Revelation's Ancient Discoveries

Revelation Reveals History's Greatest Hoax

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

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Series Code: RAD

Program Code: RAD170012A


00:01 What does the future hold?
00:02 Where can we find certainly in a world of uncertainty?
00:05 The book of Revelation provides helpful answers for today,
00:09 tomorrow, and forever.
00:11 Join Mark Finely, author and world renowned speaker,
00:14 on a journey into the future with
00:23 Revelation reveals God's plan for the future,
00:27 and unmasks the Devil's deception.
00:30 Down through the centuries the Devil has tried to deceive
00:34 people by introducing into Christianity false ideas.
00:38 False teachers have come in, heretical ideas have been
00:43 promoted, but yet God has constantly had a people who
00:47 have lived for, and believed His truth.
00:50 That truth is clearly revealed in the book of Revelation.
00:53 Revelation not only points to the future, but it leads us
00:57 to the past so we can understand what's happened in Christianity,
01:02 and how to live today in the light of God's truth.
01:06 This presentation is a powerful presentation that will help you
01:11 to understand how one of the greatest heresies has entered
01:14 into the Christian church, and how God is appealing to us
01:17 to be faithful to Him.
01:18 So let's pray together.
01:20 Father in Heaven, thank You for Your love and grace.
01:23 Thank You for the light that shines on Scripture,
01:26 revealing to us Your truth for this end time
01:29 of earth's history.
01:30 Bless us in a mighty way.
01:32 Open our minds, and our hearts, and enable us to understand
01:35 Your Word clearly, and give us the courage to follow it.
01:38 In Christ's name, Amen.
01:41 Our topic during this presentation is
01:48 Would you agree with me that merely because someone says
01:53 something, doesn't mean that the thing that they say
01:57 is necessarily true.
02:00 Would you also agree with me that because we have worshipped
02:04 a certain way down through the centuries, doesn't mean that
02:07 that form of worship is true.
02:09 Would you also agree that tradition and truth are
02:14 two separate things?
02:15 That human opinion, and divine revelation are
02:18 two separate things?
02:20 That what man says, and what God says are
02:22 two separate things?
02:24 Merely because something is believed, and if you believe it
02:27 hard enough doesn't mean that the thing which you believe
02:31 hard enough is truth.
02:32 Let me give you some examples of that.
02:35 Let's go back to the days of Copernicus.
02:39 In Copernicus' time most people believed that the earth was the
02:45 center of our solar system, or the universe.
02:48 They believed that the earth was stationary, and that the
02:52 planets and the sun, in fact, was revolving around the earth.
02:56 But yet, a free thinking Pole by the name of Copernicus began
03:01 taking a look at that theory.
03:03 He proved that it was not true at all, and he demonstrated
03:08 that the sun is the center of the solar system,
03:12 and our earth is actually rotating on its axis,
03:15 and revolving around the sun.
03:17 Because people believed that the earth was the center for years,
03:21 they didn't make the earth the center.
03:23 Well, here's another example.
03:25 Aristotle, brilliant philosopher, scientist,
03:34 Now insects have six legs.
03:37 So evidentially Aristotle must not have counted,
03:41 because he said the spider is an insect.
03:45 It was Jean-Baptiste Lemark who sensed that
03:50 although insects have six legs, spiders are arachnids,
03:57 and they have eight legs.
04:01 So a spider, not having six legs like an insect,
04:05 couldn't possibly be an insect.
04:08 People said, Lemark is crazy!
04:10 Look what Aristotle did.
04:12 Just like they said Copernicus is crazy, and they battled
04:15 against his idea of the sun being the center
04:20 of the solar system.
04:21 Both these men experienced ridicule,
04:24 they experienced taunting.
04:26 Both of them experienced persecution for their beliefs.
04:30 But yet, merely because somebody said something, and something
04:36 was passed down through the centuries, didn't necessarily
04:39 make what they said right. Could it be...
04:50 Could it be that many are guarding a tradition that does
04:53 not have foundation in the Scripture?
04:58 Could it be that there are thousands walking in the way of
05:01 tradition rather than walking in the way of God's Word,
05:04 rather than walking in the way of the cross,
05:06 rather than walking in the way of the law of God?
05:08 Could it be that the Devil has deceived millions,
05:12 even millions of Christians, in embracing a tradition
05:17 that they think is true?
05:19 Let's go to the book of Revelation.
05:21 We're going to journey through the book of Revelation.
05:23 We're going to notice a Titanic struggle between good and evil,
05:27 between Christ and Satan, and see God's Word clearly revealing
05:34 His truth for this end time.
05:48 There's a great battle in Heaven.
05:50 Satan and his angels are cast out,
05:53 and they're cast out into the earth.
05:55 But what I want you to notice is the Scripture says
05:59 that Satan, who's cast out of Heaven,
06:01 this dragon is like the serpent.
06:05 He's a dragon because he destroys.
06:07 He's a serpent because he deceives.
06:09 He deceives those whom he's going to destroy,
06:12 and destroys those whom he has deceived.
06:15 The Bible says he deceives the whole world.
06:18 Could it be that the majority of the world,
06:20 including Christianity, has followed a tradition,
06:24 a tradition that has to do with worship, a tradition that's at
06:28 the very heart of a conflict in the book of Revelation
06:32 between worshipping the Creator, and worshipping the beast.
06:36 Truth at times is stranger than fiction.
06:40 And isn't it logical that if the Devil wanted to attack Jesus,
06:44 the Devil would attack the law of God, which is the very
06:49 foundation of God's throne, and the very
06:51 foundation of His character?
06:54 Wouldn't it be logical that Christ, who is love,
06:59 and the very foundation of love, would have a loving law to guide
07:05 all humanity to pathways of happiness, because love is
07:10 always manifest in obedience?
07:11 Just like the Devil wanted to lead Adam and Eve
07:15 in the Garden of Eden, to disobedience, so He has a plan
07:19 to destroy the authority of the Creator.
07:22 Now isn't it also logical that the Devil would attack the
07:27 fourth commandment, and the seventh day Sabbath?
07:31 You say, Why? Because, you see, the Sabbath commandment is the
07:35 basis of the entire law of God.
07:38 Because when you read, Thou shalt have no other gods
07:41 before Me, who says that?
07:42 When you read, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord
07:45 thy God in vain. Who says that?
07:47 When you read, Thou shalt not kill. Who says that?
07:49 Thou shalt not commit adultery. Who says that?
07:51 The fourth commandment, the bridge between the first four
07:56 commands and the last six, tells us that the Creator
08:01 is the One that commands.
08:02 The reason God has the authority, through Christ,
08:06 to command is because He created.
08:11 We as creatures created by God did not choose life,
08:16 He gave us life, so we're responsible to our Creator
08:19 for obedience, because He gave us the breath of life.
08:24 So the Devil attacks Jesus by attacking Jesus' law.
08:30 He attacks Jesus as Creator by attacking the Sabbath command,
08:35 the fourth commandment, that is a sign of His
08:37 creative authority.
08:51 So the seventh day is the sign of creative authority.
08:57 God invites us to keep the Sabbath as a symbol of loyalty
09:02 and obedience to Him.
09:16 Some people say, What difference does a day make?
09:18 But according to Revelation 1:10 the Lord has a day.
09:21 And according to Mark 2:27, 28, Luke 6:5, the Lord's day is the
09:30 Sabbath day, because the Son of man is Lord
09:32 even of the Sabbath day.
09:33 So if the Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath day,
09:36 the Lord's day must be the Sabbath day.
09:39 Three times that passage is repeated:
09:47 They all say that the Sabbath is the Lord's day.
09:50 Throughout the Old and the New Testament God has a day,
09:55 and the Lord's day is the symbol of His creative authority.
09:58 But why do so many keep Sunday?
10:06 change the day that He wrote with His own finger
10:09 on tables of stone.
10:18 So God didn't change the day.
10:19 He says, I'm the Lord, and I do not change.
10:26 Because the Bible says,
10:34 If He's the same yesterday, today, and forever, He certainly
10:38 didn't change the Sabbath.
10:39 What about the Apostles?
10:41 Did they change the Bible Sabbath?
10:42 They certainly didn't, because the Bible says,
10:55 So God didn't change the Sabbath.
10:57 Jesus didn't change it.
10:59 The disciples didn't change it.
11:02 Who changed the Bible Sabbath?
11:04 Could it be that in the early centuries tradition slipped
11:10 into the Christian church?
11:11 Could it be that the Devil had a plan to attack and destroy
11:16 the fourth commandment?
11:19 I'm going to take you on a journey, a journey into history,
11:23 and a journey into prophecy.
11:24 And we'll understand who did it, who changed the Bible Sabbath.
11:28 It was changed by man in the days of compromise,
11:32 not changed by God, or Jesus, or the disciples.
11:37 Let's go right into the heart of the book of
11:39 Revelation, Revelation 13.
11:40 Revelation 13 describes a beast coming up out of the sea.
11:45 Verse 1 says this:
12:14 Now notice there are four beast like figures in those verses:
12:19 a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a dragon.
12:25 The book of Revelation takes the prophecies of Daniel
12:29 and puts them together.
12:31 So to understand Revelation, one must
12:34 understand first Daniel.
12:36 So let's go back to
12:38 because there we see the exact same four beasts:
12:43 a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a dragon.
12:47 Now we might think that it's very hard, or very difficult,
12:51 to understand Bible prophecy.
12:53 But yet the same God that gave us prophecy,
12:57 explains the meaning of that prophecy.
13:09 In Bible prophecy, according to Jeremiah 49, wind represents
13:14 strife, it represents conflict, devastation, or destruction,
13:19 hurricanes, tornados, cyclones, destruction.
13:23 So the winds are blowing on the great sea.
13:26 According to Revelation 17:15, the sea represents peoples,
13:32 it represents nations.
13:34 So you have conflict among nations. The Bible says,
13:43 In Bible prophecy what does a beast represent? The Bible says,
13:53 Look at it, do you see it in Scripture?
13:54 It's very plain. The same God that gave
13:56 prophecy explains prophecy.
14:06 So a beast represents a king, or...
14:15 So what does a beast represent?
14:17 A beast represents a king, or a what? a kingdom.
14:21 So these four beasts in Daniel 7 represent four kingdoms.
14:29 The first kingdom that rises is pictured as a
14:34 lion with eagles wings.
14:36 Now here's another principle in prophecy.
14:39 When God gives a time sequence prophecy, He always begins
14:44 where the prophet is.
14:46 Daniel lived in the days of Babylon.
14:50 So hence God begins describing these kingdoms
14:54 with the nation of Babylon.
14:56 The lion with eagles wings is a fitting symbol of Babylon.
15:01 You remember in Daniel 2, we don't have four beasts,
15:05 we have four metals.
15:07 Daniel 2, there was a great image.
15:11 Now the great image of Daniel 2, and the four beasts of Daniel 7,
15:15 are closely aligned.
15:17 In Daniel 2, four metals: head of gold,
15:21 breasts and arms of silver, thighs of brass,
15:25 legs of iron, and feet of iron and clay; the toes. Four metals.
15:29 In Daniel 2 the metals represent
15:45 Now notice the similarity in the four beasts.
15:49 Again Babylon would be represented by the lion,
15:52 and we'll show you why.
16:02 Now let's look at the evidence for this in prophecy itself.
16:23 A lion is the king of the jungle; the king of the beasts.
16:28 An eagle is the king of the birds.
16:31 So this first empire Babylon, mighty Babylon that was the
16:34 dominate nation in the world at the time, that ruled a large
16:38 expanse of the world, is pictured as a
16:40 lion in eagle's wings.
16:41 Is there any evidence of that outside of the Bible? there is.
16:46 Come with me to the Pergamom Museum in East Berlin.
16:51 Not long ago I was there with a group
16:54 that we took on a tour.
16:55 This is Precession Way that is the wall lining the way into the
17:04 Ishtar Gate in Babylon.
17:06 The German archaeologist, Robert Koldewey, went down and
17:10 excavated Babylon, and as he did, they pieced together
17:15 what the wall would be like.
17:16 And this is an original.
17:18 These are not facsimiles, these are not reproductions.
17:24 But they took the tiles from the wall of Babylon and pieced them
17:28 together; put it back there in the Pergamom Museum.
17:32 So as you walk along Precession Way, as it's recreated,
17:35 and as you look at these original walls, you see a lion,
17:39 with what? eagles wings; fitting symbol of Babylon.
17:43 Incidentally, the bricks in Precession Way,
17:46 every one of them had the name of
17:47 Nebuchadnezzar stamped upon them.
17:49 So a lion with eagle's wings actually was
17:51 the symbol of Babylon.
17:53 The nation of Babylon did not rule forever.
17:58 Another nation followed it.
18:13 What nation was it that overthrew Babylon?
18:15 Babylon ruled from 605-539 B.C.
18:19 But it was the Persians that overthrew the Babylonians.
18:23 Notice, the Medo-Persian Empire.
18:26 The bear lifts itself up on one side.
18:28 What does that represent? Persia dominating over Medo.
18:34 What about these three ribs in the mouth of the bear?
18:38 What do these three ribs represent?
18:40 The Persian Empire raises itself up on one side;
18:43 dominates over Medo.
18:45 But when Medo-Persia attacked Babylon, it also defeated two
18:50 other nations: Lydia and Egypt, to conquer the world.
18:54 So the three ribs: Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt.
18:57 History follows prophecy like a blueprint.
19:00 But the Bible says there would be a third
19:02 empire that would rise.
19:13 You look there at the leopard like beast with
19:18 four heads and wings.
19:20 What do you know about a leopard? A leopard is fast!
19:23 Now if you wanted to describe rapid conquest,
19:26 what animal do you choose? a leopard.
19:28 But if you want to describe rapid, rapid, rapid, rapid
19:31 conquest, what do you do?
19:32 You put wings on the back of your leopard.
19:33 What do you know about Greece?
19:36 Alexander the Great, at 33 years old he conquered the
19:39 world in rapid conquest.
19:40 But at 33 he died, likely of malaria in a drunken stupor.
19:46 But yet, what happened?
19:48 Four of his generals: Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy,
19:52 and Seleucus then began to reign.
19:55 So the four heads: the four generals of Alexander the Great.
20:00 Every one of these beast figures clearly describes
20:05 that particular empire.
20:07 The empire of Alexander the Great is fittingly symbolized
20:11 in the leopard that attacks so rapidly, the wings that give it
20:16 even more rapid conquest, and the four
20:18 heads, his four generals.
20:22 Because he would have four generals.
20:24 But then another beast arises after Babylon,
20:27 Medo- Persia, and Greece.
20:43 Just as the fourth medal had iron legs, so likewise the
20:48 fourth beast has iron teeth.
20:54 How was it different?
20:56 It was not succeeded by a fifth world ruling empire.
20:59 It had ten horns just like the legs of iron have ten toes.
21:03 It was indeed divided.
21:06 Just as the Bible described: head of gold, breast and arms
21:10 of silver, thighs of brass, legs of iron; four nations: lion,
21:14 bear, leopard, dragon; Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.
21:19 What do you know about Rome? It was divided.
21:23 The Roman Empire ruled from 168 B.C. to 351 A.D.,
21:29 but then it was divided.
21:31 The barbarian tribes came down from the North.
21:35 Just like we have toes of the image in Daniel 2,
21:38 of clay and iron, we have the horns of the fourth
21:42 beast, the ten horns.
21:45 Then Daniel introduces something new, something that we haven't
21:50 seen in the prophecy of Daniel 2. What is it?
21:56 So he's looking among the divisions of the Roman Empire.
21:59 When was Rome divided? sometime between A.D. 351 and A.D. 476.
22:11 So here is a horn that comes up among the ten
22:14 called the little horn.
22:20 So this little horn comes up, he plucks up three
22:23 horns by the roots.
22:32 So this little horn arises, and he eventually has
22:41 He eventually becomes strong and powerful.
22:43 Now notice some things about this little horn.
22:51 So what are the ten horns? the divisions of Europe.
22:54 So if we want to identify this little horn we have to look
22:58 at a European power.
22:59 We're not looking at an American power.
23:01 We're not looking at a South American power.
23:03 We're not looking at Asia or China.
23:06 We are not looking at Africa.
23:07 We're not looking in Russia.
23:09 We're looking deep within Europe.
23:11 He arises among the ten, among the ten divisions
23:14 of the Roman Empire, someplace in Western Europe.
23:18 There's a second thing about this little horn.
23:20 He arises after the ten horns.
23:23 He doesn't rise in the days of Babylon,
23:25 Medo Persia, Greece, or Rome.
23:27 He rises when the Roman Empire is falling apart
23:30 among the ten horns.
23:32 So we've learned two things: if we're going to identify the
23:34 little horn we have to look in Western Europe.
23:37 We have to look someplace between 351 A.D. and 476 A.D.
23:45 Now what does that mean?
23:47 What do eyes symbolize in the Bible?
23:50 Eyes in the Bible symbolize wisdom.
23:53 Remember what a prophet is called in the Bible?
23:55 A prophet is called what? a seer.
23:58 Why is a prophet called a seer?
24:00 Because a prophet sees with divine eyes.
24:03 A prophet sees with a divine wisdom.
24:05 But this does not have the eyes of God.
24:08 It has the eyes of what everybody? the eyes of a man.
24:11 So here is a system based on human tradition.
24:18 So we would expect to see a human religious system rising
24:25 out of the old Roman Empire in Western Europe
24:29 from A.D. 351 to A.D. 476.
24:32 Now according to the Bible this power is diverse.
24:36 It's different than all the other horns.
24:38 How would it be different?
24:40 The other horns would be political powers.
24:45 This would be a religious power.
24:51 In other words, this little horn that arises would be a religious
24:55 political power that would grow out of the Roman Empire after
24:59 the breakup of the Roman Empire in Western Europe.
25:03 It would be a religio-political power.
25:07 What power was rising as a religious power,
25:12 and a political power out of Rome at the time the Roman
25:15 Empire was falling apart, precisely in
25:18 those early centuries?
25:20 Of course, it was the medieval of the Roman Church.
25:25 The Bible is very plain.
25:33 How do you speak great words against the Most High,
25:35 if you're a religious power?
25:37 What does it mean, you'd wear out the saints of the Most High?
25:39 In other words he'd be a persecuting power,
25:41 and persecute those that did not go along with its
25:43 religious ideology, and he would
25:48 Notice the Bible does not say this power would
25:50 change the law of God.
25:52 Because no earthly power can change the law written
25:55 with God's own finger on tables of stone.
25:57 But he would think
26:00 Truth is stranger than fiction.
26:03 Down through the centuries the saga is an amazing one as we
26:08 journey through prophecy.
26:14 He would think to change the times and the laws.
26:18 According to Daniel 8:12, this same power would
26:26 The Devil would bring deceptions unknowingly, unwittingly,
26:32 subtly, into the Christian church.
26:35 The very law of God would be changed,
26:39 changed not by God, but changed by human religious teachings.
26:45 I wonder
26:51 How did the Devil attack the very law of God,
26:54 the fourth commandment that speaks of creation?
26:58 How did he attack the Sabbath commandment?
27:00 How did he change the very law of God?
27:04 What historical circumstance is contributed to that change,
27:10 and how did church and state unite to accomplish that goal?
27:19 and it was crystallized in the fourth century.
27:41 So Sun day, dies Solis, the day of sun worship.
27:48 Down through the centuries pagans everywhere have
27:52 worshipped on the day of the sun.
27:54 You take the center image here and with...
28:00 It's an image out of Egypt.
28:01 You'll notice the Apis bull, and he has the sun on his head.
28:05 Sun worship, the Egyptians worshipped Amun-Ra.
28:09 Far left hand corner, you notice the Babylonian god sitting
28:13 in his throne, but you notice the sun shining upon him.
28:17 They worshipped Bel Marduk.
28:18 Each of the images: far right you have the Persians,
28:24 and the Romans with Mithraism, worshipping the sun.
28:27 So the Sabbath always was a sign between God and His people.
28:32 Ezekiel 20:12, My Sabbaths I've given you as a sign
28:37 between Me and you.
28:38 The Sabbath is a sign that God created us.
28:41 The Sabbath is a sign that God fashioned us.
28:43 The Sabbath is a sign that we rest in His love and care.
28:47 It's a sign that He's sanctified us, and a sign that He's coming
28:49 again for us to recreate a new heavens and a new earth.
28:52 But Sunday; the largest luminous body in the heavens was the sun,
28:57 and men seeing that they noted when the sun didn't shine
29:01 for periods of time, that their crops would be destroyed.
29:04 Or if the sun shone too much the crops would be destroyed.
29:07 There would be a drought.
29:09 So they worshipped the sun, or the sun god.
29:12 Constantine, the pagan Roman Emperor, who became a Christian,
29:16 ruled from A.D. 306 to 337.
29:20 In that 31 year period saw an empire that was falling apart.
29:24 The Roman armies had stretched too thin.
29:28 Roman lavishness, and wealth, and prosperity had eaten out
29:32 the heart of the nation for useful work.
29:35 They were consumed with entertainments, sports,
29:38 and pleasures, and immorality.
29:40 And the very heart of Roman society was falling apart.
29:44 Constantine wanted to unite his empire.
29:46 He also saw something else happening.
29:48 The barbarian tribes were approaching from the North.
29:51 They were on the borders of the empire, and some of
29:54 his empire was falling.
29:55 Constantine believed that if he could Christianize the heathen
29:59 that he then could have a chance of saving the empire.
30:03 What could unify the empire? possibly sun worship.
30:08 The pagans were worshipping on the day of the sun.
30:11 Many Christians by this time had drifted from their faithfulness
30:15 to Christ, although many were still
30:16 worshipping the Bible Sabbath.
30:18 But they also were worshipping on the day of the resurrection.
30:21 They were beginning to do that.
30:23 So Constantine thought to himself, I can unite my empire.
30:27 I can do this by passing a decree.
30:31 So here in A.D. 321 Constantine passed this decree.
30:44 Here you have the first Sunday decree passed in a compromise
30:49 with an attempt to try to unite the empire from the pagans
30:55 taking and overthrowing it.
30:57 Constantine, the pagan Roman Emperor, eventually united
31:02 with the state powers.
31:08 It was in the Council of Laodicea that this was
31:11 further established.
31:19 acknowledges how the change of the Sabbath took place.
31:22 In the book, The Catholic World, one of the most significant
31:26 statements ever made regarding the change of
31:28 the Sabbath said this:
32:03 So you see what the book, The Catholic World, says.
32:07 It says that the Bible Sabbath that was indeed part of God's
32:14 Word; that the Bible Sabbath was changed by the church,
32:19 that the pagan day, Sunday, came into the church in an
32:23 error of compromise.
32:25 When we look down through history,
32:28 the Devil hated the Bible Sabbath.
32:30 Why? Because he hated the Creator.
32:32 Because he hated God's law.
32:34 Because he led a third of the angels to disobey,
32:37 and he led Adam and Eve to disobey.
32:38 So he attacks the Sabbath to do away with the basis,
32:42 or the significance of authority of the very law of God.
32:48 now takes this a step further, and it condemns those who are
32:53 worshipping on the Sabbath.
32:56 What did they mean? they shall not worship on the
32:58 Sabbath and be idle.
33:00 And I'm quoting from the Council of Laodicea on Saturday.
33:04 Now notice they're changing the idea from
33:07 Sabbath, the seventh day.
33:08 They call Sunday, contrary to Scripture, the Lord's day.
33:23 So what's happening? two things simultaneously.
33:26 Historically the Roman Empire is falling apart.
33:29 Constantine wants to unite it.
33:32 Secondly, there have been Jewish revolts through
33:35 the empire, and Christians want to disassociate
33:38 themselves from the Jews.
33:40 So they begin honoring first once a year the resurrection,
33:43 then they begin honoring the resurrection more frequently,
33:46 and by the days of Constantine, you have many in the Christian
33:50 church honoring the resurrection.
33:52 Constantine and church leaders come together to unite the
33:55 empire, but there are still those keeping the Sabbath,
33:58 so the Catholic Council of Laodicea passes a decree
34:02 to condemn them, saying that they are shut out from Christ.
34:05 How was the Sabbath changed from the seventh day of
34:10 the week, written with the finger of God,
34:12 to the first day of the week?
34:14 It was changed gradually down through the centuries as church
34:18 and state had their own reasons: the church to disassociate from
34:23 the Jews, the state to unite with the pagans,
34:26 and together they coalesced and came together.
34:29 Now remember what the Bible predicted, Daniel 7:25,
34:33 that this would take place in the days of the little horn
34:37 in the early centuries,
34:41 Now notice, it does not simply say law of God.
34:45 You know, there's only one commandment that has to do with
34:46 time, and that's the Bible Sabbath.
34:49 But it says, times and laws, plural.
34:52 Now in Convert's Catechism we're going to come back to that
34:55 plural business shortly.
34:56 But let's look at how the church is very open in its admission
35:01 of changing the Sabbath.
35:02 Here's Convert's Catechism.
35:04 The Convert's Catechism is a Catechism issued by the
35:08 Catholic Church with the Impro-motto in it that all
35:12 people converting to Catholicism would study from.
35:16 And it says in the Catechism,
35:24 That's rather amazing from the Catechism, isn't it?
35:27 But notice it goes on.
35:40 The Catechism is plain.
35:42 Our Catholic friends openly acknowledge that the church
35:45 changed the day from Sabbath to Sunday,
35:48 from the seventh day to the first day.
35:50 Here's the basic question though: did the church have
35:53 the authority to do that?
35:55 Would anybody have the authority to change the Sabbath
35:58 written with God's own finger on tables of stone?
36:02 Would anybody have the authority to change a sacred day of
36:05 worship when the Bible clearly predicted that a church state
36:10 power would rise and make an attempt to change the Sabbath?
36:14 Let's go to the Catholic Encyclopedia.
36:16 Does the Catholic Encyclopedia acknowledge that the church
36:19 changed the Sabbath? it does.
36:22 Notice what it says:
36:28 Of course it's not the Jewish Sabbath,
36:30 it's the Sabbath of the Lord.
36:31 It's the Sabbath given at Creation.
36:32 But this is what they say:
36:44 It openly acknowledges that the church changed the day from
36:48 the seventh to the first, from Sabbath to Sunday.
36:50 It is a little confusing though.
36:52 Why does it say the third commandment is the Sabbath
36:57 commandment when the fourth commandment is the Sabbath
36:59 commandment on tables of stone?
37:00 Remember what Daniel said?
37:02 They shall think to change times.
37:05 And it didn't say the law, it said times and laws.
37:09 How were the laws of God, the commandments of God changed?
37:13 Well, here on the left you have the Ten Commandment law.
37:16 In that Ten Commandment law you have the first commandment,
37:20 Thou shalt make no other gods before Me.
37:21 The second, Don't make any graven images.
37:23 The third is, Don't take the name of the
37:26 Lord thy God in vain.
37:27 The fourth, Remember the Sabbath,
37:28 and so forth down through to the end.
37:30 Honor your father and mother, fifth.
37:33 Thou shalt not kill, sixth.
37:35 Thou shalt not commit adultery, seventh.
37:37 Thou shalt not steal, eighth.
37:39 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor, 9.
37:42 And thou shalt not covet, ten.
37:45 The Catholic Church dropped the second commandment.
37:48 That means there would be only nine.
37:50 So what did they have to do? divide the tenth into two.
37:55 You shall not covet your neighbors wife.
37:57 And ten, You shall not covet your neighbors goods.
38:00 So if you dropped the second about images, so what happened?
38:04 The laws of God, the commandments
38:07 of God were changed.
38:09 The Sabbath was changed from Saturday to Sunday;
38:13 seventh day to the first day by man in a compromise,
38:16 and the second commandment regarding images was dropped out
38:20 of, indeed, that commandment; dropped out of the whole
38:26 Ten Commandment law.
38:28 Now there is a very famous writer by the name of
38:33 Karl Keating, and he's written a recent book called
38:39 It's the attack on Romanism by Bible Christians.
38:43 He is a leading Catholic writer; very brilliant man.
38:47 And the whole intent of this particular book is to show that
38:52 the Protestant argument of the Bible, and the Bible only,
38:57 that that arguments invalid.
38:59 Because what he's really saying is that the Protestants that go
39:03 by the Bible, and the Bible only, really ought to go back
39:07 to the Bible Sabbath, because there's no foundation
39:10 in the Bible for Sunday.
39:13 And so he's arguing that you have to have an authority
39:17 outside of the Bible.
39:18 And the only authority for the change of the Sabbath
39:21 is the Catholic Church.
39:22 So that's Keating's argument.
39:24 And let's take a look at it. He says,
39:54 So here's what his argument is.
39:55 His argument is, Okay you Baptists, okay Pentecostals,
39:59 okay Church of Christ, he said, if you want to follow the Bible,
40:04 you ought to go back, like the Seventh-day Adventists do,
40:07 he says, and keep the Bible Sabbath.
40:09 But if you keep Sunday, you don't have any authority
40:13 for that in the Bible, and you're really doing that
40:15 in harmony with the Pope of Rome who changed the Sabbath,
40:20 so you're acknowledging the authority of the Papacy.
40:22 That's his argument.
40:24 Now if you follow the logic of that argument,
40:27 it's pretty logical.
40:28 If you take the authority of the Bible, there's only one thing
40:31 to do, and that's go back and worship on the Bible Sabbath.
40:34 Because it was in Genesis 2 that the Bible says, God blessed the
40:40 Sabbath, and God sanctified the Sabbath,
40:43 and God rested upon it.
40:44 2300 years before the Jewish nation, God set aside the
40:49 Sabbath at creation.
40:51 There were no Jews around at creation.
40:53 It was in Exodus 16 that the manna fell before
40:56 the Ten Commandments.
40:57 And God said, Don't go out on Sabbath and gather any,
41:01 but worship Me and My commandments.
41:02 It was in the Ten Commandment law that God wrote with His own
41:06 finger on tables of stone: Remember the
41:09 Sabbath to keep it holy.
41:10 It was all through the Old Testament.
41:12 You know, God says, Isaiah 8:20, To the law and to the testimony;
41:16 if they speak not according to this word,
41:18 there is what? no light in them.
41:20 In other words, live in harmony, by His grace,
41:22 through His power, with His law.
41:23 Now I know somebody says, We're not saved by the law!
41:26 Certainly we're not saved by the law.
41:28 We're saved by grace!
41:29 But that grace that pardons us empowers us to be
41:34 obedient Christians.
41:35 That's why Jesus said, If you do what? love Me, you will
41:40 keep My commandments.
41:43 So here is the real question:
41:50 If you look around the world you find that many, many are
41:55 following tradition.
41:57 They've stepped aside from the Biblical teachings.
42:01 The question is, will we follow the commandments of God,
42:05 written with His own finger on tables of stone,
42:08 or will we follow the teachings of man?
42:13 Down through the centuries men and women have been willing
42:17 to stand for truth.
42:19 Proverbs 23:23 says, Buy the truth and sell it not.
42:25 Jesus said, in John 8:32, You shall know the truth,
42:31 and the truth shall make you free.
42:34 You know, even in the middle ages in the Reformation,
42:37 there were those that were discovering the Bible Sabbath.
42:41 Carlstedt, for example, a very close colleague of Luther,
42:45 began to keep the Bible Sabbath.
42:49 Some of the Waldenses, in fact many of them
42:51 kept the Bible Sabbath.
42:54 John James, in the 1600's in England, was a Sabbath keeper.
43:00 As the result of that the authorities broke into his
43:04 church while he was preaching on the Bible
43:06 Sabbath, took him out.
43:07 He was dragged through the streets of London.
43:11 He was whipped, he was beaten, eventually beheaded.
43:15 And can you imagine it, because of his faith in Christ,
43:18 because of his desire to follow Christ he was,
43:21 this man of God was beheaded, and his head was placed on what
43:26 they call a pale or a pole in front of his church the next
43:30 Sabbath to warn anyone that might come and worship there.
43:34 But yet, just as Tertullian said, The blood of the martyrs
43:38 is the seed of the gospel.
43:40 Down through the centuries, down through the centuries,
43:44 Jesus Christ has had faithful men and women that would not
43:50 yield their conscientious convictions.
43:53 You see, God says in
44:04 Jesus says that His Word would echo, and re-echo down through
44:10 through the centuries.
44:11 His Word would speak to hearts in every generation.
44:15 As I travel around the world, whether I stand in the Kremlin
44:20 in Russia preaching the Word of God, men and women whose hearts
44:24 are open respond, and follow God's truth, and become Sabbath
44:28 keeping Christians.
44:29 Whether it's in China, or India, or Inter and South America,
44:33 men and women today are stepping out.
44:36 They're stepping out from tradition, stepping out from the
44:40 teachings of men, stepping out from human opinion.
44:44 They're making decisions to follow the word of God.
44:47 Let me tell you the story of five Russian sailors.
44:51 These five Russian sailors were on a Russian submarine.
44:55 And there on that submarine they had little to do.
44:59 They found a book. The book happened to be called,
45:02 The Great Controversy.
45:03 It is the story of good and evil,
45:06 the story of Christ and Satan, the story of how the Sabbath
45:10 was changed by man and not by God.
45:13 As they read the history of Christianity, as they read about
45:16 the crisis that was coming in our world, these Russian sailors
45:21 said, We must follow Christ.
45:24 They were under the water, under the ice of the Arctic,
45:27 for six months in that submarine,
45:29 reading that book again and again.
45:31 One would read it and pass it onto the next.
45:33 He would pass it onto the next.
45:36 As they surfaced and came out, it was now Siberia.
45:42 It's now in the month of January.
45:44 These men came to a Sabbath keeping Adventist Church
45:49 and they said, Pastor, we want to be baptized!
45:52 You want to be baptized?
45:54 Have you accepted the Bible? Yes.
45:55 Have you accepted Jesus? Yes.
45:57 Have you accepted His commandments? Yes.
45:59 We want to follow Christ!
46:00 We want to be Sabbath keeping Christians!
46:01 The Pastor said, Well, we'll wait until the Spring, you know,
46:04 because the ice was a meter and a half in Siberia.
46:08 These Russian sailors said, We can't wait!
46:11 They went out to the lake.
46:13 They took axes and chopped about four and a half
46:17 to five feet of ice.
46:18 They cut steps in the ice, and they said, Pastor, next Sabbath
46:23 on the memorial of Creation, we want to be baptized.
46:26 They cut the ice in about a Sunday.
46:28 And the Pastor had to come and chop, because you know,
46:30 it gets so cold that you have to chop and inch,
46:33 an inch and a half off every night.
46:34 But the Pastor said, I'm never going to be able to stand
46:36 in that water the whole time.
46:38 So every day he would walk down those steps in Siberia,
46:41 dunk himself in the water to get ready for the next Sabbath.
46:44 Those sailors were so committed to Christ, so committed to the
46:50 Bible, so committed to truth, that in the middle of the winter
46:54 in Siberia, they were baptized following Jesus Christ.
46:58 You see, the question is not a matter of days, the question is
47:05 The question is not a matter of one day or the next,
47:09 the question is rather, Am I going to follow the teachings
47:13 of man, or am I going to follow the teachings of Jesus?
47:15 Am I going to follow human tradition,
47:17 or am I going to follow God's Word?
47:19 You see, the real issue is
47:28 Is it human opinion or tradition?
47:31 You see, the question is
47:38 See, if the church is the basis of authority, and if you believe
47:43 the church has the authority to change the Sabbath,
47:47 then you can accept Sunday.
47:49 But if there's only one authority,
47:51 and that is the Bible; if there's only one supreme
47:54 authority, and that's Jesus Christ,
47:56 if there's only one who can write with His own finger on
48:00 tables of stone the Ten Commandments and say,
48:03 Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
48:05 See, the church would have to have huge, immense authority
48:09 to change the very law of God, written with the finger of God,
48:13 and obviously the church does not have that authority.
48:17 You see, in the Garden of Eden God gave the
48:22 Sabbath to Adam and Eve.
48:23 The church would have to have enormous authority to change
48:28 the eternal command of God that to keep the Sabbath
48:33 the day that God sanctified, and blessed, and rested upon.
48:37 It has to have enormous authority to change
48:39 the law given to Moses.
48:41 Revelation 14:12 is an appeal.
48:45 It's an appeal to your heart wherever you are today.
48:49 It's an appeal to you in your home.
48:51 It's an appeal to you in that hotel room.
48:54 It's an appeal to you wherever you're watching this telecast.
48:57 It says, Here is the patience of the saints;...
49:00 You say, Where are God's people today?
49:02 Where can I find God's people?
49:08 Find a group of people that love Jesus.
49:10 Find a group of people that are keeping the seventh
49:13 day Sabbath, Saturday.
49:14 Find a group of people that are believing that we're living
49:19 in end times based on the prophecies of the
49:21 book of Revelation.
49:23 Satan came to the Garden of Eden and he said to Eve,
49:27 Eve, what difference does one tree make?
49:30 Eve, partake of that tree.
49:34 Eve, it doesn't make any difference whether you eat
49:37 of that fruit or not.
49:38 She was deceived, and partook of the fruit, and lost Eden.
49:44 The Devil comes to people today and says,
49:47 What difference does a day make?
49:49 You see the issue was not a tree,
49:52 and the issue is not a day.
49:58 Just like all trees weren't alike.
49:59 The tree was a symbol of obedience.
50:04 And when Eve did not partake of that tree,
50:07 she was obeying God.
50:08 When she partook of the tree, she was disobeying God.
50:12 So when she listened to the voice of the evil
50:14 one, she disobeyed.
50:16 It wasn't that tree, because she...
50:19 It wasn't simply that she took of the tree, it was the fact
50:22 that she disobeyed God.
50:24 And so God calls us to obedience.
50:26 You see, here's what our choice is really.
50:44 Jesus reaches out to you and He says to you, My child,
50:49 I created you. I fashioned you.
50:53 I set aside a day for you to acknowledge, in a busy, hectic
50:59 world that I'm your Creator.
51:02 I set aside a day for you to rest on as a symbol of resting
51:09 in My grace, in My love and care.
51:12 You see, Sabbath isn't a symbol of salvation by works.
51:15 It's rest, rest in His grace and care.
51:19 And God's saying to you, Come, worship upon My Sabbath.
51:24 I created the world, and I can recreate your heart.
51:29 And every Sabbath as you rest, be reminded of Eden,
51:34 be reminded of the day that earth will be recreated,
51:38 reminded of the day that I will come again.
51:43 Jesus says to you and me,
51:55 You make that choice today.
51:57 Will you make that decision today?
51:59 Jesus has His hands stretched out for you.
52:04 I know for some this is new.
52:07 Why not pray right now, Oh Jesus, I need You every hour.
52:12 And I'm coming to You to make this significant decision
52:17 to follow You, to keep Your Sabbath, to walk in Your ways.
52:23 Listen: I Need Thee Every Hour.
52:38 I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord.
52:48 No tender voice like Thine can peace afford.
53:00 I need Thee, Oh I need Thee, every hour I need Thee.
53:16 Oh bless me now my Savior, I come to Thee.
53:37 I need Thee every hour, in joy or pain.
53:47 Come quickly and abide or life is vain.
53:56 I need Thee, Oh I need Thee, every hour I need Thee.
54:13 Oh bless me now my Savior, I come to Thee.
54:33 I need Thee every hour, teach me Thy will.
54:42 And Thy rich promises in me fulfill.
54:52 I need Thee, Oh I need Thee, every hour I need Thee.
55:09 Oh bless me now my Savior, I come to Thee.
55:29 Is that your prayer, my friend?
55:32 I need Thee every hour.
55:35 Jesus invites you to come.
55:40 The Sabbath may be a new truth for you, but Jesus says,
55:44 I'll be by your side.
55:46 I'll strengthen you.
55:48 Jesus says, Step out.
55:50 I've been convicting you by My Spirit.
55:54 I've been moving upon your heart.
55:56 I've been revealing truth to you in My Word, and you know deep
56:02 within your heart that you've heard truth.
56:05 Jesus invites you to come, to make that decision
56:10 that you'll follow Him.
56:12 Follow Him wherever He leads.
56:14 Jesus has not called us to the easy path.
56:19 He's not called us to the common, or the conventional,
56:23 but He has called us to obedience.
56:25 He has called us to follow Him.
56:28 He has called us that through His grace, and by His power,
56:33 keep His commandments.
56:36 Let's pray together, and I want to ask God especially for you
56:39 that it will touch your heart right now, that it will bring
56:43 you deep conviction right now.
56:44 That He will give you the strength,
56:47 and the courage to follow Him.
56:48 Let's pray. Father in Heaven, thank You so much for Jesus.
56:53 Thank You that He trod the way before us.
56:55 Thank You that He never leads us in a way that He doesn't give us
56:58 the power to follow.
57:00 As we feel convicted about the Bible Sabbath,
57:02 help us to put it into practice in our life.
57:05 Help us to have the joy, and the blessing of Your day,
57:08 for we pray it in Christ's name, Amen.
57:12 Thank you for joining us for Revelation's
57:14 Ancient Discoveries.
57:16 We're delving deeply into the book of Revelation.
57:19 We're unmasking the plans of the evil one,
57:22 and revealing the plans of God.
57:24 So stay with us through this entire series,
57:27 and you will be abundantly blessed.


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Revised 2018-04-18