A Movement Fulfilling Prophecy
And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation. Revelation 14:9, 10.
As the ministration of Jesus closed in the holy place, and He passed into the holiest, and stood before the ark containing the law of God, He sent another mighty angel with a third message to the world.... This message was designed to put the children of God upon their guard, by showing them the hour of temptation and anguish that was before them.20Early Writings, 254.
This symbol [the beast], as most Protestants have believed, represents the Papacy....
The “image to the beast” represents that form of apostate Protestantism which will be developed when the Protestant churches shall seek the aid of the civil power for the enforcement of their dogmas....
As the sign of the authority of the Catholic Church, papist writers cite “the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday.” ... What then is the change of the Sabbath, but the sign, or mark, of the authority of the Roman Church—“the mark of the beast”? 21The Great Controversy, 439, 445, 448.
Sundaykeeping is not yet the mark of the beast, and will not be until the decree goes forth causing men to worship this idol sabbath.22SDA Bible Commentary 7:977.
And it is not until the issue is ... plainly set before the people, and they are brought to choose between the commandments of God and the commandments of men, that those who continue in transgression will receive “the mark of the beast.” 23The Great Controversy, 449.
When God sends to men warnings so important that they are represented as proclaimed by holy angels flying in the midst of heaven, He requires every person endowed with reasoning powers to heed the message.24The Great Controversy, 594.
From The Faith I Live By - Page 286
The Faith I Live By