Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, . . For I know this:that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch and remember.” Acts 20:28-31.
“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day.”—Matthew 24:21, 20.
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day [the Second Advent of Christ] shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work.”—2 Thessalonians 2:3-7. [Rev 12:5; 14:8; 12:17; Matt 24:4-6, 9-12].
“Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated of all nations for My name’s sake.” Matthew 24:9. “That horn . . had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them.” Daniel 7:20-21.
“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Revelation 12:17.
“For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” Acts 20:2930.
Also: Daniel 11:33; Matthew 24:9-12, 13, 20, 21, 22; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4; Revelation 12:5; 14:8.
The condition of the world under the Romish power presented a fearful and striking fulfillment of the words of the prophet Hosea: “My people are destroyed
for lack of knowledge;because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee; . . . seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God,I will also forget
thy children.” “There is no truth, nor mercy,nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.” Hosea 4:6, 1, 2. Such were the results of banishing the Word of God.
The Apostasy [59-60]
78 The Great Controversy
CHAPTER SUPPLEMENT: FORTY-EIGHT STEPS DOWN
1. Prayers for the dead (about A.D. 300)
2. Making the sign of the cross (A.D. 300)
3. Wax candles (320)
4. Veneration of angels and dead saints (375)
5. Use of images (375)
6. Mass as a daily celebration (394)
7. Beginning of exaltation of Mary, called
“Mother of God” (Council of Ephesus, 431)
8. Priests begin to dress differently than laymen (500)
9. Extreme unction (526)
10.Doctrine of purgatory (Gregory I, 593)
11. Latin language used in worship and commanded (Gregory I, 600)
12. Prayers to Mary, dead saints, and angels (600)
13. Title of pope given to Boniface III (Emperor Phocas, 607)
14. Kissing pope’s foot begins (709)
15. Temporal power of popes conferred (Pepin king of Franks, 750)
16. Worship of the cross, images, and relics officially required (786)
17. Holy water begins to be used (850)
18. Worship of St. Joseph (890)
19. College of Cardinals established (927)
20. Baptism of bells started (John XIII, 965)
21. Canonization of dead saints begins (John XV, 995)
22. Fasting on Fridays and during “Lent” begins (998)
23. Mass is a “sacrifice” (1050)
24. Celibacy of priests required (Gregory II, 1079)
25. Rosary praying invented (Peter the Hermit, 1090)
26. Inquisition, in operation for centuries, now made official (Council of Verona, 1184)
27. Sale of indulgences begins (1190)
28. Error of Transubstantiation decreed, to bring God down into a cup and wafer (Innocent III, 1215)
29. Auricular confession of sins to priest instead of to God required (Innocent III, 1215)
30. Adoration of the wafer (host) decreed (Honorius III, 1220)
31. Laymen officially forbidden to have or read the Bible; it is placed on “Index of Forbidden Books” (Council of Valencia, 1229)
32. Protection by a piece of cloth (scapular) invented (Simon Stock, a British monk, 1251)
33. Laymen forbidden to drink the cup at Communion (Council of Constance, 1414) 34. Purgatory proclaimed as dogma (Council of Florence, 1439)
35. Doctrine of seven sacraments affirmed on pain of mortal sin (1439)
36. First part of the “Ava Maria” saying is made official (1508)
37. Jesuit order founded (Ignatius Loyola, 1534)
38. Tradition (sayings of popes and councils) declared equal to Bible (Council of Trent, 1545)
39. Apocryphal books added to Bible (Councilof Trent, 1546)
40. Creed of Pius IV ordered as official creed of church (1560)
41. Last part of “Ave Maria” (rosary saying) prepared and required (Sixtus V, 1593)
42. Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary proclaimed (Pius IX, 1854)
43. Syllabus of Errors is proclaimed and ratified, condemning freedom of religion, speech, press, and all “unapproved” scientific discoveries (Pius X, Vatican Council I, 1864)
44. Temporal authority of pope officially reaffirmed (1864)
45. Absolute infallibility of pope proclaimed (Vatican I, 1870)
46. Public schools condemned (Pius XI, 1930)
47. Assumption of Virgin Mary (bodily ascension into heaven shortly after her death) proclaimed (Pius XII, 1950)
48. Mary proclaimed be Mother of God (Paul VI, 1965). Two additional doctrines are now being discussed, and may soon be adopted: (1) Mary as Mediatrix of mankind. This means that God and Christ can be approached through her. (2) The dogma of Mary as the Co-redemptrix of the world. The thought here is that the redemption of mankind, from start to finish, is done through Mary, working together at each step with Christ.
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day [the Second Advent of Christ] shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and
that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as
God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4.
“Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated of all nations for My name’s sake.” Matthew 24:9.
“Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, . . For I know this: that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not
sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch and remember.”
Acts 20:28-31.
“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. But pray ye that your
flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day.”—Matt 24:21, 20.
CATHOLICISM SPEAKS
“Sunday is a Catholic institution, and its claim to observance can be
defended only on Catholic principles . . From beginning to end of Scripture there is not a single passage that warrants the transfer of weekly public worship from the last day of the week to the first.”—Catholic Press, Sydney,
Australia, August, 1900.
“Protestantism, in discarding the authority of the [Roman Catholic] Church, has no good reason for its Sunday theory, and ought logically to
keep Saturday as the Sabbath.”—John Gilmary Shea, in the American Catholic Quarterly Review, January 1883.
“It is well to remind the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and all other Christians that the Bible does not support them anywhere in their
observance of Sunday. Sunday is an institution of the Roman Catholic Church, and those who observe the day observe a commandment of theCatholic Church.”—Priest Brady, in an address, reported in the Elizabeth,
N.J. News of March 18, 1903.
“Ques.—Have you any other way of proving that the [Catholic] Church has power to institute festivals of precept [to command holy days]?
“Ans.—Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her: She could not have substituted the
observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.”—Stephen Keenan, Doctrinal Catechism, p. 176.
“Reason and common sense demand the acceptance of one or the other of these two alternatives: either Protestantism and the keeping holy of Saturday or Catholicity and the keeping holy of Sunday. Compromise is impossible.”—The Catholic Mirror, December 23, 1893.
“God simply gave His [Catholic] Church the power to set aside whatever day or days she would deem suitable as Holy Days. The Church chose Sunday, the first day of the week, and in the course of time added otherdays, as holy days.”—Vincent J. Kelly, Forbidden Sunday and Feast-Day Occupations, p. 2.
“Protestants . . accept Sunday rather than Saturday as the day for public worship after the Catholic Church made the change . . But the Protestant mind does not seem to realize that in accepting the Bible, in observing the Sunday, they are accepting the authority of the spokesman for the church, the Pope.”—Our Sunday Visitor, February 5, 1950.
Persecution in the First Centuries
Read Daniel 8:14. There can be no question as to where we are heading from this timeline. Check it out with history.
Persecution in the last days
The time is at hand. Look up for your redemption is a present reality. But don't miss it. Make the time for you and all you care about to plan for and make that celestial trip that Jesus has made available for you. It will be glorious. Worship him that made heaven and earth and oh by the way, the Sabbath which is from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. Don't be tricked up by the devil in accepting his counterfeit day that being Sunday. We all can live and learn.
The First Sunday Law. CLICK HERE