WHO IS THE ANTICHRIST?

No subject is of greater interest to you or to me than that of the United States of America and its relationship to the world as revealed in Bible prophecy.

The story is told of a missionary who sailed from the fair shores of freedom to live in a country that was dominated by a power that did not grant liberty to its people. As time went by, this missionary finally returned to live once more under the Stars and Stripes. His inner feelings were hard to describe. Tears came to his eyes. He was filled with joy and pride to see once again a land where freedoms still prevail.

The United States has grown to be one of the most powerful countries in the world. Today it is the center of Protestantism. Surely the God who named other nations in prophecy would spotlight this great power.

First of all, I think it would be well for us to establish the reason for the existence of America. What is a democracy? When did it appear? Why did it appear? Let's go back to its beginnings on that December morning in the year 1620 when the Pilgrim Fathers landed on Plymouth Rock. Why did they brave the unknown seas? Why were they willing to endure untold hardships in leaving their homes, their country, their farms, their loved ones, and civilization as they then knew it, to begin a life so uncertain? Why? It was to escape persecution. Many of us have forgotten that back in the year 1620 Europe was dominated by the Papacy. There was no freedom of worship. Religious persecution was a common practice. State and church were united. The pope was the supreme ruler. Of this the Papacy herself writes:

"Catholic Europe before the Reformation regarded the Pope as the Supreme Court of international law."-The Question Box, p. 164.

As a result of this power and her attempt to force everyone to accept the teachings of the state church, Europe was bathed continually in a wave of persecution. History has recorded these conditions for us as follows:

"That the Church of Rome has shed more innocent blood than any other institution that has ever existed among mankind, will be questioned by no Protestant who has a competent knowledge of history. The memorials, indeed, of many of her persecutions are now so scanty that it is impossible to form a complete conception of the multitude of her victims, and it is quite certain that no powers of imagination can adequately realize their sufferings."-William Edward Hartpole Lecky, History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1904), vol. 11, p.32.

In the developing of the Reformation persecutions increased. Many people decided to flee to another country. Thus we find the Pilgrim Fathers fleeing to America, to a land in which they hoped to find the freedom their hearts longed for. We shall soon see that this was all in the divine plan of God to fulfill prophecy.

You will recall that the Papacy arose in 538 and the Word of God declared that it would rule for 1260 years. Then it would receive a deadly wound. As Bible students, we would expect something to happen in 1798. It did. It was in this year that the blow was struck by Berthier, the French general, who took the pope prisoner by the sword, thus fulfilling this prophecy.

"He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Revelation 13:10.

Note carefully that when the Papacy was to fall by the sword, a new power was to arise immediately.

"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. " Revelation 13:1 1.

The Pilgrims landed in 1620. Within a century and a half the colonies grew and developed. Then came trouble with England. In 1776 the Declaration of Independence was signed. In 1787 the Constitution was drawn up. In 1789 the Bill of Rights came into reality. In 1791 they were adopted. In 1798-mark this-the very year that the pope was taken prisoner by Berthier, the United States of America was recognized by France as a world power. The same power that inflicted the wound upon the Papacy now acknowledged the United States as coming into the scene as a world power.

Again we see the absolute accuracy of divine predictions. The Papacy was to continue for 1260 years, and then receive a wound. Immediately a new power was to arise. The United States arose during this period, and it was ready to assume world leadership at the precise moment as predicted. It is most interesting to note that the famed John Wesley, one of the world's foremost theologians, wrote concerning this new power, in 1754:

"He is not yet come, though he cannot be far off; for he is to appear at the end of the forty-two months of the first beast."-John Wesley, Notes on Revelation.

Prophecy never fails. The amazing thing is that God has been willing to give us so many details in order that our faith might be strengthened. There is positively no reason whatsoever to doubt concerning God's last warning message.

Let us consider for a moment the term "coming up out of the earth" as recorded in Revelation 13:11. You will immediately recognize that all the other beasts came up out of the water, which represents peoples, multitudes, and nations. (Revelation 17:15.) But this beast came up out of the earth. Now, the earth is just the opposite from the sea. The interpretation would be that this nation was to arise in a place where there were no nations, peoples, or multitudes. There is only one nation that arose in 1798 that fulfills exactly this prophecy-that nation is the United States of America. It developed in a land where there was no civilization and only tribes of Indians.

God has given another characteristic of this nation.

'And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb. 'Revelation 13:1 1. (See Figure 14).

The United States was represented as having two horns like a lamb. Throughout the Bible, horns stand for powers and kingdoms, but these were lamb like horns. They were uncrowned. When our Pilgrim Fathers landed here and began to build a government, they saw to it that it was different from those of Europe. They founded the Government of the United States of America on the Christian principles of civil and religious freedom. Church and state were to be separated. This is the secret of democracy. What the world had not seen for centuries was a state without a king and a church without a pope. Republicanism and Protestantism were the foundations of this country.

One noted writer has had this to say concerning these two horns:

"The lamb-like horns indicate youth, innocence, and gentleness, fitly representing the character of the United States when presented to the prophet as 'coming up' in 1798 .... Republicanism and Protestantism became the fundamental principles of the nation. These principles are the secret of its power and prosperity. The oppressed and down-trodden throughout Christendom have turned to this land with interest and hope. Millions have sought its shores, and the United States has risen to a place among the most powerful nations of the earth."-The Great Controversy, p. 441.

The Constitution of the United States guarantees these great concepts. Let us briefly review the facts.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.."-Declaration of Independence.

"The United States shall guarantee to every state in the Union a Republican form of government."-Article IV, Section 4, Constitution of the United States.

"No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."-Article VI.

The First Amendment provides further guarantees of freedom:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."-The Bill of Rights, Article 1.

Here, then, are two great principles standing preeminently before the people-Republicanism and religious freedom. What can be more just, innocent, and lamb-like than these?

Now comes a part of this message that we do not like to give; but we must be faithful stewards of the Word, and whatever God has spoken we must not be afraid to deliver. It is a sad picture. God foretells that this power will change from a lamb to a dragon.

"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." Revelation 13:1 1.

When will this change take place?

"And he exerciseth all the Power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed." Revelation 13:12.

The answer is found in this text. The change was to take place after the deadly wound was healed. The wound began to heal in 1929, therefore we may expect to see great changes in our day. What a pity that this change was to come in America! A country loved by millions, a country of freedom for which so many have given their lives! What could possibly make such a change come about?

The answer to this question is to be found in the deterioration of Protestantism. You will recall that it was Protestantism that made possible the cause for the wound in 1798. If we are to heal the patient we must first remove the cause of the ailment.

Now just as there was a period of time when the wound was received until the Papacy collapsed, just so there is to be a period of convalescence when the wound is healed and this power will gradually gain in strength until it again dominates the world. We must consider the years following 1929 as the convalescent period in which Rome is silently growing stronger and stronger and at the same time Protestantism is becoming weaker and weaker. You may ask, "How can this be? We see thousands of Protestant churches being built everywhere. Their membership is actually increasing." Friends, the power of Protestantism is not in numbers or churches. The power of Protestantism has always been in following the Holy Scriptures, but in the past few decades Protestant denominations have been turning more and more from the Word of God, to join hands with the Papacy in teaching the traditions of men. Surveys conducted among the clergy of Protestant churches reveal that the leadership is going far beyond the state of unbelief. Large numbers of the Protestant ordained ministry actually deny the deity of the Lord and His gospel. In their place they are substituting the traditions of paganism.

In one such recent survey of Protestant denominational leadership you would be astounded to discover that an average of 40 per cent of the leading Protestant denominational ministry no longer believes that there is such a thing as the devil; 75 per cent no longer believe in a literal hell. More astounding still is the fact that 26 per cent of these preachers deny the existence of a literal heaven, and more than 65 per cent no longer consider it necessary to believe the Bible.

It is evident from the facts presented that Protestant churches are turning from the path of fundamentalism and turning to the teachings of tradition. This is contributing to a complete healing of the deadly wound of the papacy.

Notice some of the following astounding changes that are taking place in Protestant churches.

"Dr. Gabelein told of a pastor of a large Presbyterian church in Hollywood, California, who not only denied the existence of a literal hell, but taught that 'the remedial and corrective sufferings in purgatory are needed to save the lost.' It makes one tremble to think that we have lived to see the doctrine of purgatory declared from a Protestant pulpit."-Garman, Present Day Trends. P. 15.

"Also, we were greatly shocked some time ago to read the statement made by a Methodist pastor, the son of a prominent Methodist editor wherein he stated that he would be happy to have a Roman Catholic priest celebrate the mass in his church."-Ibid.

These are astounding facts, but let us read further:

"While in Chicago some time ago, we were told of an Episcopal church in which they had confession, burned candles for the dead, and celebrated the mass."-Ibid.

"Dr. Charles M. Sheldon, noted Congregational minister, has this to say: 'The church is looked upon as a place to go to hear someone. But people want something more than preaching. They want comfort and courage and the help that does not come to them when it is handed out wholesale. The Confessional of the Roman Church is a recognition of a human craving so deep and eternal, that it is a bewildering thing to see how it has been ignored by the Protestant Church, which has emphasized preaching about piety, and the pulpit above the person."'-Atlantic Monthly, January, 1922.

The power of Protestantism has always been that its doctrines were built upon a "Thus saith the Word of God." Because Protestantism through its leadership is leaving the divine Word of God, they are discovering that their weight of influence is declining. As this situation becomes more evident, Protestant church leadership is determined to do something about it, not in turning back to the authority of the Word but rather to join hands with one another to form church unions whereby they may find needed strength. Thus we today have a situation in which many churches are combining.

We are engulfed with a feeling of fear-a fear of losing our freedom. We hear this mentioned continually on the radio. We read of it through the press. We see it on television. We hear of men talking about the dangers to our Constitution. These are all signs that the two-horned beast is repudiating its lamb-like character. A change is surely coming into this nation that has for more than a century stood for the principle of church and state separation.

Consider this-the Congress of the United States adjourning over the death of a pope, and prayers being offered in his behalf. Calls are becoming more numerous for transportation to parochial schools and the cost to be paid from State treasuries. Nuns are teaching in public schools. The Government is assuming more and more power in making restrictions as to what a farmer may or may not plant, which in reality deals with buying and selling.

We are not condemning the United States. If we were among those in its top leadership, faced with world-shaking problems, perhaps we would do likewise. We are simply bringing these points out into the open for clarification, to show that we are in a time when prophecy is fulfilling. Never was there a time when there has been such a call for Protestantism and Catholicism to shake hands. This is indeed in keeping with the prophecy of Revelation 13:14.