What does Ellen White write about...
Adventistische Schriften über: "Die Große Kontroverse Ellen G. White: Vereinigung von Kirche und Staat, Durchsetzung der Sonntagserklärung, religiöse Freiheit, Gewissensfreiheit, Offenbarung 13"
Answer
Ellen G. White warns that the United States, symbolized by the two-horned beast of Revelation 13, will betray its own principles of free government by uniting church and state to enforce Sunday observance, thereby creating an "image of the beast" that undermines religious liberty and freedom of conscience. She predicts that Protestant churches will align with secular power to compel all to honor the papal sabbath, resulting in the loss of the freedom of thought guaranteed by the Constitution and leading to a national apostasy ending in ruin. Enforcement of Sunday observance, she writes, will be recognized as worship of the papacy and the beast, forcing people to choose between God's commandments and the "mark of the beast".
The Prophecy of the Two-Horned Beast and the Union of Church and State
»The lamblike horns and dragon voice of the symbol point to a striking contradiction between the professions and the practice of the nation thus represented. The "speaking" of the nation is the action of its legislative and judicial authorities. By such action it will give the lie to those liberal and peaceful principles which it has put forth as the foundation of its policy. The prediction that it will "speak as a dragon" and "exercise all the power of the first beast" plainly foretells a development of the spirit of intolerance and persecution that was manifested by the nations represented by the dragon and the leopardlike beast. And the statement that the beast with two horns "causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast" indicates that the authority of this nation is to be exercised in enforcing some homage to be paid to the papacy. Such action would be directly contrary to the principles of this government, to the genius of its free institutions, to the direct and solemn avowals of the Declaration of Independence and of the Constitution. The framers of this constitution wisely sought to guard against the employment of secular power on the part of the church, with its inevitable result—intolerance and persecution. The Constitution declares that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," and that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." Only in a flagrant violation of these safeguards for the nation's liberty can a religious observance be enforced by civil authority. But the inconsistency of such action is no greater than is represented in the symbol. It is the beast with lamblike horns—in profession pure, gentle, and harmless—that "speaketh as a dragon." "Say to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast." Here is plainly presented a form of government in which the legislative authority rests with the people, a most striking evidence that the United States is the nation denoted in the prophecy. But what is the "image of the beast"? And how is it to be formed? The image is made by the two-horned beast, and it is an image of the first beast. It is also called an image of the beast. Then to understand what the image is and how it is to be made we must study the characteristics of the beast itself—the papacy.«
Ecclesiastical and Civil Authorities Unite to Enforce Sunday
»The Protestant churches have rejected the clear, scriptural arguments that sustain the law of God, and they are seeking to silence the voices of those whose faith they cannot overcome with the Bible. Although they shut their eyes to the fact that they are now pursuing a course that will lead to the persecution of those who, from conscientious motives, refuse to do what the rest of Christendom is doing, and to acknowledge the claims of the papal sabbath. The dignitaries of church and state will unite to bribe, persuade, or compel all classes to honor the Sunday. The lack of divine authority will be supplied by tyrannical decrees. Political corruption destroys the love of justice and the regard for truth; and in order to secure popular favor, legislators will yield to the popular demand for a law enforcing Sunday observance. The liberty of conscience which has so dearly cost the nation will no longer be respected. In the soon-coming conflict we shall see fulfilled the words of the prophet: "And 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." [.]. Our country is in danger. The time is near when its legislators shall so abjure the principles of Protestantism that they shall give countenance to Roman apostasy. The people, for whom God has so wonderfully worked, by strengthening them to throw off the galling yoke of papal tyranny, will, by a national law, give strength to the corrupting influence of Rome, and thus foster the tyranny which only waits for an opportunity to again spread itself in cruelty and despotism. With rapid steps we are already approaching this period. When Protestant churches shall stretch out their hands for aid unto secular power, and thus follow the example of that apostate church against which their fathers were compelled to contend, then will there be a national apostasy that can end only in national ruin.«
Protestants Align with the Papacy and Enact a National Law for the False Sabbath
»Protestants will throw their whole influence and strength on the side of the papacy. By a national law enforcing the false sabbath, they will give life and vigor to the corrupting influence of Rome, by reviving her tyranny and oppression of conscience.– Sooner or later, Sunday laws will be enacted.– Soon the Sunday laws will be enforced, and men in positions of trust will be bitter against the little company of God's commandment-keeping people.– The prophecy declares that the power represented by the beast with lamblike horns "shall cause the earth and them which dwell therein" to worship the papistical beast—here symbolized as the papacy. This prophecy will be fulfilled when the United States shall enforce Sunday observance, which Rome claims as the special acknowledgment of her supremacy. This prophecy will be fulfilled when the United States shall enforce Sunday observance, which Rome claims as the special acknowledgment of her supremacy. Political corruption destroys the love of justice and the regard for truth, and even in free America rulers and legislators, in order to secure popular favor, will yield to the popular demand for a law enforcing Sunday observance.– Satan lays his interpretation upon events, and they think as he would have them think, that the calamities that have befallen the nation are the result of Sunday transgression. Thinking to appease the wrath of God, these influential men make laws enforcing Sunday observance.–«
National Apostasy and the Formation of an Image of the Papacy
»It is in the time of national apostasy that, acting according to Satan's policy, the rulers of the nation will place themselves on the side of the man of sin. It is then that the measure of guilt is full. The national apostasy is the signal for national ruin.– The principles of Roman Catholicism will be taken under the care and protection of the state. This national apostasy will soon be followed by national ruin.– When Protestant churches shall unite with the secular power to sustain a false religion, for which their fathers endured the bitterest persecution, then the papal sabbath will be enforced by the united authority of church and state. There will be a national apostasy that can end only in national ruin.– When the state shall use its power to enforce and sustain the decrees and institutions of the church—then Protestant America will have formed an image of the papacy, and there will be a national apostasy that can end only in national ruin.– History will be repeated. False religion will be exalted. The first day of the week, a common working day, possessing no sanctity whatever, will be set on as was the image of Babylon. All nations and kindreds and tongues and peoples will be compelled to observe this false sabbath rest.... The decree which enforces the homage of this day will go forth to all the world.–«
Enforcement of Sunday Observance as Worship of the Beast and Its Image
»The Roman Church has not relinquished her claims to supremacy; and when the world and the Protestant churches accept a sabbath of her creating, while they refuse to keep the biblical sabbath, then they virtually acknowledge this assumption. They may claim the authority of tradition and of the Fathers for the change; but in so doing they ignore the principle which separates them from Rome—that "the Bible, and the Bible alone, is the religion of Protestants." The papist can see that they are deceiving themselves, willingly closing their eyes to the facts in this case. As the movement for Sunday enforcement gains favor, he rejoices, feeling that it will finally bring the whole Protestant world under the banners of Rome. Roman Catholics declare that "the observance of Sunday by Protestants is an homage they pay, however unwillingly, to the authorities of the [Catholic] Church." – Mgr. Segur, Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today, page 213. The enforcement of Sunday observance by Protestant churches is an enforcement of the worship of the papacy—of the beast. Those who, understanding the claims of the fourth commandment, choose to observe the false instead of the true sabbath, thereby pay homage to the power by which alone it is commanded. Yet in the very act of enforcing a religious duty by secular power, the churches would themselves form an image to the beast; therefore the enforcement of Sunday observance in the United States is an enforcement of the worship of the beast and its image. Yet Christians of past generations observed the Sunday, thinking that thereby they were observing the biblical sabbath; and there are now true Christians in every church, not excepting the Roman Catholic communion, who sincerely believe that Sunday is the sabbath of divine appointment. God accepts their sincerity of purpose and their integrity before Him. Yet when the enforcement of Sunday observance by law shall have been accomplished, and the world shall have been enlightened concerning the obligation of the true sabbath, then whoever transgresses the commandment of God to obey a precept whose higher authority is not that of Rome, but who thereby honors the papacy above God. He is paying homage to Rome and to the power that sustains the institution which Rome has ordained. He is worshiping the beast and its image. As men then reject the institution which God has declared to be the sign of His authority, and instead honor that which Rome has chosen as the token of her supremacy, they will thereby accept the sign of allegiance to Rome—the "mark of the beast." And it is not until the question is thus set before the people, and they are brought to choose between the commandments of God and the commandments of men, that those who continue in transgression will receive "the mark of the beast.«
The Danger to Religious Liberty in America and the Growth of the Spirit of Papacy
»Saith the Lord God: “Judgement also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.” . America's precious liberty of religious belief and practice is in danger, to be destroyed by those who would seek to compel the conscience of the minority to conform to the wishes of the majority. In the movements which are now progressing in the United States, to secure for the institutions and usages of the church the aid of the state, Protestants are following in the steps of the papacy. No, 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 what gives this movement the more significance is the fact that the chief object which is sought is the enforcement of Sunday observance—a custom which has its origin 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 esteem for human traditions above the commandments of God—which is permeating the Protestant churches and leading them to do the same work of exalting Sunday which the papacy has done before them.«
Original Sources (English)
Stephan Krol
Founder of EGW Vision
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