ac bible corr course lesson 31 (1963)

7/31/2019 AC Bible Corr Course Lesson 31 (1963)

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-AMBASSADOR COLLEGE

CORRESPONDENCE COURSE

TheMARKof the BEASTBRANDS SATANS FOLLOWERS!

0 YO U REALIZE T H E MARK O F T H EBEAST BRANDS the VAST MAJORI-TY today who believe themselves to be

CHRISTIANS? Unbelievable, but true!You mus t BE SURE th is BRAND i s NOT

UPO N YOU!-for i t CAN MEAN your ET ER -NAL DEATH! Very soon, Satan the Devil willinspire his agents to enforce agai n-by thesheer brutality of military might- he Mark

of the Beast upon the whole Western World ashe did during the Middle Ages!

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WHY SundayWorshipCalledMarkof the Beast

SUNDAY WORSHIP IS t he MARK OFthe BEAST! Sunday is the day on which theancient pagans assembled at sunrise, faced theeast, and worshipped the rising sun.

It w a s C 0 N W k N T I N ETHE GREAT,a PAGAN S U N - W O R S H I P P E R a n d E M P E R -OR O F the ROMAN EM PIR E, who MADE

he O F F f C I A Lnational weekly DAYI N t h e R O M A N E M P I R E !CONSTANTINES

&+$us EDICT&& ? ON the venerablei AY OF the S a magistrates and people

. . . R E S T (Sch aff-He rzog Encyclopedia ofReligious Knowledge, article Sunday Legisla-

t h a t C O N S TA N T I N E was AN O T a PRIEST. Thus , a

C L E S I A S T I C A L- MPOSED SUNDAY asthe accepted day of rest an d WO RS HI P uponthe su bjec ts of t he kingdom.

IN your Bible, the ancient ROMAN SYS -

,&,Aw-&- ere are the w

O V E R N M E N T- O T E C -

A 4

T E M i s P I C T U R E D A S a wild animal-aW I L D BEAST. It was the BEASTwhich

a y obseru-)- PO N

MillionsORDEREDKilledby RomanChurch

Once Sunday was established as the dayofworship by Constantine, areligious power -CH URC H-a church o ther than thetruechurch Christ had established- OOK OVERthe FURTHERANCE OF SUNDAY observ-ance. This great church has continued to beth e champion of th is day on down through t hecenturies into our times.It is a tremendousecclesiastical power whichis prophesied tovzgor-ously continue the f urtheran ce of Sund ay keep-ing DOWN TO the ENDOF T H I S A G E.

This church- he CATHOLIC C H U R C H-became RESP ONS IBLE FOR CAUSINGthe C I V I L G O V E R N M E N TOF t h e E M P I R Eeven to PUT P E O P L E T O D E AT H IF T H E YR E F U S E D T O KEEP SUNDAY. Chr is t iansmust not Judaize by rest ing on the Sabbath,but must work on that day, resting rather onSund ay. But, if any be found t o be Judaizing[keeping Gods Sabbath], let them be declaredanathema from Christ ( A Hi sto ry of theCouncils of the Chu rch, p. 316). This decreewas pass ed--b y Catholic Council ofLaodicea, in-ab

Laws became no man could evenhold a j o b , or engage in any kind of business,unless he worked on Saturday andrested on


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PACE 2 TH E MARK OF THE BEAST BRANDS SATANS FOLLOWERS! LESSON 31

AMBASSADOR COLLEGE3iIa.e

CORRESPONDENCECOURSELESSON 31

Herbert W. Atmmong, publisher and editorDr. C. Paul Meredith, director

Sent FREE to all who reqilest it, 4s the Lord proude s.Address all communications t o the editor,

Bo x I I I , Pasadena, California 91 09

Printed in U.S.A.@ 1963 Ambassador College 464

NOTICE: Be sure to notify us immediately of anychange in your address. IMPORTANT!

Sunday. And when the Church declared oneanathema (accursed as an heretic) d h e statepa ic e of the now Catholic Church-dominatedRoman Empire (symbolically represented in theBible as a beast being ridden by a fallenwoman - ev. 17) began torturing him. Un-less he recanted of his heretical Sabbath keep-ing, he was tortured to death!

Yes, it was for obeying the Fourth Com-mandment - or observing the Sabbath andrefusing to keep Satans Sunday- that MIL-LIONS (many of them true Christians) wereTORTURED AND KILLED DURING theMIDDLE AGES.

Universal compulsory Sunday observancewas caused to be enforced later by the RomanCatholic Church which finally gained politicaldominance over the beast-the Roman Em-pire!

GreaterTribulationJust Ahead!This tribulation of the Middle Ages was

only a small forerunner of the great tribula-tion which is yet to come! God shows thisSAME Satanically inspired RELIGIOUS-PO-LITICAL SYSTEM is to be in existence a t theclose of this age-NOW-in just a few short

years! And THROUGH IT, the DEVIL WILLONCE AGAIN ENFORCE the MARK of theBeast wi th more fiendish brutality than everdreamed possible!

Notice the grim warning from your Bible!-Woe to the inhabiters of t he earth and of

the sea! for the Devil is come down unto you,having great wrath, because he knoweth thathe hath but a short time (Rev. 12:12). Thisis for the days now just immediately aheadof us!

Millions will suffer through this gruesometime of Satans wrath: I beheld, and lo, agreat multitude, which no man could number,of all nations, and kindreds, and people, andtongues, stood before the throne, and beforethe Lamb, clothed with white robes . . . Theseare they which came out of great tribulation,and have washed their robes and made themwhite in the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 7:9,14).

Yes, MILLIONS are TO SUFFER throughthis terrible period of GREAT TRIBULATIONthat is J U S T AHEAD! Multiplied thousandsof them will be the ones who are SPIRITUAL-LY ASLEEP AS THEY HEAR the WARNINGMESSAGE OF Gods true servants TODAY!They could have avoided this terrifying, calami-tous experience had they acted in time by be-ginning a personal spiritual exodus to Godbeforehand-by observing now His key testSabbath Day, and His other commandments.They COULD HAVE been spared all of thissuffering had they turned to God and comeunder His DIVINE PROTECTION now-heeding the warning of these very Bible lessons

about observing Sunday.But you see here - ou have Gods veryword for it here - ha t hundreds of thousandsof a great multitude, a multitude that no mancan number, will neglect this warning! Theywill voluntarily take the dreadful Mark of theBeast!

-v,

LESSON31RomanEmpirePrecededby ThreePropheticBeastsGOD WARNED there WOULD CONSEC-

UTIVELY ARISE FOUR great WORLD-DOMINATING destructive KINGDOMS. HePICTURED these four kingdoms BY a hugeTERRIBLE-LOOKING four-sectioned IMAGE.

To make it even clearer, God ALSO PIC-TURED these same kingdoms BY FOUR fear-ful DESTRUCTIVE BEASTS.

The first of these four kingdoms was Nebu-chadnezzars Babylonian Empire. Nebuchadnez-

zars kingdom was located in the same geo-graphical location as the ancient Babyloniankingdom of pagan Nimrod, on the River Eu-phrates. His kingdom continued the same oldSatan-inspired system of Nimrod! The following 9three world-ruling kingdoms continued to besatanically inspired. Its rulers were the tools ofthe devil. Now we are ready to study Godswarning!

1. What did the terrible image with its

.


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LESSON 31 THE MARK OF THE BEAST BRANDS SATANS FOLLOWERS! PAGE 3

four contiguous sections look like? Dan.2:28 ,31-33, 36-40. What four terrible kingdoms

(v . 7) , that i t COULD NOT BE COMPAREDto any wild beast that inhabited the earth!

Did these four beasts clearly representCOMMENT:Here is symbolically described th e four bestial-minded world-ruling kingdoms

the four consecutive world-ruling Gentile em- tha t were to arise consecutively? Dan.7: 17, 23 .pires. TheF I R S T KINGDOM, or empire, WAS COM MEN T: he word kingis synonymousNebuchadneG ars then-existent kingdom. Since with kingdom, as clearly s h o w in Verse23,God expectsUS t o look into this Worlds history There fore, Dan iel.7 reveals tha t these beasts,books t o learn addition al related fac ts abo ut these wild animals, symbolize consecutive worldfulfilled prophecies, we find that Nebuchadnez- governments orld empires,zars kingdom- HE CHALDEAN EMPIRE, 4. Why was the F O U R T H B E A S T-CAL LED BAJYLON after th e name of its T H ER O M A N E M P I R E - so dreadful andcapital city- xisted fromm . c . terrible [looking] and STRONG EXCEED-

We also know from histow tha t the next INGLY; and. . . diverse [different] from allkingdom- he following, SE kingdom of th e [three] beasts th at were before IT ?-was to be the PERSIA N MPIRE (558-333 Dan. 7:7,23; 2:40. Notice the words devour theB.c.), often called Medo-Persian because it was whole earth in Dan.7 ~ 2 3 %composed of the Medes and Persians. Th e COM ME NT:he Roman Empire, which the

worldlyling kingdom was to be fourth beast represents, beganat Rome, thenGRE CE ( 3 3 3 3 ~ ~ ~ JUnder the spread out and gradually absorbed-DE-

Gueed the Persian Empire. VOURED and BRAKE I N PIECES-

ll theAnd the FOURTH kingdom was to be THE- rem nant s of th e other preceding kingdoms, oc-POMAN EM PIRE( 2 1 B.C.-476 A.D. ) . cupying all their territory.It became extremely

2. W h a t w a s t h e D E S C R I P T I O NOF powerful because it EMB ODIE D th e STRO NG-T H E FOUR BEASTS God showed Daniel? E ST PHYSICAL and MILITA RY CHARAC-Dan. 7:3-7. TERISTICS O F ALL its PREDECESSOR

COMMENT: ote that the FIR ST beast waslike a LION (Dan. 7:4), the SEC OND was Truly; the fourth beast was a very strangelike a BEAR (v . 5 ) , the T H IR D like a and mysterious-looking animal, for dreadfulLEOPARD (v . 6) , and the FOU RTH beast and terrible and strong exceedingly was thewas SO D R E A D F U L and terrible LOOKING Roman Empireto become!

I p were they to be? 3.

The RomanEmpiret o

BecomeEXCEEDINGLYDestructive!So important was the fourth beast-the

last beast, the Roman Emp ire- to become,that God deals in great detail withits fearsomedestructive power. For it is the beast which isto forge again to the front inour time!

God shows thegreat culminatiue destructivepower of this Roman religious dominatedfourt h world empire- an empireat thisvery moment arisingagain in Europe-by meansof a great composite beast. It is comprised of

th e most pow erful parts of each of t he thre esuccessive previous beasts,or world empires.Itis thus to possess thecombined strength of al lthe other three. Yes, a world empire withpower like this earth has neuer seen before!!

So GOD WARNS us, THROUGH thisweird-looking COMPOSITE BEAST, thatTO-DAYS exceedingly great ROMISH R ELIGIONis once again to DOMINATE a political revivalof th e Rom an Empire.It will be none otherthan THE CLZMACTZC AGE-ENDAPPEAR-ANCE O F the prophesied destructive FOU RTHBEAST to WHICH thefiery red dragon

(Satan-Rev. 12:3, 9) has given his powerdown through the centuries.

At this very moment, Satanis preparing thegrand climax of his destruc tiveness through thisgreat Beast- or it is the Beast whichWILL soonE N F O R C E ITS MARK AGAINupon the entire world!

Understand fully!1. W hat was the description of th e COM -

POSITE BEAST GOD SHOWED JOHN ap-

proximately 650 years after Daniels vision?Rev. 13:1-2.COMMENT: ere, again, is described a very

strange and mysterious-looking animal!Godshowed John a symbolic beast whichLOOKEDAS THOUGH it HAD S WA L L O W E D U Pthree different animals- LION, LEOPARD,AND a BEAR -which in tu rn manifested partsof themselves in such a way as to m akeup thetotal body of th e beast. TH ER EF OR E,JOHNS TOTAL BEAST (Rev.13:2) IS AFOURTH BEAST COM POSED OF the MOSTP O W E R F U L PAR TS-is a composite of-


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THE MARK OF THE BEAST BRANDS SATANS FOLLOWERS! LESSON 31

each OF the OTHER THREE BEASTS.2. Then doesnt Johns total beast and

Daniels fourth beast each symbolically repre-sent the Roman Empire? Dan. 7 : 7 . Each does!

COMMENT: aniels and Johns visions bothactually PORTRAY a SUCCESSION O FWORLD KINGDOMS WHICH CLIMAX I Nthe ROMAN EMPIRE! To fully understandthis , we must notice the point of view of bothvisions.

Daniels vision - bout 65 0 years beforeJohns vision - as mainly prophetic. Three ofthe four empires Daniels four beasts picturedhad not yet existed. Only the Babylonian Em-pire, pictured by th e first beast-a lion-was inexistence at the t ime of Daniels vision.

But BY the TIME OF JOHNS VISIONof a composite beast-about 96 A.D., 650 yearsa f t e r Daniels vision - ohn was living in thedays of the fou r th kingdom, which was theRoman Empire. The preceding three great em-pires had already risen to power and fallen. Bythat time, the ROMAN EMPIRE HAD

ABSORBED - LL VESTIGES O F the PRE-

FORE IT HAD all the royal splendor andpower of Nebuchadnezzars kingdom of Babylon-so it had the HEAD, the strongest part OFthe LION. Also, it had all the huge massive-ness given by the numerically powerful armyof th e Persian Empire - ymbolized by theLEGS, the mos t powerful part O F the BEAR.And the Roman Empire was the greatest war-

OVERSPREAD - WALLOWED UP AND

CEDING THREE KINGDOMS. THERE-

making machine the world had ever seen, for ituossessed the swif tness , the cunning, and the

9

Row we can see w h v God showed John abeast which was composed of the first threeanimals Daniel saw, for Johns total beast-the Roman Empire-had thus embodied allof the major characteristics of t he other threekingdoms.

SO Johns total beast plainly pictured thefu l f i l lmen t of Daniels prophetic beasts! It isvery clear that B O T H JOHNS TOTAL BEAST

SENT the ROMAN EMPIRE! An extremelyvoracious, predatory, destroying beast! (If youhavent done so already, then send for Mr. Arm -strongs f ree booklet W ho Is the Beast?foradditional information about the identity of t heprophetic beasts.)

3. Was the DEVIL the lethal MOTI-VATING force directing and empowering thisBEAST-the ROMAN EMP IRE? Rev. 13:2and 12:9.

COMMENT: atan the Devil was the realpower behind th e beast-the Roman Empire-the political instrument through which he hasworked in deceiving the world. It is he who hasinspired and guided the formation of the great-

world has even known - satanically inspiredyystem which has its root - nm in the an-cient Babylon of Nimrod! And has for i ts pur-pTse the eternal destruction of mank ind!

AND DANIELS FOURTH BEAST REPRE-

est and most powerful political government this 71

Roman BEASTInstituted SundayLawThe Satan-dominated, Holy Roman Em-

pire, during the Middle Ages, exterminated allknown Sabbath-observing Christians! And it isfor this very same purpose t hat a t the close ofthis age, Satan is now reviving again this power-ful Romish system!

Lets learn how Satan, in the past, throughthis diabolical political instrumentality - he

DER THREAT O F D E AT H , his own SUN-DAY-KEEPING UPON millions of people inthe Roman WORLD. For it is A TYPE OFWHAT is JUST AHEAD!

T h e Schaff-He rzog Encyclopedia of ReligiousKnowledge, Vol. IV, pp. 2259-60, rt. Sunday,informs us: Sunday (dies solis, of th e RomanCalendar, d a m e un, because dedicated tothe sun) , the first day of the week, was adopted

of - W O r s h i D , . . . It was called-the Lord s Day

I1 =. :4] . . . No regulations for its observ-ance are laid down in the New Testament, nor

ROMAN EMPI RE -BEGAN T O FORCE UN-

by the early [apostatizing] Christian- Y

[Satan is the L6rd - he god of this world -

indeed, is its observance even enjoined [by thetrue God - t is a day of observance furtheredby the Devil and his servants!]. . . .

IN 321 A.D. Sund y observance began to beenjoine+ oman state decree! History revealsthat it was the R O M A N EMPEROR CON-STANTINE THE GREAT, who MADEthe DECREE T O FORCE the WORLD TOKEEP SUNDAY, AND THEREBY BREAKthe TRUE SABBATH O F GOD.

CONSTANTINES EDI CT reads as follows:

ON the venerable DAY O F the S U N [ S U N -DAY] LE T the magistrates and PEOPLE re-siding in cities REST, and let all workshops beclosed (Codex Justinianus, lib. 3, i t . 1 2 :3 ;translated in History of the Christian Chu rch,by Schaff, Vol. 111, p. 380).

What was Constantines specific reason formaking this decree? It was his mo de of har mo-nizing the discordant religions of the empireunder one common ins t i tu t ion (Lectur es on theHis tory of the Eastern Churc h,by Dean ArthurP. Stanley, Scribners printing of 1884, . 184).(Isnt there a moue b y a great Roman church


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THE MARK OF THE BEAST BRANDSSATANS FOLLOWERS! PAGE 5

state - he beast or ROMAN E M P I R E -So SUNDAY OBSERVANCE BECAME the WH ICH DECLARED SUN-DAY to BEOB -

SERVED as an imperial holiday.

today to harmonize discordant religions?)

MARK OF TH E BEAST, FORIT WAS the

DEATHFor Not ObservingSUNDAY!Very soon after 321, Constantine FORCED

SUNDAY- KEEPING upon the world WITHarmed M I L I TA RY M I G H T !- sing a decreeissued in32 A D. as legal au thority.

d l s s D E AT H RESULTED FORTHOSE WHO steadfast ly OPPOSED the SUN-DAY O BSERVA NCE dictate s of th e Romangovernment! (Send for thefree booklet, T h eMar k of th e Beast, to learn more details aboutth e Beasts enforcement of its Sunda y-M ark ).

The ROMAN CONSTANTINE WARNEDthe true followers of God, the SAB BAT H-KE EPIN G Christians whorefused to keep S u n -day and insisted on observing Gods key-testcommanded Sabbath day instead:

T o speak of yourcriminality as it deserves[Constantine inferred Sabbath-keeping was aCRIMINAL thing to do] demands more timeand leisure than I can give . . . Why not a tonce strike, as it were, at the root ofso greata mischief [keeping Gods tr ueSabbath day]by a public manifestation of displeasure? Foras-much, then, as it is no longer possible to bearwith your pernicious errors [of obeying GodsSabbath commandment], we give warning bythis present statute that none of you hence-

fo rth presume to assemble yourselves together.We have directed, accordingly, that you bedeprived of all the houses in which you areaccustomed to hold your assemblies: and [we]forbid the holding of your superstitious andsenseless meetings [on the Sabbath day], notin public merely, but in any private house orplace whatsoever. . . We have commanded. . .that you be positively deprived of every gath-ering point for your superstitious meetings,Imean all the houses of prayer. . . t ha t anyother places be confiscated to the public serv-ice, and no facility whatever be left for anyfuture gathering [on Gods Sabbath] in orderth at fro m this d ay forward none of you r unlaw-fu l [in th e sight of th e Rom an government]assemblies may presume to appear in any publicor private place (from EusebiusL i f e ofConstantine, book 111).

This same Eusebius, a Catholic historianwho lived in the time of Constantine, su ms upthe work of Constantine by declaring: Andth e cre dit of having achieved this mighty work[of beginning the organized effort tos tampout all known Sa bb ath keeping] our heaven-protected Emperor alone, of all who had-gonebefore him, was able to attribute to himself(book 111, chap. 66).

Satan FarmedCHURCHt o RULERomanBEAST

Satan has his destructivecivil governmenton earth which is doing his will. Satan givesit his power, and his seat, and great authority(Rev. 13:2).

But the DEVIL ALSO HAS anecclesi-astical organization- G R E AT C H U R C H -which is his religious instrume ntality in deceiv-

ing the world. God useswild beasts to picturedestruction. So GOD USES A N O T H E RBEAST TO P ICTU RE this great destructivefalse church. It , too, is a ruling devouringgovernment!

Here is Gods astounding revelation, fromHis Word, which positively identifies thesecond beast of Revelation 13 a s T H EPAPACY - O LIT IC AL government of theROMAN CATHOLIC C H U M H which ru ledthe Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.

1. Did God, in vision, show John anotherbeast? Rev.13: 1.

COMMENT:Do not confuse this beast with

the first beast which you have proven to be thecivil Roman Empire.Does this second beast APP EA R LIK E

A LAMB? Rev. 13:11. What does the wordlamb symbolize in the Bible? JohnI 29 andRev. 17:14. B u t i s n o t t h i s b e a s t s T R U ECHARACTER OF theD E V I L himself? Rev.13:11 and 12:g.

COM MENT: his two-horned beast appea rsas a lamb, F A L S E L Y IMPERSONATINGCH RIS T an d His tru e teachings of salvation.It actually spea ks the lies of t he Devil. Thisbeast is not the United States as some claim.

3. Is this second beast- th at is, this

DEVIL- INSPIRED false church- o utilizeall of the power of the first bea st-i.e. US Eal l the CIVIL GOVERNMENTS MIGHT?Rev. 13:12. How and when did i t begin t oexercise the first beasts power? Verse3.

It was when the first beasts

W>sts fall (476 . D . ) when the barbarians over-r a n i t , t h u s e n d i n g i t s g o v e r n m e n t- as

2.

GODLY - APPEARING, BUT ACTUALLY

COMMENT:deadly wound- he Roman Empire of tli e

healed in 554 A.D. bv Justinians restorationof the Roman government th attnis religious

p r n m e n t c om ple te ly to ok o ver all th e po wer


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PAGE 6 ?HE MAKK OF THE BEAST BRANDS SATANS FOLLOWERS! LESSON 31

of th e Ro ma n civil government and exercised itto rule the RomanEmpire!

He re is how i t was accomplished. Prio r to554A . D . J U S T I N I A N , E M P E R O ROF t h e EAST-E R N D I V I S I O N O F t h e ROM A N E M P I R E,had written a letter to the Pope, acknowledging

his supremacy. He,as civil governor, wa s willingto be ruled by the ecclesiastical head.And when he ascended the throne in554, he

was ACCEPTED BY theP O P E , whose author-ity the Emperor acknowledged. Church andstate were now united. Here LOR theF I R S TTJME-iqhistory, theC H U R C H W_AS-ZLUNGth e S T AT E , inste ad of th e st ate controlling th echurch! Truly, it was a new thing in th e world-church over state.A pattern to be striven fora= in ou r time!

We read in history that the popes were ac-cepted as th e Vicars of Christ, which means (inplace of Christ! T he C atholic teaching was thatth e Second Coming of Ch rist had occurred-Christ had returned t o earth, as King of kingsand Lord of lords, in th e pers on of the Popes!Th e millennium h ad (supposedly) begun. Forthe en tire duration of the healed church-dominated beasts existence the EMPERORSA C C E P T E D t h e P O P E SA S R U L I N G I NC H R I S T S P LACE, RUL ING A LL N ATIONSwith a rod of iron as Christ is to do a t Hisreal coming! CONSEQUENTLY, the ROMANEMPERO R S GAVE o v e r THEI R POWERT OT H E P O P E S.

I n t h e Encyclopedia Br i tannica , article Mil-lennium, you w ill find th e history of t his veryevent- f how the Holy Rom an Empire cameto be called th e Kingdom of G od upon earth .

R o m a nPapacyPat ternedAfterRomanCivil Government

1 . Do t h e T W O H O R N S OF the SEC-O N D B E A S T O F R E V. 1 3 : l l SYMBOLIZET W O T Y P E SO F GOVERNM ENT? Dan .7 : 4.

CO MM ENT : horn represents a king orgovernment . There were tw o horns - w o gov-ernments .

COMMENT: he CATHOLI C CHURCH wasorganized as a dual , TWO- F O L D GOVE R N -

M E N T. It embodied CHURCH GOVERN-ME NT , and i t a lso was a s tate , or CIVIL GOV-ER NM EN T, always occupying a certain amountof territory in Italy over which it, alone, ruledas an independent sovereign state- n additionto actually ruling over the vastcivil kingdomcalled The Roman Empire. Even today theCatholic Church is a separate, independent,sovereign state. Most nations send ambassadorsto i t , just as they do to the United States , toItaly, England, or Russia.SO th i s SECONDB EA S T w a s - a n d LT O D A Y - WURC H-STAT E GOVERNM ENT! B u t , w ith i t s power,

it would expand its government and Sunday ob-servance around theearth!!

2. Where else in Bible prophecies do wefind described the same identical facts whichrepresent this Catholic church-state govern-ment? Rev.17:1-7,15, 18. What does the sym-

bol of a woman mean?I1 Cor. I I : ~ .ConiMENT: In11 Cor. 11 : Christ is compar-ing His Church to avir tuous woman.

COM MENT: u t in Rev.17:1-7 God picturesa fallen woman-an apo state church-as a grea tchurch called the great whore, whois picturedas ruling over many nations!It is well knownby those who understand Bible prophecy thatth e WOMAN I N th e 1 7 ~ ~HAPTER of REV-ELATION PICTU RES the Roman_CATHOLICC H U R C H R U L I N GOVER SATANS CIVILK m G DOM - HE blasphemously so-calledHOLY R O M A N EMPIRE.

This great counterfeit Cliurch- nstead ofbecoming engaged to the t rue Chris t , andkeeping herself true to Him as coming worldruler - ormed an illicit union with the govern-ments of this world by ENTERING INTOW O R L D G O V E R N M E N T P O L IT I C S . T h eChurch sought todominate this worlds govern-ments by taking an active part in their affairs!Th us she committed spiritual fornication- l-licit union prior to marriage.

In verse18 he is also called that great city[Rome] . . . which reigneth over the kingsof t he ear th. And in verse2 , God says theI N H A B I TA N T S O F the EARTH have beenD E C E I V E D B Y T H I S G R E A T F A L S E

-

CH U R C H !A G R E AT R E LIGIOUS GOVERN-

M E N TA L W O R L D-

W I D E S Y S T E M FORP R O M O T I N GS U N D AY O B S E RVA N C E !

RomanChurchSupposedTo AdministerGODSRule

1. Does the ROMAN Catholic CHURCHD E L U D E i t s SUBJECTS INTO BELIEVINGI T I S t h e G O V E R N M E N TO F GOD ruling ONt h i s EARTH- hat will their great ecclesiasti-cal ruler soon openly do?I1 Thes. 2 : 3 , 4 .

Did th e R O M A N CHURCH MAKE an I M A G E OF the f i rs t BEAST? Rev.13: 14.W hat is this image of t he first beast?

CO MM ENT : ccording to the dictionary, animage is a copy, represe ntat ion , model, sem-blance, counterpart.It is a likeness. So hereis a great church saying to the people, Let usmake an i m a g e - a model , a copy of the civilRoman government! They pat terned theirec-clesiastical government after themost e ff i c i en tgovernment th ey knew. They p at terned i t af terthe Roman ciuil government so they could ad-minister their religious government more ef-fec ively.

COMMENT:Th e first Pope, in the real senseof the word, was Leo I (440-461 A . D . ) , says

2.


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LESSON 3 1 THE MARK OF THE BEAST BRANDS SATANS FOL LOWERS! PAGE 7

th e Cyclopedia o f Biblical , Theological, andEc-clesiastical Literature, Vol. 7, page 629. To himth e form of government of th e Roman EmpireWAS the most marvelous thing on earth. Itbecame an obsession with him. Leo advo-cated the complete ORGANIZATION OFthe CHURCH ON the MODEL OR IMAGEOF the ROMAN CIVIL GOVERNMENT, w i t hthe Pope as i ts religious head. He said that re-sistance to his will was worthy of hell, andadvocated the death Denaltv for heresy. He.finally accomplished his goal -by organizing the

S FORMING

reign Lf Leo I, the Church set up, within theRoman Empire, an ecclesiastical state (govern-ment) which, in its constitution and its admin-istrative system, was shaping itself upon theimperial model. This [counterfeit] spiritual em-pire, like the secular empire, possessed a hier-

archy of officers (p. 582). The Britannica callsit an Ecclesiastical World Empire!The Papacy is called by Catholics the Hier-

archy of Jurisdiction. It is the GOVERN-ING BODY OF the CATHOLIC CHURCHconsisting of the Pope and the other bishopsthroughout the world They possess, accordingto Catholic sources, (the POWER TO MAKELAWS. to SIT IN JUDGMENT, AND to FIX SPIBI;r-bA&PENALTELS when necessary.

Notice ITS CLAIMED ATTRIBUTES BE-LONG O N LY TO GOD. To attribute them toany organization of men is to SE T tha t OR-GANIZATION IN the PLACE OF GOD! - ocommit idolatry - o worship the image of

COMMENT: o the Papacy, according to thesehistorians, is a model, a counterpart - n imageof th e bestial pagan Roman Government.THIS ECCLESIASTICAL GOVERNMENTCOMPELLED PEOPLE, AT the THREAT OFDEATH, T O WORSHIP the MAN - RULEDCHURCH OF SATAN, organized by men intoa worldly government. Although PALMED OFFAS the GOVERNMENT OF GOD, it is in real-i t y on ly an IMAGE of a. HUMAN government!

DevilsChurch CausedEnforcementof Mark

By 365 A.D., there still were many Sabbath-keeping Christians who kept all of Gods com-mandments. And by this time, the CatholicChurch had gained considerable influence in thegovernmental affairs of the Roman Empire, es-pecially after Constantines professed conversionto the Christ ianity of Catholicism in later life.

See now how Satan, who is wroth with Godspeople, began stepping up his work of putt ingthe pressure on to destroy Gods true Sabbathobservers through his political and religious or-ganizations!

1. Did God prophesy that the satanicallyinspired Roman Church would change His divinelaws and days of worship? Dan. 7:20, 25. Whatwas one major time and law that waschanged by this Church, and when was itchanged?

COMMENT: Around 365 A.D., the Sabbathbecame an ecclesiastical issue. So the CATHO-LIC COUNCIL OF LAODICEA was called t osettle, among other matters, the Sabbath ques-tion! The most famous CANON from thiscouncil - he twenty-ninth - EADS thus:CHRISTIANS MUST N O T judaize by REST-ing ON THE SABBATH [Gods true day],BUT must WORK ON THAT DAY. . . and, ifthey can, resting then [on Sunday] as Chris-tians, B u t if any be found to be judaizers[Gods true Sabbath keepers], let them be an-athema [ecclesiastically accursed] from Christ(Nice ne and Post -Nicene Fathers , Vol. xIX,P. 148).

It was the Church - he little horn-

which sanctioned the pagan Roman Sunday asa day of rest and worship. Yes, and it also wasthe CATHOLIC CHURCH which claimed tochange Gods Law-CLAIMING it had au-thority from God to (OFFICIALLY TRANS-FER the TRUE SABBATH FROM SATUR-DAY TO SUNDAY! The Roman Sunday lawnow had t he force of an ecclesiastical law.

2;- Ditt the Devil% C h i = & cause peepkof all classes to receive the Mark of th ebeastial Roman Empire - eep the RomanEmpires Sunday - nder threat of dea th fordisobedience? Rev. 13: 5, 16.

COMMENT: he force of th e Roman St at ehad already been utilized in 325 A.D. by Em-peror Constantine to confiscate the propertyand destroy the lives of any who obeyed Godscommandments. But now, IN 365 A.D., theHEAVY HAND OF the ROMAN CHURCH-INFLUENCED STATE really BEGAN TOFALL HARD UPON THOSE WHO CONTIN-UED to be faithful in RESTING ON the S A B -BATH as God commanded .

A little later, around 400 A.D., Augustinedeclared: The holy doctors of the church havedecreed [no t a decree of th e Bible, but of m e n ]th at all glory of the Jewish [Gods] Sabbath istransferred to it [ S u n d a y ! ! ] , Let us therefore

keep the Lords Day [ thei r lords day] as theancients [the true worshippers of God] werecommanded [by G o d ] to do the Sabbath ( S a b -ba th Laws , p. 284). Yes, m e n presumptuouslytransferred Gods commanded set time to war-ship Him on the S a b b a t h to another day-S u n d a y !

Pope Gregory of Rome, in th e West, an-athematized Those who taught that it was notlawful to do work on the day of the Sabbath(Hi s to ry of the Popes, Vol. 11, p. 378). Sabbathkeeping was completely obliterated from Romeby the sixth century (Andrews, History of t h e


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PAGE 8 THE MARK O F THE BEAST BRANDS SATANS FOLLOWERS! LESSON 31

Sabbath, p.375) . And the Eastern churchesextirpated Sabbath observance in another fourhundred years, about1000 A.D.

COMMENT:This two-horned beast, thechurch - s t a t e combine , C A U S E D T O B EKILLED as many as would not worship the

image-would notworship and obey the R o -man Catholic Church itself , whose governmentis imaged after, formed in the likeness of, theRoman civil government, Note carefully thatthis false CHURCH DID NOT KILL THEMITSELF, such destruction would have been tool imited-IT CAUSED th e migh ty power of t heC I V I L G O V E R N M E N TTO KILL them! His-tory shows that the m ilitaryof the civil Romangovernment martyred NEARLY50,000,000-f i f t y million who were declared anathema fromChrist, called heretics by the Church!

Those millions of ma rtyrs were killed becausethey would not worshipth e Roman CatholicChurch: conform to i ts idolatry, its pagan be-liefs, and its customs, or worship the so-calledHoly Roman Empire. Andbecause they re-fused to receive t he commanded M ark of t h eBeast! - efused to keepSunday!!

So SATAN, THROUGH HIS RELIGIOUSAND POLITICAL INSTRUMENTALITIES,successfullyS TA M P E D O U T all known S A B -B AT H OBSERVANCE ANDE N F O R C E D the M A R K O F T H E B E AS T - nforced S U N -D A Y KEEPING in the Empire. No wonderthese were called theDark Ages, for Godstruth was all but completely stamped out!

BeastW asTo ContinueIndeed Sunday observance wasenforced!

The people were branded through the effortsof Satans ecclesiastical and civil governments.H IS [Satan, in this case] YE ARE WHOM Y EOBEY (Lorn 6:16). The world surrendered

-to Satan . T he pagan Roman governmenten-forced the Mark of th e Beast-Sunday keep-ing - n all the civilized world! T ha t is why theformer SATANIC TRIBULATION occurred-TO FORCE MANKIND TO OBEY SATANfor TH EN HE wouldO W N US TO DO WITH

S T R U C T I O N !Understand now how thissame Satanic Ro-

man system has actively continued on downinto our times and for whatpurpose! Under-stand how it is laying its plans toFORCE manby a far greater tribulation- great tribula-tion now almost upon us- o come under Sa-tans rule and acknowledge his SUND AY INSUCH VAST NUMBERS AND with suchGREAT FERVOR THAT there WOULD BE

TION!!1 . Is THE ROMAN EMPIRE, whichis

also symbolized by t he legs and feet of Nebu-chadnezzars great image, PROPHESIED to

AS H E PLEASES-TO OUR E T E R N A L D E -

NONE WORTHY OF ETERNAL SALVA-

BE IN E XIST ENC E a t the end of this age-UNTIL the SECOND COMING OF CHRISTan d th e establishment of t he Kingdom of G od?Dan. 2:33-35. Who is the stone? - Does notthe great stone clearly picture tha tit is Christwho will smash the empire? Acts.4:10-11.

But didnt the BEAST John saw receive.a deadly wound? Rev.13:s. Wasnt it the head

that was wou=+Lthat specifically represented t h e w-

COMMENT, rs six of t he seven headsof the beast John saw stood for the BabylonianEmpire, Medo-Persian, and the Grecian Empirewith its four divisions. The only head existingat the time John saw this beast in vision wasthe Roman Empire; andso, the R o m a n E m ireis the ONE O F HIS [SEVEN]dwas WOUNDED TO DEATH, in the vision!

The deadly wound, then, was the one ad-ministered to the Roman Empireby the-&b who overran i t in its last decayingStages, thus ending its government in4 7 6 ~ . ~ .

3. When the seventh head- t h e RomanEmpire - eceived its deadly wound in476A.D., was this th e end of Satans Beast, Satanspoli t ical system,or was i ts wound healed?Rev. 13:3.

COMM ENT: otice that the text doesn o t saythe whole Beast died-i t says onlyone ofhis heads w as wounded to death. THE O N EH E A D DIED. BUT the B E A S T I T S E L FCONTINUED , for his- he Beasts- deadlywound was healed.

4. Do T H E 10 HORNS OF the FOURTHBEAST OF DANIEL 7:7 AND the TENHORNS OF the BEAST OF REVELATION13: 1-2 REPRESENT successive kingdoms, orgovernments, which were to rule in the territoryof the Roman Empire after its fall? Dan.7:23-24. Was the last horn or government to be inexistence at th e time of Christs second comingand be given to Him? Verse2 7 .

COMM ENT: hese ten horns are T E N SU C-CEEDING GOVERNMENTS- INGDOMS-WHIC H were to RULE the ROMAN EM-PIRE AFTER ITS FALL IN 476 A.D. untilthe time when the Stone, Christ, comes anddestroys the last stageof the Roman Empire,and establishes His kingdom.

We know these are10 uccessive-not con-

temporaneous-

ingdoms because in actual his-tory there have never been ten contemporaneousgovernments that have ruled the Roman Em-pire, side by side, down to the present. ButSOFAR, there HAVE BEEN N I N E SUCCES-SIVE KINGDOMS ruling that territory from47 6 A.D. to the present. O N E M O R E is YETTO ARISE before Christ comes.

5. Which three governments comprise theFIRST THREE HORNS? See comment.

COMMENT: y4 7 6 ~ . ~ . ,he Roman Empirewas overrun by the VANDALS (representedby th e FI R ST h orn), of Northern Africa, who

-I


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LESSON 31 T H E MARK OF THE BEAST BRANDS SATANS FOLLOWERS! PAGE 9

sacked Rome in4 A.D. and ruled it for a

government a t Rome which was called th e H ER -ULI ( the SECOND horn ) .It ruled in and overRome 476-49 A.D., but i t did not heal the dead-ly woun4 cause it was only a barbarian-nota Roman-govern--e a l l y , t he re w as th e kingdom of t h eOS-

TROGOTHS, 93 554 A D - ( the TH IRD horn ) ,

P brief space of time3% n Odoacer set up his

another outside4-1--reim people who ruled in theterritory. But they were shortly driven out ofItaly and disappeared.

Though essentially independent andnon-Catholic, these three nations did profess tocarry on the Roman Empire by continuing theprinciple of Roman governm ent an d Rom anlaw. These three kingdoms(h- or gov-ernments sweeping =th eR om an terr itory,filled the period known in history as the tran-sition a e - h a t -.

3?5Eri*WE

-. 6 . Did Daniels prophetic vision include aseparate little horn which came up among theother ten? Dan.7:8. What was the descriptionof th is little horn an d what did it do to thefirst three horns? Same verse, and verses20, 24.

COMMENT:The Roman Catholic Papacy,which this little horn represents, was respon-sible for uprooting the first three horns.

7 . When and by whom was the beastswound healed? Remember,it would have tobe by a R o m a n government. See comment.

COMMENT:t was the F O U RT H HORN,or government of Daniel7, which, succeedingth e fall of th e Roman Em pire, really healed th edeadly wound, and RE STO RE D, or resurrected,the ROMAN EMPIRE. In5 5 4 ~ . ~ . , U S T I N -IAN, from Constantinople and EMPERORO Ft he EASTERN DIVISIONOF t h e E M P I R E ,SET UP h i s GOVERNMENT AT ROME,BRINGING ABOUT what is known in historyas t he IMPERIAL RESTORATION OF theROMAN EMPIRE IN the WEST, and thushealing the wound.

BeastContinues IntoOUR TIME!

1. How long was the nowchurch-ruledBeast to continue after its wound was healed?Rev. 13:5. Does God clearly show exactly howlong this symbolic time period is? Ezek.4:4-6and Num. 14:34.

COMMENT: his is the well-known year-for-a-day principle which the Bible givesus in un-derstan ding ma ny prophe tic length s of time.Soforty and two months equals 1260 days(4 2times 30 ) -t he equivalent of 1260 years inBible prophecy- he length of time th e Cath -olic Church-dominated healed Beast was tocontinue.

2. What governments were the followingfour horns that reigned in the territorial Ro-man Empire AFTER the IMPERIAL RES-TORATION of the Roman government? SeeComment.

Following the healing in554A.D. by Justinian s government, CAME th eF I F T H HORN, the FRANKISH KINGDOM(FRENCH); then the HOLY ROMAN EM-PIRE(GERMAN) was THES I X T H H O R N ;the S E V E N T H HORN was the HAPSBURG

O N S K I N G D O M ( F R E N C H ) w as T H EE Z G H T H HORN. But, when Napoleon wascrushed in 1814, he HEALED BEASTS EX-ISTENCE was suspended.A d rom 554 A.D.to 1814 A.D. -t he duration of th e church-ruledhealed beast- as exactly 1260 years!Soclosed, says WestsModern His tory, page 377,

i f a government that dated from Augustus Cae-sar (from31 B.c.).

3. What was to be the conditionof theBeast after the 1260 years were fulfilled? Wasits existence to be onlyT E M P O R A R I LYSUS-PENDED unti l i ts ninth and tenth horns,or governments, would reign? Rev.17:8. Re-member that this great Beast which was ruledby the Roman Catholic Church is to be in ex-istence at the retu rn of C hrist- he Stone-wh o will destroy it!

COMMENT: ightof the horns having aris-en and fallen, the BEAST thenT E M P O -RARZLY W E N T I N TO t h e N O N - E X I ST E N TCONDITION SYMBOLIZED in Rev.17:8 ASthe BOTTOMLESS PIT. B U T I N 1870,GARIBALDI had UNITED the many l i t t le di-visions of the PENINSULA OF ITALY INTOON E NATION, and the KINGDOM THUSESTABLISHED BEGAN theN I N T H HORN,W H I C H C U L M I N AT E D I N t h e N A Z I -

But take heed and not be caught in Satanssnare! TH IS RELIGIOUS-POLITICAL BES-TIAL SYSTEMO F SATAN the DevilIS R E -VIVING right NOW, arising once more outof the symbolic bottomless pit TO FORMt h e T E N T H a n d F I N A L H O R N ! ! A n dTHROUGH IT, the DEVIL WILL CAUSE theMARK OF t he BEAST to BE RUTHLESS-LY ENFORCED once AGAIN!

COMMENT:

DYNASTY (AUSTRIAN); AND NAPOLE-

FASCIST RULE O F MUSSOLINI -HITLER.

Sunday -Markof BeastBrands Protestants!

1 . Does God givea picture of the Devilsgreat Roman false counterfeit church? Rev.173-5. Does this church have harlot daughters?Verse 5. How did her daughter churches comeout of her- n protest?

CO MM EN T: his Gre at Church which rulesover these many nations and commits spiritualfornication by political relationships with civil


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PAGE 10 TH E MARK OF THE BEAST BRANDS SATANS FOLLOWERS! LESSON 31

governments, is also a great Mother Church!She has harlot daughters. They have comeout of her in protest of some of her doctrines.

But these Protestant protesting daughtershave retained many doctrines of this one sameRoman Catholic Church. That is why Go d links

these churches with her.COMMENT: Th e early PR OT ES T- AN TCHURCH CAME OUT OF the CATHOLICCHURCH protesting against some of the Cath-olic Churchs doctrines - UT it DID NOTPROTEST GREATLY - OR it still CON-TINUES TO KEEP the SAME CATHOLICm A Y ! ! The key test davioTiEGobediencZZt-

Protestants AdmitSUNDAYObservanceNot Commandedof GOD!

The modern PROTESTANT daughterCHURCHES of the Catholic Church FREELY

ADMIT the reason they keep the SundayMark of the Beast is because TW3Y FOL-LOW the CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THEIR

THE PROTESTANTS RECOGNIZE thatSUNDAY WORSHIP WAS MERELY the RE-SULT OF CATHOLIC TRADITION. Theyknow it did NOT come FROM the BIBLE!

Here is a FRANK ADMISSION FROM theLUTHERAN CHURCH: The observance ofthe Lords day [meaning Sunday] is foundedNOT on any COMMAND OF GOD, buton the authority of the [Catholic] Church(the Augsburg Confession, part 2, chapter I ,sec. 10).

The CHURCH OF ENGLAND (in one ofits catechisms) makes the following FRANKSTATEMENT regarding Sunday: And whereare we told in Scripture that we are to keepthe first day [Sunday] at all? We are com-manded to keep the seventh; but we are NO-WHERE COMMANDED to keep the FIRST

SUNDAY-KEEPING PRACTICE.

DAY . . . The reason why we keep the firstday of the week holy instead of the seventhis for the same reason that WE OBSERVEmany other things, not BECAUSE the Bible,but because the [CATHOLIC] CHURCH,HAS ENJOINED IT (Plain Sermons on theCatechism, by Mr. Isaac Williams, D.D., Vol. I,

That is quite an admission!The following CONFESSION, by Dr. Ed-

ward T. Hiscox, author O F The BAPTISTManual, was made before a New York Min-isters Conference, Nov. 13, 1893. Of course,I quite well know that SUNDAY did COMEinto use in early Christian history as a religiousday, as we learn FROM the Christian [Catho-lic] fathers and other sources. But what a pitythat it [Sunday] comes branded with the markof PAGANISM and CHRISTENED WITH theNAME O F the SUN G O D , when ADOPTEDand sanctioned BY the PAPAL APOSTASY,

PP. 334-36)

and BEQUEATHED as a sacred legacy TOPROTESTANTISM! WHAT A REVELATION!Yes, the Catholic Church bequeathed this

pagan first day of the week, all wrapped up ina Sunday wrapper, to the Protestant churches-her daughters. They have followed Satan-inspired Mother Rome TO THIS VERY DAY!

From the beginning, the PROTESTANTSwere NOT INTERESTED IN OBEDIENCET O GOD, or in the Gospel of the Kingdom.Exactly as the early Catholics, they were seek-ing to convert the kingdoms of this world totheir own religions. THE TRUTH that wasopen to them PASSED THROUGH THEIR

FINGERS! This is why Protestants observeSunday today! They have VOLUNTARILYADOPTED the MARK OF the BEAST-the Roman Empires national holiday - he daywhich the Roman Catholic Church voluntarilyaccepted and later caused to be enforced by themight of steel!

B EWA R E! !1. What is Gods warning to you regarding

this entire satanically inspired and empoweredBabylonish religious - political system of theDevil? Rev. 18:4.

What will be the just punishment of allthose who persistently follow the Devils falseteachings? Rev. 2 0 : 15 and I1 Pet. 3: 0.

COMMENT: oday, CATHOLICS A NDPROTESTANTS ALIKE are voluntarily takingthe Mark of the Beast - ven to this hour.Therefore, they unknowingly, but PERILOUS-LY, OBEY SATAN the Devil-not the trueGod and Creator of all things! His servantsye are to whom ye obey . . .! (Rom. 6:16) .

And just as the Sabbath is the sign whichdistinguishes the true worshippers of God and

2.

pictures their destiny of eternal, restful spiritbodies in the Kingdom of God; SUNDAY is theMARK or brand which IDENTIFIES theworshippers and FOLLOWERS OF SATAN theDevil! THEY are KEEPING A DAY IN COM-MEMORATION O F THEIR eternal DES-TINY too, unless they repent - TERNALDEATH IN the LAKE OF FIRE (Rev. 20:1 5 ) - time WHEN th e surface of t hisEARTH shall BURN AS the surface of theSUN, CONSUMING ALL the DISOBEDIENT 7upon it!

THIS is THE IRONIC DESTINY OF

DONT YOU KEEP Sunday- the Mark ofthe Beast!

( T o be continued in Lesson 32)

1

THOSE WHO KEEP SATANS SUN-DAY!

ac bible corr course lesson 31 (1963)

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