean upon their legislators to pass a Sunday Law. This is brought about by some kind of economic crisis that has removed temporal prosperity. We know that suddenly as an overwhelming surprise, these end time events are going to begin and thus open the door for the Sunday Law.

"By false representations and angry appeals, men will stir up the passions of the people. Not having a ‘Thus saith the Scriptures’ to bring against the advocates of the Bible Sabbath, they will resort to oppressive enactments to supply the lack. To secure popularity and patronage, legislators will yield to the demand for Sunday laws." Prophets and Kings, 605-606.

We’re just before this time period when suddenly the world is going to turn upon Seventh-day Adventists, particularly here in the United States because this is where it begins. Something’s going to happen to the economy in the United States—most likely it will have something to do with catastrophes or storms that are going to bring about an economic catastrophe—the collapse of the stock market. In a short period of time, because the final movements are rapid ones, the people of the United States are going to be led to look more and more closely at Seventh-day Adventists as the reason that these calamities are sweeping away the temporal prosperity. They’re going to put pressure upon the legislators to pass the Sunday Law that is supposedly going to lead them out of this pit of ruin.

Today in the United States it’s hard to see many legislators that you could have confidence would stand on principle in this time of crisis. We have the most politically minded group of legislators that ever has been. They’d go whichever way the wind blows. It’s not easy to see any who would have the kind of integrity or backbone of an Abraham Lincoln. We have secular minded, worldly-minded people today in our political office and when these things come, they will bow to the pressure that’s brought. It’s easy to see that this scenario is already set just waiting for these final movements to get under way.

Before the Sunday Law we should expect to see a false revival taking place and sure enough if you’ve been watching what’s going on in the charismatic movement which is in the Protestant churches in America, you are watching this false revival.

One place is the ‘Vineyard Movement’ the movement that spawned ‘holy laughter’ and some of the revivals that are going on in Florida today, the ‘Brownsville revival’, the ‘Toronto Blessing revival’. These ‘holy laughter’ revivals are totally not of the Lord. It’s unbelievable that people that are familiar with the Bible could accept them as genuine Christian experiences, yet the Protestant world is looking to this as a revival that they’re expecting to take place.

The ‘Vineyard Movement’ is also where we get the ‘Promise Keepers’ movement out of and the ‘Promise Keepers’ is bringing political force into alignment that might even be more sinister than the Christian Coalition and Pat Robertson’s group. They will all work together no doubt here at the end. Out of charismatic Protestant America, the ‘Vineyard Movement’ we can see not only ‘holy laughter’ but the ‘Promise Keepers’ and the people that are associated with these movements believe they are involved with a revival. We know that at the Sunday Law, God’s church is purified and then the Latter Rain is poured out in earnest without measure. It will, no doubt, be sprinkling on some before that time. Before the real Latter Rain begins, we’ve been told that there will be a false revival that Satan will attempt to bring in to undermine the true.

Early Writings, 261: "I saw that God has honest children among the nominal Adventists and the fallen churches, and before the plagues shall be poured out, ministers and people will be called out from these churches and will gladly receive the truth. Satan knows this; and before the loud cry of the third angel is given, he raises an excitement in these religious bodies, that those who have rejected the truth may think that God is with them. He hopes to deceive the honest and lead them to think that God is still working for the churches. But the light will shine, and all who are honest will leave the fallen churches, and take their stand with the remnant." Early Writings, 261.

In the secular TV of today, over the past 10-15 years this false charismatic revival that is taking place in the Protestant churches in the United States is well under way. There have been specials from the secular world documenting what’s going on in this false revival.

The Great Controversy, 464: "Notwithstanding the widespread declension of faith and piety, there are true followers of Christ in these churches. Before the final visitation of God’s judgments upon the earth there will be among the people of the Lord such a revival of primitive godliness as has not been witnessed since apostolic times. The Spirit and power of God will be poured out upon His children. At that time many will separate themselves from those churches in which the love of this world has supplanted love for God and His word. Many, both of ministers and people, will gladly accept those great truths which God has caused to be proclaimed at this time to prepare a people for the Lord’s second coming.

"The enemy of souls desires to hinder this work; and before the time for such a movement shall come, he will endeavor to prevent it by introducing a counterfeit. In those churches which he can bring under his deceptive power he will make it appear that God’s special blessing is poured out; there will be manifest what is thought to be great religious interest. Multitudes will exult that God is working marvelously for them, when the work is that of another spirit. Under a religious guise, Satan will seek to extend his influence over the Christian world." The Great Controversy, 464.

We’re here at this waymark, this historical event that is demonstrating that prophecy is fulfilled in the land today and this waymark takes place before the Latter Rain is poured out. It comes before the true power of God is placed on His people, when primitive godliness and the purification of the Church, allows the Latter Rain and the Loud Cry to be poured out and proclaimed by these people at the Sunday Law issue. Before the Sunday Law we should expect to see this counterfeit, and the counterfeit is here. We in Adventism may not be willing to believe that we’re that close to the end; at least the majority of us seem unwilling to bring our lives into agreement with that great truth, but Satan knows that we’re here and Satan is doing his part in fulfilling this prophecy of the false revival which precedes the Sunday Law.

The Sunday Law is what purifies the church. I as a Seventh-day Adventist will either receive the Mark of the Beast or the Seal of God. If I receive the Seal of God the Latter Rain will be poured out upon me empowering me to give the Loud Cry message. The Sunday Law is the test that purifies the church and before the Sunday Law there will be some among us that will believe these truths and just prior to the Sunday Law, when this issue is being argued about in congress, and working it’s way through the presses of the land, television and radio, those that have prepared to be among the faithful during the testing time will begin to receive the sprinkling of the Latter Rain. The Latter Rain will not be poured out without measure until the church is purified but anyone that has brought his character and his life experience up to the standard and is seeking and pleading for the Holy Spirit can rest assured that the Lord will give it to him.

You can see this beginning sprinkling of the Latter Rain just prior to the Sunday Law illustrated in The Great Controversy, 605-606: "Heretofore those who presented the truths of the third angel’s message have often been regarded as mere alarmists. Their predictions that religious intolerance would gain control in the United States, that church and state would unite to persecute those who keep the commandments of God, have been pronounced groundless and absurd. It has been confidently declared that this land could never become other than what it has been-the defender of religious freedom. But as the question of enforcing Sunday observance is widely agitated, the event so long doubted and disbelieved is seen to be approaching, and the third message will produce an effect which it could not have had before." The Great Controversy, 605-606.

As the question of Sunday is agitated the third angel’s message is suddenly going to have a power come into it. It will have an effect that it couldn’t have before and this power, this effect, is going to be demonstrated by those that have prepared for the coming test by bringing their character into agreement with all the light and having the oil in their vessel. In this sense we can see the sprinkling of the Latter Rain beginning prior to the testing time which purifies the church, allowing the Lord to pour out the Latter Rain without measure upon a bride that has made herself ready.

In Christ’s day, perhaps the main reason that the Jews crucified Christ was their misunderstanding of prophecy. This misunderstanding of prophecy is one of the many type/antitype situations that Adventism has the possibility of repeating.

"In our day as in Christ’s day, there may be a misreading and misinterpreting of the Scriptures. If the Jews had studied the Scriptures with earnest, prayerful hearts, their searching would have been rewarded with a true knowledge of the time, and not only the time, but also the manner of Christ’s appearing. They would not have ascribed the glorious second appearing of Christ to His first advent. They had the testimony of Daniel; they had the testimony of Isaiah and the other prophets; they had the teachings of Moses; and here was Christ in their very midst, and still they were searching the Scriptures for evidence in regard to His coming. And they were doing unto Christ the very things that had been prophesied they would do. They were so blinded they knew not what they were doing." Evangelism, 612-613.

We have this possibility of misunderstanding the prophecies and not even recognizing that the time of our visitation is here. One of the clear misunderstandings that Sister White has said that is a possibility for us to fall into concerns the Latter Rain.

"Many have in a great measure failed to receive the former rain. They have not obtained all the benefits that God has thus provided for them. They expect that the lack will be supplied by the latter rain. When the richest abundance of grace shall be bestowed, they intend to open their hearts to receive it. They are making a terrible mistake. The work that God has begun in the human heart in giving His light and knowledge must be continually going forward. Every individual must realize his own necessity .The heart must be emptied of every defilement and cleansed for the indwelling of the Spirit. It was by the confession and forsaking of sin, by earnest prayer and consecration of themselves to God, that the early disciples prepared for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. The same work, only in greater degree, must be done now.

"Then the human agent had only to ask for the blessing, and wait for the Lord to perfect the work concerning him. It is God who began the work, and He will finish His work, making man complete in Jesus Christ. But there must be no neglect of the grace represented by the former rain. Only those who are living up to the light they have will receive greater light, unless we are daily advancing in the exemplification of the active Christian virtues, we shall not recognize the manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the latter rain. It may be falling on hearts all around us, but we shall not discern or receive it." Testimonies to Ministers, 507.

This is one of the deceptions that Adventists will fall into that parallels what the Jews did to Christ, not recognizing that He was the Messiah though He was right in front of them. Here we see a statement that the Latter Rain will be falling all around us but some won’t see it. This takes place before the purification of the church, because at the Sunday Law test the wheat and the tares are separated and the Latter Rain is going to be poured out without measure! Here prior to the Sunday Law test, we see a sprinkling of the Latter Rain illustrated. We see those that haven’t received the former rain into their experience, those that have been preparing for the Mark of the Beast, those that are going to continue to be among the foolish virgins, those that are going to be the Laodecians spewed out of the mouth of the Lord. The latter Rain will be beginning to be poured out around them and they won’t even recognize it. We must not be among those people!

"The third angel’s message is swelling into a loud cry, and you must not feel at liberty to neglect the present duty, and still entertain the idea that at some future time you will be the recipients of great blessing, when without any effort on your part a wonderful revival will take place. Today you are to give yourselves to God, that he may make of you vessels unto honor, and meet for his service. Today you are to give yourself to God, that you may be emptied of self, emptied of envy, jealousy, evil-surmising, strife, everything that shall be dishonoring to God. Today you are to have your vessel purified that it may be ready for the heavenly dew, ready for the showers of the latter rain; for the latter rain will come, and the blessing of God will fill every soul that is purified from every defilement. It is our work today to yield our souls to Christ, that we may be fitted for the time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord-fitted for the baptism of the Holy Spirit." Review and Herald, March 22, 1892.

Before the Sunday Law we must be drinking in the former rain.

Before the Sunday Law we’re going to see the combination of church and state developing and coming together in the United States. We must understand what the Image of the Beast is because it is being developed during this time leading up to the Sunday Law. In Revelation 13:11, when United States speaks as a dragon, Sister White tells us that the ‘speaking’ of a nation is the action of its legislative and judicial branches. Therefore, when United States speaks as a Dragon, it’s an action of Congress when it legislates the Sunday Law.

In Revelation 13:11 we see that the Sunday Law is passed in the United States but also we see that the Image of the Beast is brought to maturity in the United States. The only definition that Sister White gives for the Image of the Beast is the combination of church and state. When secular power is used to enforce religious dogma or to sustain her institutions, the United States has formed an image of the Roman hierarchy. The Image of the Beast is the prophetic symbol of the combination of Church and State. Even though it’s directly related to the Sunday Law, it is distinctly different. The Image of the Beast is describing the principles that guide the powers that be to enforce the Sunday Law. The Sunday Law is not the Image of the Beast; it is the Mark of the Beast. Sister White clearly distinguishes between these two aspects in the Great Controversy.

Though the Sunday Law arrives when it does, before it arrives there’s going to be many legal maneuverings and precedents, taking place in the congress of the United States. The Supreme Court will prepare the steps to allow a Sunday Law to be passed and enforced. This legal precedence, this legal machinery has already begun to tear down the constitution of the United States. As this legal machinery, designed to destroy the separation of church and state in the constitution of the United States, progresses, it is symbolically the raising up of the Image of the Beast.

In the time period preceding the Sunday Law, we should expect to see, and it’s going on today, the legal challenges to the constitution going forward destined to be the precedents that will tear the heart out of the constitution of the United States, the symbolic ‘wall’ of separation of Church and State.

"But what is the ‘image to the beast’? and how is it to be formed? The image is made by the two-homed 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. The Great Controversy, 443.

"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, (and Brothers and sisters, those movements are alive and well!) 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) 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 Great Controversy, 573-574.

Sister White talks about how the Sunday Laws were brought into the Roman Empire and it wasn’t just overnight. It was step by step, a little bit here and a little bit there; that is going on in the United States today.

Whether the legal ramifications the abortion issue, or the parochial school funding, the religious freedom amendment, there’s so many issues going on in congress right now probably without the authors of these laws understanding the implications. These laws are destined, and have been designed by Satan, to remove the separation of Church and State, the symbolic ‘wall’ that has guarded religious freedom in that country. It’s underway today; it’s easy to see that we are at this time that precedes the Sunday Law.

"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 reestablish 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.

"The Protestants of the United States will be foremost in stretching their hands across the gulf to grasp the hand of Spiritualism; they will reach over the abyss to clasp hands with the Roman power; and under the influence of this threefold union, this country will follow in the steps of Rome in trampling on the rights of conscience." The Great Controversy, 588.

"I was pointed to the providence of God among His people and was shown that every trial made by the refining, purifying process upon professed Christians proves some to be dross. The fine gold does not always appear. In every religious crisis some fall under temptation. The shaking of God blows away multitudes like dry leaves. Prosperity multiplies a mass of professors. Adversity purges them out of the church. As a class, their spirits are not steadfast with God. They go out from us because they are not of us; for when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, many are offended." Testimonies, vol. 4, 89.

"Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" Amos 3:3.

"When our nation shall so abjure the principles of its government as to enact a Sunday law, Protestantism will in this act join hands with popery." Testimonies, vol. 5,712.

Revelation 13:11, when the United States passes a Sunday Law everything changes in the United States.

This is where the waymarks of end time events come to fruition; they all unfold at this point. It is at this point that the church is purified and the Latter Rain is poured out. It’s at this point those who receive the Latter Rain begin to give the Loud Cry and National apostasy is followed by National ruin. It’s at this point that Laodecia is spewed out of the mouth of the Lord, the dross is separated from the gold in the church and the foolish virgins have the door of their probation closed while the wise begin to receive the Latter Rain. It’s at this point that the eleventh hour workers, still in Babylon, begin to understand the issues and come and take their stand with God’s people.

There is, in Adventism, another potential misunderstanding of prophecy as we come to the end of the world. Sister White speaks of God’s faithful children in the other churches of Babylon, sometimes she calls them the one hour workers that come out of Babylon, sometimes she calls them the 11^th hour workers, or God’s other children, but she invariably calls them God’s children. They’re His people. Jesus said, "Other sheep have I that are not of this fold", they are His sheep though.

These people begin to respond to the Loud Cry Message after the Sunday Law in the United States, when National apostasy is followed by National ruin. Sister White says the judgments of God were in the land. The judgments that follow the Sunday Law, is a time of mercy for those that have never known the truth. Those of His children that are still in Babylon are involved in a time of mercy. The door of their probation is still open and they still have the potential to come and stand with God’s people. The point that Adventism may be prone to misunderstand in this end time scenario is this, those people at this point are already called God’s children.

If we believe that at the Sunday Law we’re going to receive the Latter Rain and go out and introduce the very basic fundamentals of Christianity, the very rudimentary beliefs to the people out in the world, and they are going to start to make decisions about whether they want to become a Christian or not—we are deceiving ourselves. God’s people in Babylon are already God’s people. It is not seed-sowing time when the Latter Rain is being poured out, it’s the reaping time.

If we are going to fulfill our responsibility as Seventh-day Adventists at the end of the world, we have to be sowing these missionary seeds before the Sunday Law. We have to be doing our work to bring people into an experience of Christianity before the Sunday Law. Then during the crisis that follows the Sunday Law these people can take a stand based on the issues. Invariably, the people that take a stand for the Lord are identified by Sister White as His children, they already have some kind of experience with the Lord and have developed some kind of relationship. Let’s not fall into the trap of thinking that we can put off our missionary labors until the Latter Rain. We need to go to work for our neighbors today. Now!

Seventh-day Adventists Bible Commentary, vol. 7,977, is the clearest passage of what the Sunday Law test is. As the Image of the Beast, the combination of church and state is being developed in the United States by one law, one ruling, one enactment after another, it builds to a situation where a Sunday Law can be passed, sustained and enforced.

In this legal framework that’s developed, there will no doubt be Sunday Laws; there are already Sunday Laws in the United States. But the Sunday Law that fulfils Bible prophecy is specific, and in this passage these specifications are most clearly defined.

"A time is coming when the law of God is, in a special sense, to be made void in our land. The rulers of our nation will, by legislative enactments, enforce the Sunday law, and thus God’s people be brought into great peril. When our nation, in its legislative councils, shall enact laws to bind the consciences of men in regard to their religious privileges, enforcing Sunday observance, and bringing oppressive power to bear against those who keep the seventh-day Sabbath, the law of God will, to all Intents and purposes, be made void In our land; and national apostasy will be followed by national ruin." The Seventh-day Adventists Bible Commentary, vol. 7,977.

There’s 2 points there that defines the Sunday Law that fulfils Bible prophecy. (Revelation 13:11). It is the one that enforces Sunday observance and brings oppressive power against those people who keep the Sabbath. I had the privilege of being in Chile when they had just passed a Sunday Law. It read that any employee that wanted off on Sundays could tell his employer to let him off and the employer had to let him off. He had to work around it. That was the Sunday Law that was imposed in Chile and it was creating havoc in their shopping malls down there. Chile is like the United States of South America, they have a very affluent country down there and it was causing problems. But this isn’t the Sunday Law that Bible prophecy’s speaking about. The Sunday Law of Bible prophecy is when Sunday observance is enforced and Sabbath observance is persecuted.

Another aspect of this passage in Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7,977, worth understanding is that after the Sunday Law—comes National Ruin. There will be catastrophes and we see them in the land today. There will be catastrophes and crisis that lead up to the Sunday Law but everything falls apart at the Sunday Law.

There are some in Adventism from time to time that teach that perhaps the Sunday Law is going to come by executive agreement, the President is just going to sign it into effect and that’s it. Rev. 13:11 says United States will speak as a dragon and the speaking of a nation according to the Spirit of Prophecy is an action of its legislative and judicial branches. In the passage we just read, Sister White is clear that this Nation will by legislative enactments enforce the Sunday Law. "When our nation, in its legislative councils." The Sunday Law is going to go through congress. It’s going to be discussed, it’s going to be argued, it’s going to become an issue in the press of the land and then it’s going to be passed. It is not coming overnight by some kind of secret pronouncement by the president. That is not how prophecy tells us it will come to pass.

"The Sabbath will be the great test of loyalty; for it is the point of truth especially controverted. When the final test shall be brought to bear upon men, then the line of distinction will be drawn between those who serve God and those who serve him not. While the observance i of the false sabbath in compliance with the law of the state, contrary to the fourth commandment, will be an avowal of an allegiance to a power that is in opposition to God, the keeping of the true Sabbath, in obedience to God’s law, is an evidence of loyalty to the Creator. While one class, by accepting the sign of submission to earthly powers, receive the mark of the beast, the other, choosing the token of allegiance to divine authority, receive the seal of God." The Great Controversy, 605.

It’s at the Sunday Law that we either receive the Mark of the Beast or the Seal of God, when that test is brought to us individually.