THE IMAGE OF THE BEAST - PART 1

The papacy is the most deadly enemy the United States will ever have to face. This fact is virtually unknown among the people. Using the utmost secrecy to conceal her plans, the papacy, through her facade of religion, has for many decades been infiltrating the United States in all levels of government. As a result, the United States will soon lose her Constitution and become a tyrannical, persecuting power.

For many decades the papacy has been laying plans for the takeover of the United States. This goal of the papacy has been clearly stated in Charles Chiniquy's book Fifty Years in the Church of Rome.

We are determined...to take possession of the United States, and rule them; but we cannot do that without acting secretly and with utmost wisdom. If our plans become known, they will surely be defeated.--Charles Chiniguy, Fifty Years in the Church of Rome, The Wickliffe Press, Protestant Truth Society, Wickliffe Avenue, 104 Hendon Lane, Finchley, London, N3., 1885, p. 373.

On page 374 of this book we read:

How sad will their awakening be, when, with our out-numbering votes, we will turn them, for ever, from every position of honor, power and profit! What will those hypocritical and godless sons and daughters of the fanatical Pilgrim Fathers say, when not a single judge, not a single teacher, not a single policeman will be elected if he be not a devoted...Roman Catholic? What will those so-called giants think of their matchless shrewdness and ability, when not a single Senator or member of Congress will be chosen, if he be not submitted to our holy father the Pope? What a sad figure those Protestant Yankees will cut when we will not only elect the President, but fill and command the armies, man the navies, and hold the keys of the public treasury?

Then, Yes! we will rule the United States, and lay them at the feet of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, that he may put an end to their godless system of education, and sweep away those impious laws of liberty of conscience which are an insult to God and man!

...The American people must be very blind indeed, if they do not see that if they do nothing to prevent it, the day is very near when the Jesuits will rule their country, from the magnificent White House at Washington, to the humblest civil and military department of this vast Republic.--ibid, p. 374.

As we have seen, when they say Vicar of Jesus Christ, they mean the pope.

Here is a statement from the same book that shows the power these people have already amassed in the United States:

The Jesuits of the United States form one of the richest and most powerful corporations the world ever saw.--ibid, p. 375.

Today the Jesuits are already entrenched at the highest levels of the U.S. Government. Their power is not recognized by the general populace because of their treachery and secrecy.

Not only in the United States is this treachery being perpetrated by the papacy, but they are secretly at work all over the world to subvert all the nations of the world. Charles Chiniquy continues:

Rome is a constant conspiracy against the rights and liberties of man all over the world; but she is particularly so in the United States. Long before I was ordained a priest I knew that my Church was the most implacable enemy of this Republic. My professors of philosophy, history, and theology had been unanimous in telling me that the principles and laws of the Church of Rome were absolutely antagonistic to the laws and principles which are the foundation stones of the Constitution of the United States.

1st. The most sacred principle of the United States Constitution is the equality of every citizen before the law. But the fundamental principle of the Church of Rome is the denial of that equality.

2nd. Liberty of conscience is proclaimed by the United States a most sacred principle, which every citizen must uphold, even at the price of his blood. But liberty of conscience is declared by all the Popes and Councils of Rome, a most godless, unholy, and diabolical thing, which every good Catholic must abhor and destroy at any cost.

3rd. The American Constitution assures the absolute independence of the civil from the ecclesiastical or Church power; but the Church of Rome declares, through all her Pontiffs and Councils, that such independence is an impiety and a revolt against God.

4th. The American Constitution leaves every man free to serve God according to the dictates of his conscience; but the Church of Rome declares that no man has ever had such a right, and that the Pope alone can know and say what man must believe and do. --ibid, p. 375.

And when the papacy takes over there will be bloodshed.

The Church of Rome says that she has a right to punish with the confiscation of their goods, or the penalty of death, those who differ in faith from the Pope.

America simply has no idea of the terrible trouble and persecution that is coming soon at the hands of the papacy. The people of America have forgotten the wanton cruelty and unrestrained butchery this unholy power demonstrated during the Dark Ages when she slaughtered over 150 million Christians. Hitler's holocaust against the Jews was insignificant compared to the papal holocaust against Christians during the Dark Ages.

But the Bible has predicted what is going to happen to this country!

There are two beast (powers) described in the thirteenth chapter of Rev. The first has been shown to be the papacy, the Roman Catholic Church. The description of the second beast begins with Rev 13:11. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon."

The sea in Bible prophecy...represents multitudes of people. The ascent of the first beast, the papacy, from the 'sea' indicates that this power arose from the populated areas of Europe; The ascent of the second beast of Rev 13 from the 'earth' indicates that this power had its beginning in a sparsely populated area of the globe.

The previous verse, verse ten, gives us an indication of the time when this second beast was arising, for it refers to the deadly wound of verse three that the papacy received in the year 1798. He that leads into captivity shall go into captivity: he that kills with the sword must be killed with the sword." Verse eleven, then, describes the ascent of this second beast at that time.

What nation was coming to power in the world around 1798 in a sparsely populated area of the world when the papacy received its deadly wound? The only nation coming to power at that time was the United States of America. The North American continent was then a very sparsely populated area of the globe. Consider the beast that is used to represent the United States. It has two small horns like a lamb. What beast other than a lamb has two small lamb-like horns? The obvious answer is the bison, or buffalo, as it is more commonly referred to. The buffalo, whose habitat is the North American continent, appeared for many years as a symbol on United States nickels.

The two lamb-like horns of this beast symbolize the kind, gracious, and gentle nature of this country when it was young. That the horns had no crowns symbolize the great religious and political liberty available to all under the United States Constitution. The horns without crowns represent a state without a king and a church without a pope. The powerful buffalo symbolized the superior strength of the United States. On American money the message of her trust in God was proclaimed, and the great blessing of God rested upon this country.

Alexis de Tocqueville, a young French philosopher of the last century, came to our shores to discover what magical quality enabled a handful of people to defeat the mighty British Empire twice in 35 years. He looked for the greatness of America in her fertile soil, her limitless forests and natural resources. He examined America's schools, her Congress and her unique Constitution without fully understanding the source of America's strength.

It was not, he said later, until he went to the churches of America and found congregations aflame with righteousness, that he began to comprehend the secret of this power. Upon his return to France, de Tocqueville wrote: "America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." --Des Griffin, Descent into Slavery?, Emissary Publications, P. O. Box 642, South Pasadena, CA 91030, 1980, p. 267.

The United States was the champion of liberty and freedom throughout the world, for before this time no nation in history ever had a written Constitution that guaranteed the liberty and freedom of its people. But the glorious beginning of this country was to be corrupted in later years. The gentle, gracious, freedom-loving character of the United States in its youth was later used as a facade to hide the character that this country subsequently developed. This facade has successfully kept hidden, even from most of its own citizens, the real character the United States developed in these last days.

We saw that the dragon is Satan. Rev 13:11 tells us that this country will speak as a dragon. How does the dragon speak? John 8:44 tells us, "You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." The devil is a liar. There is no truth in him. This great country, that began so beautifully by upholding the principles of morality and freedom, speaks, as Rev 13:11 says, 'as a dragon.' In these last days, the United States lies to the entire world, just as the dragon, the devil, does. The United States in these latter days deceives with a skill nearly equal to that of the devil himself, just as the Bible predicted, for the devil is using this country to play a major part in the disastrous events soon to take place. Most of its citizens readily believe the lies of this second beast.

Why does a country lie? Why does a person lie? Why does Satan lie? Lies are obviously used to deceive and to keep the truth from being known. Countries (and people) lie because a knowledge of their activities will hurt or embarrass them or will prevent them from carrying out their sinister purposes. The fact that the United States speaks as the dragon shows that its government is engaged in criminal activities that its citizens and the rest of the world must not find out about. There are many thousands of examples of our government's lying that could be discussed, but only two well-known examples will be mentioned here.

Perhaps the best known example of the United States government's lies is our servicemen missing in action from the Vietnam and previous wars. Many very reliable reports of sightings have been documented, and photographs of men still alive have surfaced, but the government continues to lie about these men, claiming that they are all dead. How cruel it is for our government to simply abandon these men to rot in communist prisons for so many years after they risked their lives fighting in a war many of them felt was unjustifiable.

The second example of the United States lying to the world is the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Many books have been written about the assassination that have put the lie to the official government version of what happened. The movie JFK very forcefully exposes the lies of the official government version of what happened and, along with many books on the assassination, shows that the assassination of President Kennedy was planned and organized at the highest levels of the U. S. Government. If the government has nothing to hide concerning this assassination, why were all the pertinent official documents of the assassination locked up until far into the twenty-first century? (Note: It is very unfortunate that the movie JFK used such revolting language and depicted such abominable scenes to tell the story of the assassination.)

Actual motion pictures were taken of President Kennedy during the assassination by one of the bystanders, a Mr. Zapruder. These pictures, which were locked in a vault for five years after the murder, show that the Warren Report could not possibly be true. The first time the American public got a good look at these pictures was in the movie JFK. Why were not the American people permitted to view Mr. Zapruder's film earlier if the Government were telling the truth?

Later there was a congressional investigation of the assassination. The results of this investigation were also locked away so the citizens could not learn the truth about this murder. Why, unless the government has been lying to the people and has something to hide?

Presidential candidates and most other politicians running for office seem to be very proficient at lying to the people. The news media lies almost continually to try to manipulate the people of the country.

Let us now consider the tactics the papacy is using to institute the national Sunday law. Just because they call themselves a church does not mean that they are honest or honorable. Remember that Satan gave them their power and great authority (Rev 13:2). To illustrate the deceptiveness of the papacy, here is a quote from The Great Controversy that shows the abominable character of the Jesuits.

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. The gospel of Christ had enabled its adherents to meet dangers 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 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. But 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. --E. G. White, The Great Controversy, pp. 234, 235, 1911, Pacific Press Publishing Assn.

There is a dedicated effort in the United States to degrade the morality of the people of the country, to destroy family life, and to destroy all the traditional values that made this country the greatest nation in the world. This is being done by the abominable subjects being taught in schools and colleges. It is being done with pornographic sex education courses. It is being done with the destruction of religious values and the law of God, the Ten commandments. It is being done by television programs, where entertainment is watching people break God's law. The natural result of this is a drastic increase in crime. Acts of the most abominable and shocking character are daily perpetrated within this country. The murder of one and a half million unborn babies in this country each year is one result of the demoralization of this nation.

The papacy will use the backlash against the crime and trouble in society to have the government pass laws that enforce the papacy's policies. As people come to a general realization that civilization simply cannot ignore God and morality and expect to have any semblance of order and happiness, they will insist that the government pass laws to restore morality and decency in society. The French realized this after three and a half years of the unbridled excesses of the French Revolution. The French people found that they simply could not reject the Bible, and the government passed laws allowing the return of the Scriptures and religious freedom.

When the people of the United States, led by the papacy, become aware that the cause of all the trouble and problems in society is the disregard of religious morality, they will pressure Congress to pass laws supposedly to try to reverse decades of damage to the United States; but unfortunately these laws will be designed to legislate morality as defined by the papacy. If a society is going to have moral principles, it will be because of proper education, not legislation.

These religious laws that the United States is going to pass in the near future will cause the events of Rev 13:12 to occur. "And he exercises all the power of the first beast before him, and causes the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed."

Here we see that the United States will soon exercise all the power of the first beast, the papacy, and cause the people of earth to worship the papacy! What could the United States do that would force people to worship the papacy? In direct defiance of the Constitution, the United States will pass laws demanding obedience to papal religious requirements.

We have seen that Sunday observance was instituted by the papacy,  and that those who observe Sunday according to papal dictates instead of God's Sabbath, Saturday, according to the Ten Commandments are worshipping the papacy. The United States therefore will pass laws requiring her citizens to observe Sunday as the day to be kept holy! (Remember that the Jesuits have been infiltrating the U.S. Government for many decades.) That such a law would be passed in America may seem very unlikely at this time; nevertheless this is Bible prophecy and it will, indeed, be fulfilled exactly as verse twelve indicates. Actually, such laws are not as farfetched as they might seem. Many states now have Sunday laws on the books. These laws, usually referred to as "blue laws", demand the closure of certain businesses on Sunday.

Today the papacy and her many daughter religions, including non-Christian religions and the New Age movement, are working to consolidate the churches of the world into a single worldwide religion. Because of all the crime and violence in society and the world, and because of the increasingly heavy hand of government regulation and taxes, the people will come to realize that they need the restraints of religion in order to preserve freedom and order, and they will combine the false religions of the world into a vast one-world ecumenical religion that the Bible refers to as the false prophet. Rev 16:13,14 and other verses mention this false prophet. "And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon [Satan], and out of the mouth of the beast [the Catholic Church], and out of the mouth of the false prophet [ecumenical Protestantism]. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, that go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty."

The Sunday law will be one of the results of this false ecumenical religion. The people will mistakenly pressure government to go against the first amendment to the Constitution and legislate religious doctrine--in this case false religious doctrine.

The last issue of contention in this world will be over religion, specifically over which is the proper day on which to worship--Saturday, God's holy Sabbath day, or Sunday, the day set up by the papacy--and we will soon witness religious persecution worse than the world has ever seen!

Because of its position of leadership which the United States enjoys in the world, the rest of the world will follow its example and will also pass religious laws and require Sunday observance. The papacy will be the driving force behind this great Sunday movement, especially in Europe. Satan and the papacy know that the scheme to establish a political New World Order through the United Nation to take over the world will not work. Through the use of the trouble caused by trying to institute the New World Order, trouble caused by atheism, liberalism, socialism, radicalism, and terrorism, they are conditioning the world for these worldwide religious laws, including the Sunday laws.

Continuing with the prophecy, Rev 13:13 shows that the United States will dazzle the world with its great feats. "And he does great wonders, so that the makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men."  Has the United States ever made fire come down from heaven in the sight of the whole world? During the Second World War this country dropped atomic bombs on two cities in Japan, and fire, indeed, came down from heaven. The reference to 'great wonders' refers to the exalted level of technological excellence this country enjoys and the scientific marvels this country has accomplished.

Further describing the United States, Rev 13:14 says, "And deceives them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles that he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, that had the wound by a sword, and did live."

An image is a copy, a duplication. The first beast, the papacy, is a union of church and state; the armies and police power of the state carry out the demands and dictates of the church as in the Dark Ages. This union of church and state will be duplicated by the United States. Catholics and other religious denominations in the United States will join together in a great ecumenical alliance and will pass religious laws including the national Sunday law. When this happens, the United States will repudiate its glorious beginning of total civil and religious freedom and will become a union of church and state in a vain attempt to dictate morality to its citizens. The United States will use its police power to enforce obedience to the doctrines and dictates of this great ecumenical alliance, thus becoming the image of the beast. We see this beginning to happen today as the so-called 'religious right' becomes more powerful.

Before the end comes, this country will repudiate every principle of its Constitution. Perhaps a constitutional convention, called ostensibly to balance the budget, will be the mechanism whereby the citizens of the United States will lose their Constitution. The injunction of the first amendment to the Constitution prohibiting the government from making any religious laws will not prevent this prophecy from being realized, and the first of religious persecution will again be kindled. Those who insist on observing God's holy Sabbath day, Saturday, according to the Ten Commandments will suffer severe persecution, as the following verse shows.

Rev 13:15 - "And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed." Thus, we see that in America the true Christians who continue to keep Saturday, God's Sabbath day, holy will be in danger of losing their lives! As impossible as this sound to us today, remember that the unconditional prophecies of the Bible never fail. Many of us will live to witness this persecution, that will eventually become so severe that it will be a matter of life or death, and many people will be killed! "...The time will come, that whoever kills you will think that he does God service." (John 16:2).

Satan is planning to cause unbelievable trouble on the earth. The people who keep God's Sabbath day holy will be blamed for this trouble. The claim will be made that God is angry because this small group of people refuses to obey the Sunday laws. People will claim that the trouble is the result, and if the world were rid of the Sabbath-keepers the trouble would cease. Thus the Sabbath-keepers, God's true people, are to be killed.

We have recently seen the colossal abuse of governmental power against a religious sect in Waco, Texas. Consider how much of our Constitution had been repudiated in that fiasco. Without due process of law and without a trial, many people including women and young children were murdered in this despicable abuse of power by our government, which was shockingly similar to the Gestapo tactics used in Hitler's Germany. Virtually every thing the government and the news media said about this sect and the military operation in Waco was a lie, told to try to justify the government's actions. The people of the world have no idea of what this religious sect in Waco was really like because of all the lies told about them. Before the government was finished with this operation, they bulldozed all the evidence into oblivion.

Satan has been trying for nearly 6,000 years to get mankind to break God's laws. He has tried enticement with sinful pleasures. He has tried deception to convince mankind that the wrong way is the correct way. He has infiltrated his ministers into the churches. He has used force. He used communism in an attempt to remove all traces of the Word of God from the earth. But no matter what he has done, there have always been a few people who have been true to God. In these last days of earth's history the devil is getting desperate, for he knows that he is going to die, and he can see that the end is very near. "Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has but a short time." (Rev 12:12). Once more, in desperation, Satan is going to employ force, this time to a degree never before attempted, in an effort to exterminate every one of Christ's true Christians.

One of the tactics that the United States will use in this religious persecution to suppress liberty of conscience is described in Rev 13:16,17: "And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."  The mark of the beast; what is it?

Great economic pressure will be brought to bear on the people who remain true to God and who continue to observe Saturday, His holy Sabbath day. These people will be totally isolated economically from society. They will not be able to hold a job; they will not be able to buy groceries; they will not be able to sell anything in order to obtain food or anything else they need unless they reject God and start keeping Sunday. They will be under extreme pressure to yield their faith to the papacy and to the devil, for the entire world will be arrayed against them.

Imagine what life will be like for these people who refuse to receive the mark of the beast. This will be a time of severe trouble, and many who are not sincere will succumb to this extreme economic pressure. Then, since some will remain true to God and continue to obey His Fourth Commandment and keep Saturday, His Sabbath day, holy, the ultimate punishment will be decreed: these people shall be put to death.

On the other hand, God's warning against receiving the mark of the beast is the most severe warning given in the entire Bible. It is found in Rev 14:9-11. "And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, that is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascends up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name."

What is the mark of the beast? Let us ask the beast what his mark is.

Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change [from Saturday to Sunday] was her act. And the act is a MARK of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matter. --C. F. Thomas, Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons.

Sunday is our MARK of authority...The church is above the Bible, and this transference of Sabbath observance is proof of that fact. Catholic Record, September 1, 1923 (Ontario).

Sunday observance is the mark of the beast! Thus if you insist on keeping God's Sabbath day holy, you will be able neither to buy nor sell. You will be completely cut off from any means of support for yourself and your family. This religious persecution will be very bloody. Many of God's true people will lose their lives in this bloody turmoil, but this time the Lord will not tolerate a wholesale slaughter of His people. He will come and put an end to Sunday-keeping and religious persecution forever. And when He comes, those who have disregarded His law will finally learn that God means exactly what He says.


--Taken from The National Sunday Law published by Pacific Institute, San Diego, California.


Click here for Identifying the Image of the Beast, Part 2.