Who is Revelation's False Prophet?

False prophets have plagued God's people ever since the great author of deception first entered Eden and told Eve if she did what God said not to do, she'd advance to a higher sphere of knowledge.

We see in Jeremiah's book, that true prophets were scares, but false prophets were quite prominent, busy prophesizing what people wanted to hear, while poor Jeremiah was giving God's message and was ridiculed, and mistreated.


Revelation speaks of a false prophet being rather prominent in the last days.
Who is this?

Revelation 16:13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs [come] out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
16:14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, [which] 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.

19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image.

20 10 the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet

Revelation 16:13 speaks of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet all issuing forth unclean spirits .

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

So the dragon = spiritualism
The beast is = Roman power
The false prophet = Protestantism.

But how is it that in the last days the main line Protestant believers become the false prophet?

Well, let's look at one of the key beliefs that supported the rise of Protestantism.
We know righteousness by faith and solo scripture were two key beliefs, but another belief was very important that helped them break away from the Papal church.

It was their prophetic understanding. In the 1500's scholars began unlocking Biblical prophecies. They had a very valuable key. The historicist approach with the year-day principle (based on Num 14:34 and Eze 4:6) This led to the identification of the papal system as the AntiChrist, the little horn in Daniel 7 and man of sin of 2 Thess. 2:3 the first beast power of Rev. 13:1-7 and the prostitute of Rev. 17. It was clear to them. Even though they differed on their concept of Righteousness by faith, they were unanimous concerning their prophetic identification of the papacy.

But what about today?

We have the three jobs of the trinity, and the three deceptions of Lucifer/Satan, each which attacks a member of the trinity.


Part One, The Trinity:

There is one infinite/finite God, who is outside of time and space, but who is also inside of time and space in three manifestations that can help us finite beings comprehend and relate to the one infinite God that is two big for us to comprehend. At Atlantic Union College this was described as a glass of water representing the finite universe, and God outside of the glass, but sticking 3 fingers into the glass. At the Jerusalem Center for Biblical Studies, Dr. Fleming had a view of trinity that fits with what we were taught at AUC. He pictured this as a mountain with a cloud covering the top, so we cannot see what's above the cloud, our only knowledge is found in the three ridges/slopes below the cloud that we are able to relate. (The illustration's weakness is pointed in that mountains become smaller to a point in our minds, but here what is above the cloud is not smaller but infinite.)

The aspects of God that is necessary for us to know includes that God is God, not only inside of time and space but also outside of time and space. God is the creator, not the creature. God is so much greater than his creatures, great, powerful, awesome. We call this revelation God the Father. But if this was God's only revelation to finite beings, it would scare finite beings to death. So while this revelation is necessary, it is not sufficient.

it is also necessary for us to know that God is our friend, personable, approachable. One we can feel comfortable being with. We call this revelation God the Son. But if this was God's only revelation to finite beings, familiarity can breed contempt. If we think of something dangerous and God our friend tries to warn us against it, what makes his opinion any better than mine? Finite beings need to hold in tension that this great awesome being is also our close personal friend, and this close personal friend is also this great being. Both needs to be held in an aesthetic oneness of opposites for finite beings to live, but even these two were not sufficient.

The revelations of God the Father and God the Son are both objective revelations. God created us, like God's self as both objective and subjective. We all have an existential subjective aspect. God is very unassuming. God the Father and son do not want to spend all their time backing us into a corner, grabbing us by the collar, twisting our shirt and saying "This is what you are to believe, and remember points A, B, and C and don't you dare to think otherwise!" Jesus told Peter that he was blessed because flesh and blood (Jesus himself) did not tell the disciples who he was (and even like with the woman at the well, God needed to talk with her and ask her questions for the Holy Spirit to first work on her heart.) it is the Holy Spirit that is to convince us; we need to see the truth growing from our weighting the evidence in not only the objective truth as in God the Father and God the Son, but also how this affects our existential subjective experience in grasping the truth.

Many of our problems with the trinity is that we want to make the trinity wholly God, and having God wholly living in time and space, wholly within the glass, wholly below the cloud. Outside of the glass, God is one, but with three fingers inside the glass. Above the cloud God is one, but with three slopes below the cloud. And we demand the Holy Spirit to be an objective revelation just as God the Father and God the Son are, but it is NOT his job to be an objective revelation.

For finite beings to exist we need to hold in tension the aesthetic oneness the oneness of God as great awesome unapproachable power, and God as our dear approachable friend; as well as holding in tension the oneness of the opposites of God as objective revelation and God as the great revelation to our subjective existential selves. One or two without the other one or two are necessary, but insufficient. All three are both necessary and sufficient. Notice, the word "complete" does not appear in this description. If the one infinite God wanted to God could reveal God's self in being after being, enough to make a Hindu?s head spin. God does not want to confuse us. We need to know that there is an "outside of the glass" and an "above the cloud" but what we can understand and relate to are the three fingers in the glass, the three slopes below the cloud.

Part 2, The law of God:

The trinity exist in a righteousness by faith relationship with each other based on the law of self sacrificing love/self renouncing love. God invites creatures to join in this relationship. God's law is explained in terms from general to specific. The most general term is Love, self sacrificing love, self renouncing love. We may ask "What does this mean?" so God's law is broken into two great principles of "loving God supremely and our neighbor as ourselves." This is further broken down into the 10. It is interesting that Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel points out that the Exodus 20 version of the 10 Commandments breaks into three equal thirds. We like to stick to our tradition, which is useful, of the "two tables, four commands on one table and six on the other." This is true and useful, but not complete. First, in the ancient world all covenants were on two stones, one for the one making to covenant and one for those having the covenant, so we don't have commands 1-4 on one tablet and 5-10 on the second. Both stones would have 1-10, a set for the Hebrews and a set God kept in the ark and for himself. Also, this first four commands our duty to God and the last six our duty to man, has a problem in that the fourth command has both our duty to God and our duty to man.

Heschel's pointing out that the Hebrew words of Exodus 20 breaks into three equal thirds, fits right in the Christian, and especially Seventh-day Adventistism's understanding of the trinity. The first third consists of three commands that tell us how to love God supremely, and also describes the role of God as great power. The first third is full of what we call "God the Father." The last third consists of six commands on how to love our neighbor as ourselves. It describes how we relate to the Holy Spirit to work in our lives to write God's law of love in our hearts, the law of sanctification, how the Holy Spirit relates to us in making us loving and lovable people. The middle third consists of only ONE command, but this one command ties together both our duty to God and our duty to man. This one command says that the only way we can love God supremely and our neighbor as ourselves is not from our works, but the result of resting in a relationship with God. It is a description of the job of God the Son and how we relate to God the Son, and how it is only through resting in this relationship that we are able to approach the other two thirds. We need to approach God the Father through the relationship of the Sabbath rest, and for the Holy Spirit to work in us.

The 10 commandments are further broken down into everyday applications, and too often we drive ourselves crazy by trying to keep all these applications as strictly as God's law of Love. But while the law of God is absolute and unchanging, these applications are not absolute and can change to fit what we are facing; as long as it is the principles of love, as expressed in the 10 commandments.

Part 3, The three deceptions of Satan:

Scoffers like to say "Why does God stay hidden? If He is real why not just show up in a way that will fully convince us, instead of someone who just looks like another man?" This would not be the Holy Spirit working with our subjective existential situation to lead to a relationship with God. But also, what we demand does not work. Lucifer and the angels saw the greatness of God, this great being that they needed to veil their faces before. But even in seeing this all powerful being, Lucifer still had doubts. Was this being truly all God claims to be, or is he only a higher power, a more advanced being than the rest of us. And is God's law of self sacrificing love truly what God sees creatures as needing, or is this a way for God to set himself up over us and keep us in our place? And suppose someone was to break this law, how can God be both just and merciful. Doesn't he have to be only one or the other. Either he will get us for our transgression, or else do away with the law and forgive us anyway.

When God created creatures, for billions and billions of years there was what we can call the childhood of the universe. The creatures loved God and each other, but with an immature "My daddy can beat up your daddy" type of love. God needed us to grow into a mature love, a love based on the evidence of who God is. To reach this maturity creatures needed to wrestle with the three questions of "Is God really God? If He is really God, then what about this justice/mercy conflict?" When the Holy Spirit saw that it was time for the creatures to deal with these questions, Lucifer?s mind was the first one ready. Thus the Holy Spirit lead him to these questions. Sadly, instead of looking for answers to these questions, Lucifer began patting himself on the back proud of being intelligent enough to think up these amazing clever questions. God wanted creatures to look at these questions and look for answers. The mystery of iniquity is why Lucifer choose to only congratulate himself for his intelligence to form those questions, and not be interested in the answers. Lucifer/Satan turned these three questions into three lies about God.

The first deception is that God is not God, but mealy the same substance as the rest of us. Yes, he's greater/bigger/stronger, but still finite. God is only inside the glass/below the cloud just like the rest of us. If the rest of us can gang up on God in our numbers there can be strength and maybe even enough strength to be equal to God's great power so that we can over throw him. We don't need to submit to a law. We can do what is right for us. I have my law and you have your law. I have my truth and you have your truth. This is an attack on God the Father, and separates the opposites held in tension and oneness in God. Here Lucifer replaces God the Father with a counterfeit Holy Spirit, where our subjective, existential situation dictates truth to me, and your subjective, existential situation dictates your truth to you. This results in destroying our will and making us slaves to our feelings, What feels right to you? Existentialism, also called spiritualism. For God to prevent our discovering our truth and causing us to submit to the law of self sacrificing love makes God a cruel arbitrary tyrant.

The second deception of Satan is that even if God is God, God cannot be both just and merciful, God has to be only one or the other. Since God is a cruel arbitrary tyrant, if someone breaks the law of love, God will simply destroy the trouble maker and thus be "just." If you have started down the path of sin, you may as well continue because it's too late for you. Well, maybe, if you work hard enough, if you truly can prove to God that you are different and can clean yourself up, maybe God might give you another chance but you need to be careful to just toe the line. Oh, God may say his's forgiving, but sooner or later he's going to get you for your sins. This replaces God the Son, God our personal friend, God as approachable, with a counterfeit God the Father.

The third deception of Satan is again based on God's claim to be both just and merciful, and that even if he is God, he still can't be both and needs to be either one or the other. Thus if you sin, maybe, just maybe God will not worry about your sin and simply forgive you, This deception became even stronger after Jesus died for us. Satan says that since Jesus died for us the account is balanced, God does not care about his law, it's been done away with and he will bring sinners into heaven. Either universalism, or at least for those who choose to have Jesus die in our place. Thus the Holy Spirit is replaced with a counterfeit God the Son.

Part 4, Revelation 12 and 13:

Now we have Revelation 12 and 13. This is the counterfeit trinity, where the three are not held in the aesthetic oneness of opposite of God as awesome power/approachable intimate friend, objective/subjective, but where the members are independent, trading places and only cooperating for their own selfish purposes.

The dragon represents the first deception of Satan, the lies he started developing in heaven that God is not God and has no right to place a law over us. That we are a law unto ourselves. I have my truth and you have your truth. Existentialism, Spiritualism. This is also where Satan and the demons work directly.

The beast is in many ways the opposite of the dragon. While the dragon tells us that you are a law unto yourself, the beast is any organization that we allow to rule over us. The 7 heads are the 7 periods between the rule of a son of David (Zedekiah), until the rule of THE SON OF DAVID: Babylon, Medio-Persia, Greece, Rome, The feet of iron and clay (clay is what God is to mold, His people, but here it is being molded by the iron, by politics instead of God. In other words, a church-state. the rule of the church in the dark ages.) head 6 is the deadly wound, the toes of iron and clay, a period of independent nations, some more Christlike others more Iron like based on the nations influenced by either the American or French Revolution. The crowns are on the horns, not the head. The 6th and 7th head share the horns, the 7th head is the deadly wound healed, a new world empire, but different from the first 5 heads which force their rule through power and/or politics. The 7th head is where the horns unite through economic cooperation.

The dragon tells us that we, our subjective, existential experience is to be your law, your final authority. Live as you please for heaven is your home. The beast tells us forget your subjective, existential experience, the beast will tell you what to believe and what to do and your job is to obey.

We say that for every truth Satan has a counterfeit. Too often we find that truth is a oneness of opposites, and that Satan replaces the truth with a choice between two fairly opposite counterfeits. We find this very much in the dragon and the beast. Some people, often more secular people are attracted to the dragon. Others see the danger in the dragon, but too often instead of turning to the true Trinity for protection, there are too many people who run to the beast for protection from the dangers of the dragon. In the 1970s or 80s I began to notice on Christian radio stations people preaching against the dragon, but they turn to the beast. Starting in the late 1990s or at least 2000s I began notice Adventist sermons repeating what I saw in non-Adventist sermons.

Instead of the freedom in the Trinity, the seeing that there is a definite truth for us to grow towards, with God being with us each step of our path loving us where we currently are and leading us on. Satan is dividing the world into the two camps of the dragon and the beast, then bringing everyone to a uniting crisis.

We have Satan working directly telling us to do as we please. We have organization telling us what to believe and do. The third beast in it's fullest sense is the individual choosing between the dragon, the beast or the Lamb. We can go to a larger application in a nation that is based on the individual, i.e. the United States, and even a larger application in how Protestantism is based on the union of an ultimate truth from God, but God working with the individual were we are. The apostate Protestant is where we give up our individual choice to follow the lamb, but to just submit to the powers that be of the 7th head, and trusting that what ever we choose to deal with not our subjective existential situation, but to deal with the crisis at hand, that we do what we must, that Jesus will have mercy upon us either way.

It is interesting that we find the first step of the false prophet is to speak like a dragon/spiritualism/existentialsim/secularism, but ends up forming an image to the beast. That the liberty of the United States is sounding too liberal, too much like France, too secular, so it runs and forms an image to the beast, the traditions, the forcing the seculars into a religious community. Also,Revelation ties this together with the merchants of the earth (corporations/oligarchy) and the scorching sun. It is sad how many "Christians" deny global warming, saying that it is hoaxes. and that we should not do things to stop it. Is Satan trying to use these people to make too late so that we need to respond to the crisis by the last ditch effort and for those following the dragon and those following the beast to join in a final group facing this issue, forgetting where God has been leading us as we submit to the system due to the emergency and assume that we can turn against the oneness of the trinity into the submission to the last minute of the crisis, and accept Satan when he counterfeits the second coming of Jesus?

All three Dragon - beast - false prophet are "one" in their opposition to God's Word, they are the false trinity, held together in their own self exaltation. they work together using much strife and conflict to develop and enforce an "ultimate solution".

The true trinity or Godhead, has true (oneness) working together in perfect unity of love and righteousness to bring salvation to all who willingly accept and follow.

Protestant Roots in Prophecy

Protestantism was born with the historicist interpretation of prophecy. In many ways it's wrong to say "Protestantism is the false prophet" for true Protestantism, in the early years, based it's very strength on correctly understanding the methods of prophetic interpretation.

But Protestantism has lost it's protestant qualities.
The ecumenical movement has done it's work " the leading churches of the United States, uniting upon such points of doctrine as are held by them in common" send the more devisive doctrines unto the back burner, to be largely ignored. It's "apostate" Protestantism that becomes the "false prophet:

Work of Counter Reformation

Back in the early 1500's the protestant movement was rising with considerable power and influence.
Thus the papacy initiated the Counter Reformation for the purpose of bringing some reforms into the Catholic church, but also to counter the protest and eventually bring all the "wandering children" back to the "mother" church.
Most far reaching of Rome's responses to Protestantism was Pope Paul III's approval for Ignatius Loyola to found the Jesuit order. (1540) The use of the newly invented printing press had greatly helped Protestantism to spread over Europe, but now, scholarly Jesuits provided literary works to counter the influence of Protestantism.

Alternate interpretations of Prophecy introduced
We've probably heard of Jesuit Francisco Ribera (1537-1591) who wrote a very different interpretation of prophecy, than that held by Protestants. He rejected the day for a year principle, maintained the "antiChrist" would be a man, a single individual in the end time, who would be a terror to Christianity, deny the true identity of Jesus, rebuild the Jewish temple, gain favor with the Jews, pretend to be "God", blaspheming, and attempt to conquer the world. This would neatly skip the whole Christian era and clear the papacy of any prophetic negative role.
This was basically the form of "futurism" which others after him built upon. It's a form of futurism that proposes that only the introductory chapters of Revelation refers to historical events and to ancient Rome, but the remainder refers to a literal three and half years (1260 days) at the end of time.

There were others like: Jesuit Luis De Alcazar (1554-1613) who wrote a commentary of the Hidden Sense of the Apocalypse in which he proposed that all of Revelation applied to the era of pagan Rome and the first few centuries of Christianity. He gave the framework of what we know as Preterist interpretation.
The main objective in both these alternate interpretations was to take the focus away from the Protestant understanding of the papacy as the "beast" and "antichrist".

Protestant Response to these alternate interpretive methods
For more than two hundred years Protestants in general disregarded these alternate methods, and continued to follow the historicist method which clearly pointed out the fall of the medieval church and the papacy as the "man of sin" the "beast" and the anti-Christ.

But by 1826 we start to see a shift taking place. Groups, like the Oxford Movement in the Anglican Church in England, began to form with a more "favorable" view of the papacy, and they began looking more seriously at the futuristic view of prophecy. There was a Samuel Maitland, John Henry Newman John Darby; they also felt the antichrist was a future single individual, not the papacy.
The "Gap" theory was developed at the Albury Park Conferences (1825-1830) in which Daniel 9's last "week" of seven years was cut off from the 70 week prophecy and placed in the future. (Interestingly they kept the day for a year theory for this, though they discarded it for most of the other timelines).
In 1830 Edward Irving was the key person to bring in the "rapture" theory" in which the "saints are supposedly "secretly caught up" with the Lord before the final 3 1/2 years of tribulation takes place. It's reported that Irving derived his teaching of the rapture from "utterances" of "unknown tongues".

Futurism in the United States
Historicism was still pretty strong in the United States in the early 1800's, but what started in England soon filtered into the United States. Beginning in 1878 evangelical and fundamentalist Bible institutes focused on "literalism". A literal 1260 days, a literal restoration of the Jewish nation, 144,000 literal Jews, a literal rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, a literal sacrificial system to be restored. Through interdenominational prophetic conferences these doctrines were widely propagated among the Evangelical churches. This Jesuit initiated futuristic prophetic interpretation was further disseminated over large areas, through the wide distribution of the "Scofield Reference Bible" with it's systematic notes accompanying the text. He even introduced theistic evolution into the mix.

FALSE PROPHET'S INFLUENCE GROWS
In the early 1900's interest in Biblical prophecy dropped into low key. But then the World Wars frightened some people who thought the tribulation had begun, and the end was upon them. But the Bible says; "And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, BUT THE END IS NOT YET.

JEWISH NATION REBORN
The wars did set in motion conditions that helped to move and enable the establishment of a Jewish nation in Palestine in 1948.
For many this was a fulfilment of prophecy.

FUTURIST PROPHETIC INTERPETION SOARS
The next 20 years saw a real upsurge of excitement in further developing and promoting the futuristic, Jesuit originated, paradigm of prophetic interpretation.
In 1970 Hal Lindsey, published his "The Late Great Planet Earth". The book flooded book shops and millions got excited. Others wrote more books, films were being produced depicting the fictional outplay of prophecy.
According to Lindsey "the single most important key to prophecies yet to be fulfilled involves rebuilding the Temple. ...It is this Temple Mount that will serve as the center stage for the final countdown to Armageddon." (Lindsey, "2000 A.D.Will Mankind Survive", p.6)

WHAT ARE THE FAR REACHING IMPLICATION IN ALL THIS ?

1. Christians are being taught that the solution for the world is placed on an earthly kingdom to which Christ will come to reign.
The truth of Christ's Second Coming is counterfeited, to make it possible for a majestic, supernatural being to deceive the world to believe he is the Christ. The raptured faithful will supposedly spend a brief three and a half years in heaven while those left behind will face tribulation and given a second chance to repent. Then Jesus with those already in heaven, will return to earth, to set up His earthly kingdom. But who is this, and who are the supposed "faithful" that returned as his helpers in this kingdom? What if the definition of "faithful" is defined differently than expected when this majestic supernatural being claims he is Christ setting up His earthly rule and forces everyone to come in line to His rule?
This is a perfect set up for Satan to appear personating Christ. We've been warned that Spiritualism will abound before the REAL Christ appears. Satan has legions of fallen angels to personate former people who claim they have come to "straighten out" people's perception of truth.
And remember the Muslim world (which includes a large percentage of earth's inhabitants) believe Jesus, the son of Mary, the great prophet who was taken to heaven, will come again, He will defeat the antiChrist, and he will teach the world that he is not God, that the Christian world made a big mistake in thinking he is God, and he has now come to turn the world to worship God the Father the only true God, and set up God's kingdom in the world. Thus we may very well see the Muslim and Christian world uniting (as well as Hinduism and other such religions) under this supposed return of the Messiah.

The most far reaching implication is that these views miss the important messages for this time. In many ways it is opposite to the last warning call of Rev. 14's angels.

2. Unity of religion

The second angel, cries "Babylon is fallen" and urges us to disconnect from Babylon. But according to writers (evangelicals, and Catholic and even Muslim) we need to unite the faith groups into one happy system of worship. and put away our dividing doctrines.
We hear many calling for religious unity. An example is in ANN news October 2024. "Unity of All Religion's A Path to Global Harmony": "In a World where technology has bridged the physical gaps between people, but divisions based on religion, culture and politics persist, the call for religious unity has never been more urgent." It then goes on to list that the Christian Bible commands us to love one another, love your neighbor as yourself, do good..... All religious groups have this core belief that transcends all the differences, the idea we are all one family, under one God. No one truly believes unless they love, thus put aside the differences and unite in harmony and love.
But what happens to truth? Indeed love is a key principle, but what is love? Is love against truth?

We need to have the love of truth in our hearts, truth as it is in Jesus, then we can estimate the value of a soul for whom Christ has died, in the light reflected from the cross of Calvary, rather than in the light of compliance with human reason.

3, RETURNING TO THE PAPACY
The overturning of the reformation, the destruction of true Protestantism. Returning to, and lifting up, the prophesized "beast".
March 29, 1994 the joint declaration titled "Evangelicals and Catholics Together. A key step in the "daughters' to once again acknowledge the papal church as their "mother". The Christian Mission in the 3rd Millennium is to complete healing and reinstate the papacy as the great spiritual leader of religion. The move back to Rome has been underway for many years. Even the powerful preacher Billy Graham visited the pope several times and declared, "their theology differences are not important as far as personal salvation is concerned."
2015, Pope Francis addressed a joint meeting in the American Congress, as well as at the White House, urging Americans to come together to make the world a better place.
The papacy is acknowledged not only as the spiritual leader of over a billion Catholics worldwide, and over religious matters, influencing religious doctrine, but he is also very much engaged in pressing global issues, from social justice to environmental stewardship.

4. Another serious trap is the desire to enlist government to enforce church based morals and standards upon the world.

We've been hearing and reading that America has never advocated a separation of church and state. Yet Republicanism (freedom from religious enforcement) and Protestantism (which protests pope like oppression and advocates freedom of conscience for individual worship), represented the fundamental principles of the USA. It was to find freedom of religion and worship, that many of the first colonies were formed.
Also notice, America as a nation, being part of Revelation 13's prophecies, the second earth beast, seems NOT to be a part of any of the interpretations of prophecy (except in Adventist literature). Who else believes America will be foremost in uniting state and religion and "speak as a dragon" enforcing religious mandates with economic and death threats and laws?
Yes, atheists do tend to see the danger of churches getting involved with government, but their reason is that they don't want any religion, they want freedom FROM religion not freedom OF religion. In the end those who see the danger of church and state and the role of America in Revelation 13 will be classified as atheists and accused of fighting against God.
Unfortunately, without this knowledge that apostate religion itself will be speaking against God, most totally fail to see the far reaching implications and future significance of blending church and state.
This past election in the USA has a huge component of "hope" that government would step over the "wall" knock it down, and start uniting church and state -- allowing the church to use government to enforce their mandates. Yet once they succeed (whether now or later) it will only result in ruin and trouble.
" God's Word has given warning of the impending danger; let this be unheeded, and the Protestant world will learn what the purposes of Rome really are, only when it is too late to escape the snare. {FLB 329.5}"

Yes --
What's interesting about this is that Protestantism, in it's formative stage was rejecting the beast.
Rejecting much of the Catholic anti-Bible doctrines, and (though they were a bit slow on rejecting the persecuting societal methods of getting everyone in their geographical area on the same religious platform) they did finally reject the beasts methods in that as well.

It was actual these Protestant rejections of Papal controls, which made America great! The true Protestant principles of people free to seek Biblical truths and live them without government interfering creating fear or coercement. But now, in 2025, the concept of making America great again is leaning to fear and coercement in religious values. That's starting to "speak like the dragon". But it was the dragon who highly succeeded in destroying moral values in the first place, and the beast with its pious sounding beliefs sounds good, turning people's hopes of escaping the dragon, and again there's a BUT, how does embracing the very dragonic means the beast used to gain it's power be the solution?.

Indeed, the whole thing is a psychological game in our world being played in our time. The Hegelian method is in high gear.

--America, 2023-24 heading into outrageous immoral and a strange defiance of basic human values. ----Election 2024 Huge majority see Trump as the solution because of his tough pro religion talk.
--2025 People's emotions are whipped up against Trump's disregard for the constitution, his cruel and ruthless policies especially against immigrants, as well as his playing with world economics and relations with other countries.
--Election 2025 an American pope who sounds so moderate and caring about the people. He is being presented as the answer to all this turmoil?

America is being prepared to accept the pope as it's moral leader. Actually this has been a mission of the Catholic Church for a couple hundred years as documented in a book "Rome Stoops to Conquer" by ex-Jesuit, Dr. Barrett in 1935, America the superpower in the world. America the "false prophet". Who ever controls America, controls the World. To do this, Protestantism must be broken and the American people need to look favorably to Rome.

In breaking free of the Papal yoke and turning to the Bible, Protestantism largely failed to break two strong links with the Papal system. Two of her false doctrines.
1.The papacy has given to the world a false sabbath instead of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment,
2.And has repeated the falsehood that Satan first told to Eve in Eden--claiming natural immortality of the soul.



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Revelation 13:11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
The false prophet, appears in the likeness of a "lamb" in Revelation. Arising, not from the tumultuous seas of European humanity, but new land. Looking like a lamb, a connection or contrast with the LAMB of God. This new "lamb like" nation was raised and blessed, to be a blessing, it's strength (horns) is in it's republicanism and Protestantism.


But this blessed nation (turns into a false prophet) rejects both it's Protestantism and republicanism and clasps hands with the Vatican power again.

Rev. 13:12 And he (the United States) exercise all the power of the first beast before him (its the United States that will weld the coercive power. The government of the USA will take up the two swords, to enforced religion and punish so called heretics, and causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, (recognize the papacy as the one to be honored and obeyed) whose deadly wound was healed (the Papacy will again be respected as a world leader).
The enforcing power in the last days, however, is not the papacy, the papacy becomes the religious authority and influencers, but not the enforcers. The one who holds that "former" power to "give life" to religious mandates, as chief enforcer, is the United States (the false prophet)
13:13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, Protestantism first clasps hands with spiritualism, and uses spiritualistic power to preform fantastic things, this is highly DECEPTIVE . It is not a natural event, this manifestation of power is spiritualistic.
13:14 And deceives them that dwell on the earth by [the means of] those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; Not just fire from heaven, but other miracles, supernatural events, as well) saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
Satan will work "with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness". And all that "received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved," will be left to accept "strong delusion, that they should believe a lie." [2 Thessalonians 2:9-11.]

saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
When the leading churches of the United States, uniting upon such points of doctrine as are held by them in common, shall influence the State to enforce their decrees and to sustain their institutions, then Protestant America will have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy, and the infliction of civil penalties upon dissenters will inevitably result.. {GC88 445.1}
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. The USA will make laws and enforce the agreed upon creed of religious conduct.
13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: A sign or mark to distinguish those who co-operate, and identifies them from non-cooperators. Rev 14:12 tells us those who resist this mark will, with patient endurance be keeping Gods commandments, they will have responded to the first angel's call to Worship Him Who made the heaven's and the earth, the sea and fountains of water. Rev. 14:7. (comp. Ex. 20:11)
Saturday, the 7th day sanctified and set apart by God as holy and blessed, (Gen 2:1-2) being the one command (Ex.20:9-11) the churches have thoroughly attacked, while placing a counterfeit in it's place to be enforced.

The details as to how that will be enforced we don't know yet, but the ability to do so is no longer a problem. It may be only those showing up Sunday morning at mass or similar worship receives a working debit card? Or anyone found worshipping and not working on Saturday have there bank accounts frozen. The ability to control everyone's buying and selling is already in place.
Everything is already in place to make it possible to enforce their mandates with economic pressure

And yes, enforcing Sunday worship is a sign of exalting the papal church as being above God.
For all it's more agreeable traits, the Roman Church has not relinquished her claims; and when the Protestant churches accept and enforce a sabbath of her creating, and trample on the Bible Sabbath, they virtually admit this Roman power is above God. People may claim it's not really the papacy, it came through tradition and of the Fathers that acknowledge the change; they may point to some vague text where something happened on a Saturday night, or Sunday, as some "very weak" circumstantial evidence, but no Biblical text, anywhere indicates there is a new sabbath. The Bible is completely silent on any command from Christ or the apostles that the Sabbath of God's ten commandment law has been changed, or that Sunday is now the sabbath, and the 7th day Sabbath is now no longer binding, Yet, it will be maintained that Sunday must now be set apart for God. To do this is to ignore the very principle which separates Protestantism from Rome,--that "the Bible, and the Bible only" is the final authority. It was Protestant defense of Sunday which was the issue at the council of Trent around 1560, that won the debate against Protestants.
Protestantism's claim of Sola Scripture was defeated, and Catholic tradition upheld, when archbishop of Reggio who, at the Council of Trent, said:

And so Protestantism, by failing to follow the Bible, was already, way back in 1560, on it's way to be the false prophet.