Towards the start of this thread I quoted Ellen White's comment on the mark of the beast that we don't have a full understanding yet of what it is:

Then I said; "Two attention-grabbing things jump out of this quote: 1) That we don't know everything there is to know about the mark of the beast. I've suggested above that Babylon is guilty as Sodom and therefore this figures into the mark. 2) I can't say that categorically because of the other fascinating comment - that we won't know the full extent of what that mark involves until the "unrolling of the scroll.""

"What scroll is she talking about? The one that Daniel was told to seal and that is in the hand of the Father in Rev. 5, still sealed. It is unrolled when the Lamb takes it and brakes its seven seals one at a time - in the near future friends. I really believe that time is soon and because it's eminent I'm going to venture to make an educated guess based on the description of Babylon as the hold of every unclean spirit and cage of every vile bird that spiritualism and moral depravity are, in addition to Sunday worship, linked to the mark of the beast."

I've given this some more thought. You know, it could be that this whole mark of the beast issue will boil down to "political correctness" with Sunday as the outward sign of rebellion against God. Here's my thinking:

Babylon is said to be the hold of every foul spirit and the cage of every unclean bird. This worldly standard is what is now politically correct - pornography, homosexuality, spiritualism, lust, covetousness, impurity, profanity, immodesty, headiness, violence etc. Since the Word condemns all of these, it will be banned once again, slain in the streets of Sodom, as in the French Revolution. Being deprived of our Bibles is coming. (See the quote below.) Apparently it will not only be unlawful to work on Sunday, it will be a crime to have the Bible.

So it may be significant that in that quote above, Ellen White, after stating we have more to learn about the mark of the beast quotes Isaiah and admonishes us to lift up a protest - not unlike Luther's - and declare to Jacob his sins.

If Sunday encompassed the entire mark of the beast, that would not be enough reason for Babylon to be violently opposed to the entire Word of God. But the Loud Cry not only calls the people out of the darkness of Sun worship, it also dispels the darkness of political correctness. This is a thankless work, to say the least, this fourth angel does, but I want the blessing of it.

Mark- I personally appreciate your efforts to share the gospel here because you want us as your wayward brothers and sisters to be saved. If Adventists had as much concern for each other as you do for us, that would be very good. You're getting good experience here for the Loud Cry.

I am humbled brother Mark for your kind and generous words. Not to mention-truthful words. Yes, you have captured my whole intent here on this site--to help whosoever will, accept the Lord's message of Elijah (our present truth) and thus be sealed before God's wrath comes down upon His people.

Well, I really do appreciate your sincerity. I hope though that you'll remember the promise from Christ, "If any man's will is to do His will he will know of the doctrine." Let's covenant with the Lord and with each other to be faithful in this essential aspect - setting our wills to do the will of God. It is the doers of the will of God, not the hearers only who will be saved. Every man who sets his will on the side of God will be saved. There is a fountain flowing from the fresh wound in the side of Christ. Praise the Lord for His mercy endures forever.

Mark-Well, I really do appreciate your sincerity. I hope though that you'll remember the promise from Christ, "If any man's will is to do His will he will know of the doctrine."

Actually that is one of my favorite Scriptures. This is so packed with truth and goes hand and hand with this-

"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come." (John 16:13)

How do we know that the "Spirit of truth" is working in our life? By obeying His word. Isaiah gives more--

"But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear."(Isaiah 59:2)

If our repetitive sins cause Him to not hear us, can we expect to know His will/doctrine? In other words, those who cherish sins will indeed be blinded, yet most will not know it. Blind , just as it sounds, cannot see. These sins, sadly wil cause many to fulfill this prophecy--

"There is to be in the [Seventh-day Adventist] churches a wonderful manifestation of the power of God, but it will not move upon those who have not humbled themselves before the Lord, and opened the door of the heart by confession and repentance. In the manifestation of that power which lightens the earth with the glory of God, they will see only something which in their blindness they think dangerous, something which will arouse their fears, and they will brace themselves to resist it. Because the Lord does not work according to their ideas and expectations they will oppose the work. "Why," they say, "should we not know the Spirit of God, when we have been in the work so many years?"--RH Extra, Dec. 23, 1890.

I would agree with kland on this point. Sister White is treating New York City just like any other city in the world that will suffer terrible destruction when the Lord shakes the earth.

BTW, I always understood the "scroll" to mean when the atmosphere of the earth is rolled up like a scroll at Christ's Second Coming.

Alchemy