Most Christians assume that the sin problem arose in Eden when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But sin did not originate on Earth. Many Christians are surprised to learn that sin originated in heaven…and the perpetrator of sin was an angel called Lucifer, a created being who decided to challenge the authority of God. (See Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28)
Notice what John the Apostle wrote in Revelation chapter 12: 7 And war broke out in heaven: Michael and His angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they [a]did not prevail, nor was a place found for [b]them in heaven any longer. 9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”
This is the point at which sin entered our world. When Jesus was baptized and anointed as the Messiah over his people, he was led into the desert by the Spirit and tempted by the devil (Luke Chapter 4). In the third temptation presented to Jesus, the devil revealed the true objective of his temptations:
“Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”
What Satan desires more than anything else is to have the worship of Jesus and those whom He created in His own image and likeness as presented in Genesis chapter one. If he can tempt us to engage in false worship, his objective is realized. In Revelation 13 and 14, we see Satan’s objectives presented in terms of the worship of the image of the beast and the reception of his mark.
In contrast to the mark of the beast we see in Revelation chapter 7 that God proposes to place His seal or mark on His people. What is the mark of the beast and what is the seal of God?
In the end of time the issue will be whether or not we will receive the mark of the beast or the seal of God. First, let us define who the beast is. During the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, the prominent Protestant reformers like Martin Luther, Calvin, John Knox, and Ulrich Zwingli all identified the little horn of Daniel 7 and the beast that comes out of the water in Revelation 13 as the Roman Catholic papacy. Why? Because the Roman Catholic papacy exactly fulfills the specifications of the prophecy of both Daniel 7 and Revelation 13.
Both the little horn and the beast spoke blasphemies against God. In several places in Roman Catholic literature, you can find the expression “Lord God the pope”! Both the Little Horn and the beast attempted to change the law of God by substituting Sunday worship for Sabbath worship. The Sabbath or 7th day is the day on which Jesus and the Apostles worshipped God. Both the little horn and the beast persecuted God’s people and in fact the Roman Catholic papacy put to death somewhere between 30 and 50 million people during the period that we know as the Dark Ages, a 1260 year time period that stretched from 538 a.d. when the papacy came to power, to 1798 when Napoleon’s General Berthier arrested the pope and temporarily ended his supremacy over Europe. Today, the Roman Catholic papacy is slowly regaining its power, and its goal is to rule the world again.
What is most interesting is that the Roman Catholic papacy has presented Sunday worship as the mark of its authority. Notice the following declarations of various Roman Catholic publications:
“Most Christians assume that Sunday is the biblically approved day of worship. The Catholic Church protests that it transferred Christian worship from the biblical Sabbath (Saturday) to Sunday, and that to try to argue that the change was made in the Bible is both dishonest and a denial of Catholic authority. If Protestantism wants to base its teachings only on the Bible, it should worship on Saturday.” — Rome’s Challenge immaculateheart.com/maryonline Dec 2003.
Rome says, “Of course the Catholic Church claims the change was her act…AND THE ACT IS A MARK of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters.” Thomas, H. F., Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons, in answer to a letter regarding the change of the Sabbath.
Again, Rome says, “It’s (Sunday’s change for Saturday) the mark of our authority to over-rule God’s law.” Father Enright, C.S.S.R., President of Redemptorist College, Kansas City, Mo., History of the Sabbath, page 802.
“The church is above the Bible; and this transference of Sabbath observance from Saturday to Sunday is proof positive of that fact.” The Catholic Record, September 1, 1923.
“The Bible says, ‘Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.’ The Catholic Church says, ‘No! by my divine power I abolish the Sabbath day, and command you to keep holy the first day of the week. And, lo! The entire civilized world bows down in reverent obedience to the command of the holy Catholic Church.” Father Enright, President of Redemptorist College.
Obviously, the Roman Catholic papacy is not bashful about her attempt to change the Bible Sabbath to Sunday. And because this change is a mark of her authority, Sunday observance instead of the Sabbath of the Bible is in fact the mark of the beast power that made the change, namely the Roman Catholic papacy. On the other hand, the Sabbath of the 4th commandment given by God our Creator is the mark of His authority, for it says: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the 7th day is the Sabbath of the Lord Your God. In it thou shalt not do any work…for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth the seas and all that is in them and rested on the 7th day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy”. Exodus 20: 8-11.
So in the end of time, the great battle will be over worship…the authority of the Roman Catholic papacy or the authority of God our Creator, and the day which God has set aside for worship. The day we choose to worship on will indicate whose authority we are under. Is it the authority of the Roman Catholic papacy… Sunday, or the authority of the God who created heaven and earth, the 7th day Sabbath of creation. The choice is yours. Choose wisely, for Revelation 14:9-11 spells out the consequence of false worship in the end of time. Those who worship the beast (the papacy) and his image suffer the wrath of God in the end of time. May you be found on God’s side in the end and not on the side of the Roman Catholic papacy.
