666 and the Mark of the Beast

Take a deep breath. I’m doing that for my benefit. I was also hoping if you took enough breath would bring in a few people off the street, just create a vacuum. Lesson tonight is the “Mark of the Beast.” And it is a--a very serious subject because the most solemn curse in all of scripture is pronounced upon those who worship the beast and his image and receive his mark. We need to know what this is. The very book Revelation means “a revealing.” God wants us to understand this, amen? So that’s one reason we cut our question time short is I wanna dedicate as much time as possible to this subject tonight.

And so let’s get right into the presentation and before we get to the lesson material that goes along with the Mark of the Beast, we need to take a look at some things that are found in Revelation chapter 7. They are pictured there, four angels that are holding back the four winds of strife, and they say in verse 3, “Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their,” where, “foreheads.”

Now in--in the last days with what we know and hear about prophecy, if somebody came up to you and they said, “I’m here to put a mark in your forehead,” would that make you nervous? Who--who is saved in the last days and who is lost, the ones with or without the mark? It’s a common misconception that those with the mark are lost. It depends on which mark. Everybody in Revelation, everybody is marked.

The lesson tonight is gonna be talking about which mark? One mark is a mark of salvation, the seal of God in the forehead; the other is a mark of doom. We need to know what that means and we need to know—is it a tattoo, is it an engraving? What is this mark? Is it a computer chip? And we’ll get into that a little bit.

After the servants of God are sealed in Revelation chapter 7 it tells us, “then the plagues fall.” And so God is not going to allow those winds of strife and those plagues to fall until His servants are sealed in their forehead. Now we need to compare scripture with scripture to understand how to unlock this code and interpret the mark.

First time we find a reference to a mark in the forehead, who remembers where that is? Book of Genesis; Adam and Eve two first sons were named what? Cain and Abel. And the older brother, Cain, killed the younger brother. The Bible says, “And Cain talked with Abel, his brother,” and later in verse 8 it says, “and Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and slew him.” And then when he began to bemoan that the earth was not going to be as fertile as before and that as other people began to multiply he’d have this terrible reputation, the Bible says, “The Lord set a mark upon Cain lest any finding him should kill him.”

Notice the first mark in the Bible is placed upon man to protect him from the wrath of man, ‘kay? The seal of God is gonna be placed upon God’s servants to protect them from the wrath of God. Everybody is gonna have one mark or the other. One mark is supposedly to keep them from the anger of man or humanity or the governments and powers of the world, the other mark will protect them from the wrath of God and they’ll be protected by God.

You remember when the angel of judgment went through Egypt; that was the last plague before their deliverance. One of the last things that happens in Revelation before Jesus comes is this whole episode with the mark of the beast. Only those who are marked by God were saved, only those with the blood of the Passover Lamb were saved, right? There’s some parallels here that we need to apply.

Ezekiel 9, another mark, it talks about here. You need to read this whole chapter but let’s go to verse 4. The Lord said to this to Ezekiel, or to the angel rather, with a writer’s inkhorn, “Go through the midst of the city through the midst of Jerusalem and put a mark on the,” where? “Foreheads,” there it is again, “put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.” Now what that means is place a mark on the forehead of those who are loyal to me, they’re sorry, they’re repentant about sin, they’re confessing their sin, they’re searching for holiness, they’re offended by sin. Those that have a heart for God put a mark on their foreheads. Is that a good mark or bad mark?

Let’s keep reading here. Then He tells these angels to go after the angel with the writer’s inkhorn, these angels that have destroying weapons; says, “Go after him through the city, and kill, do not let your eyes spare, nor have any pity, utterly slay, young and old, maidens and little children, and women; but do not come near anyone who has the mark. And begin at my sanctuary.” Judgment’s gonna begin where? Peter says judgment will begin at the house of God, something to think about. We need to know what the issue is, friends.

This second mark is a mark that protects us from the wrath of God. The mark of the beast is a mark that will protect you from the wrath of man but you’ll be in big trouble with God, right? Everybody is gonna have one of the other marks so we need to know what mark we want.

As we enter into this study and what they represent, I thought of an appropriate amazing fact to share with you, give you the heebie jeebies a little bit, is dealing with this new technology facial recogna--facial recognition technology. It used to be primitive but it’s becoming very effective and the military has subsidized research where cameras take pictures of people’s faces. And I guess it’s like 80 nodal points around the face that they register and all they need is between 18 and 20 of them to have 99% accuracy of identifying who that person is. All of our faces are that different it’s hard to believe, isn’t it.

And they’re using this software you get to work, you don’t necessarily need your employee card anymore, you don’t need to punch the clock, they’ll have a picture of your face. They’re using this in some airports now. I heard that in Tampa they used it during a football game. They were scanning the audience comparing the--testing the software comparing the faces with the criminal database they have. They’re using it on the streets in London, I believe it is, looking for missing children, runaways; get a picture of ‘em, just--there’s this certain areas where they frequent and they capture their pictures, it’s a little bit Orwellian, isn’t it?

Matter of fact, I think it was Oren Hatch who was complaining that this was an invasion of privacy. And the makers of the software and the military and police were saying it’s not capturing anybody’s picture, they’re just comparing the video images with the pictures that are on file with the Police Department and the employers. It’s kind a scary to think that they got that kind a technology now that they just take a picture of your face and run it through a database and they know exactly who you are as you’re walking down the street. This is not science fiction this technology is being used now, just something to think about.

Question #1: Question number one, let’s get into our lesson. In order to know what the mark is, speaking of the mark of the beast, we must first identify what that first beast is in Revelation chapter 13.

Remember there are two beasts. Now let’s quickly review, how many of you were present for our study on when was that, Sunday night? We talked about the antichrist, we talked about the beast, and we said there’s two beasts in Revelation 13; the first beast is the Papacy based in Europe, the second beast is largely Protestantism based in North America. And so we’re gonna pick on everybody and just about everybody listening fits in this picture somewhere. We need to do part two now of what we presented on Sunday.

Speaking again of the little horn power, there’s several identifying characteristics:

A) A, it says this little horn or kingdom will come up among the ten horns of the fallen Roman Empire. Well the papacy fit that description.

B) B, it would have a man as it--at its head who would speak for it, it had the eyes of a man, the mouth of a man. It fit that description, the Pope.

C) Answer C, it would pluck up or uproot three other kingdoms. When he came into power in 538, the Heruli, Vandals, and Oth--Ostrogoths were overthrown and they began an uninterrupted reign for over a thousand years.

D) Answer D, it would be diverse from the other kingdoms in that instead of being a purely secular power it was a religious secular power.

E) Answer E, it would make war with and wear out and persecute the saints. And we’ve actually shown you quotes and you know from history that John Paul II was courageous enough at the turn of the millennium to publicly apologize for those things that happened during the inquisition.

F) Answer F, it would emerge from the Pagan Roman Empire. It gained its seat from the former Roman Empire, very same headquarters right in Rome.

G) Answer G, God’s people are the saints would be given into his hand for a time, one year; a times, that’s two, total of three; half a time, three and a half years. Day in a year, a day in prophecy is a year, that’s one thousand two hundred and sixty years. And we realize that that reached to 1798.

H) It would speak great words, answer H, or blaspheme God. That means men taking the prerogatives of God and claiming to be the Vicar for Christ, or the ability to forgive sin. Biblically, by that definition was blasphemous.

Now there’s two more we did not cover we need to add because they are linked with part two which is the mark of the beast presentation. And it’s simply this, he receives a deadly wound that is healed and has a mystic number, and what’s that number? We all know, right? Six-six-six (666). You know at the football stadium, if you get seat six-six-six (666) you feel kind a weird sitting there, don’t you? And if the Department of Motor Vehicles gives you a license plate and it says six-six-six (666) we all go, “Oooh,” right? “What is that mean? That’s bad.”

And I remember at the store, I don’t know was it Wal-mart or something one day and cash register, “6 dollars and 66 cents,” and the clerk said, “Hooh, look at that, six-six-six,” I said, “Yeah, look at that,” I said, “You know what it means?” She said, “No, but it’s bad.” That’s all she knew. Everyone knows that. So we’ll talk about the number tonight and what that means. Oh, by the way, are you aware that nowhere in the Bible does it say the mark of the beast is six-six-six, it’s a number to identify the beast, it doesn’t say it is the mark. Nowhere does it say that, that’s one of those myths.

Alright, let’s talk about the deadly wound that was healed, Revelation 13, we’re talking about the beast chapter in Revelation now. “I saw one of his heads,” of this beast that we talked about, “was wounded to death and his deadly wound was healed and all the world wondered after the beast.” Well, when did the church receive this deadly wound? I think we cited for you that Berthier, the French General who was in Rome, he took the Pope prisoner, he was carried to Valence, where he died in captivity. And that was a major interruption in the rule of the papacy over Europe up to that time, that combined with the French Re--Revolution.

And here again is the quote from that in 1798 here Berthier made his entrance into Rome, abolished the Papal government and established a secular one. Now that deadly wound would be healed. See, they had autonomy as an independent nation but they lost that. And some of us are acquainted with the history of what was happening with Mussolini, Hitler, and the church. There were sort of a quiet pact that was made so that they would be allowed to regain their power again if they looked the other way when the powers, the axis powers of Italy, Japan, and Germany formed.

The Roman question, here’s a quote from “San Francisco Chronicle,” it puts it better than any other paper that we have. “The Roman question tonight was a thing of the past and the Vatican was at peace with Italy,” this is February 11th, 1929, “In affixing autographs to the memorable document healing the wound,” isn’t that interesting, the latter entreaty, “extreme cordiality was displayed on both sides.” And then here you have a picture of the signing of this document. And what this did, Mussolini and the Pope, it basically gave the Catholic Church autonomy again, it made them a separate state, an independent government again where ambassadors from around the world would once again come to them and treat them as a country and not just a religion. And I think we’ve made a pretty strong case that it is more than that.

The prophecy went on to say, “After the deadly wound is healed that all the world would wonder.” Well, from that time there in 1921--29 to the present, the visibility of the church has been greater than at any other time. Once again his deadly wound was healed and all the world wondered after the beast. It is a fact that Pope John Paul II in particular is the most recognized face in the world. And speaks eight languages, he is the most widely traveled Pope, and has stood before more people physically than any other man in history. I think not far behind is Billy Graham, did you know that? As far as live audiences, that’s something to consider.

Now I’m not saying that’s part of prophecy but it was always intriguing to me. In 1981 there was an assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II and he was in critical condition. When he recovered he said, “I have been resurrected.” One of the heads of the beast received a deadly wound, the deadly wound would heal and all the world would wonder after the beast. I’m not saying that’s a fulfillment but it sure is interesting, isn’t it?

And I think we know now that he’s visited with many world leaders. I’ve got slides I could show them to you. With him here is with the Dalai Lama, the leader of the Buddhist world, plus all the Orthodox Churches, a Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, the patriarch of the Coptic Church, and I could go on and on and on. The leaders of the world’s religions, they come to Rome and meet with him. Everybody from Yasser Arafat to the Dalai Lama, and he addresses the United Nations General Assembly for its 58th Anniversary. Would they invite any other church leader to do that? Or is it more than a church? And that’s the case we’re making, we’re not trying to be unkind.

You remember what we said, it’s not against anybody this is--let me give you a parallel in the Bible. King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Biblically, Babylon, was it a good kingdom or bad kingdom? Persecuted God’s people—right, Babylon, bad kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar, will he be in heaven? Yes, he will! If you read your Bible it--last thing he says he’s praising the God of heaven, we believe he’s gonna be in heaven. So just because you’re talking about a power or an empire does not mean you’re criticizing any of its leadership. Pope John Paul II could be in heaven, you all hearing me? I’m not talking about him. I’m not talking about any Catholics that can be in heaven. I’m talking about an institution, an organization that is unbiblical in its structure.

And it’s gonna be very interesting because I think that virtually everybody knows at the time of this broadcast the Pope’s health is failing. And whoever follows him is gonna have their hands full trying to fill what they call the shoes of the fisherman. It’s gonna be very interesting search because he has been one of the most visible, successful, intelligent popes in the 2000 year history of their church.

Now then it goes on to say the number of this organization can be identified with that mystic number six hundred threescore and six. Where else do you find that Bible number? Number seven is a number for God, the number of perfection in the Bible. The number six is the number for man. The Bible says in I Kings chapter 10 verse 14, “Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon yearly was 600 and 66 talents of gold.” That’s an interesting number to get yearly. How many would like to get that much of gold yearly? That 600 and 66 times 56 pounds of gold, that’s a lot more than Fort Knox, yearly. That’d be nice, but the number.

Solomon reigned during the zenith of Israel’s history. There was never, that was the high point, if you look at the graph on the high point of Israel’s history, Solomon was at the high point. It was a symbol for the prosperity of man, the kingdoms of the world. Jesus said, “Even Solomon and all of his glory was not arrayed like a flower.” He pointed to Solomon as the picture. Six-six-six (666) picture for the kingdoms of man.

How many of you remember in Daniel 3, now don’t miss Daniel chapter 3 because there King Nebuchadnezzar makes a golden image, tells everybody to pray to the image or they’ll be killed. Doesn’t that sound a lot like Revelation 13, whoever doesn’t worship the image of the beast should be killed, very much like Daniel chapter 3, am I right?

Have you noticed the measurements of that image? “Nebuchadnezzar, the king, made an image of gold whose height was 60 cubits,” don’t bother translating them into our measurements, you need to use the Bible measurements, the numbers mean something; “60 cubits high, 6 cubits wide.” And in Hebrew if it doesn’t give the depth it would be because it’s the same as the width. You can look at that in the building of the sanctuary, even the ark, a lot of parallel dimensions there, which means it would be 60 by 6 by 6. Now is that starting to ring true when you get to Revelation 13 and they’re told to worship or be killed?

Let’s keep going here. When do you look at the titles for the papacy and the pope, not any one pope but the popes over history, this is a quote now and I don’t speak Latin but I’ll do my best. Prompta Bibliotheca, according to the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia, is a veritable encyclopedia of religious knowledge and will ever remain a precious mine of information. This book is quoted frequently as authoritative Catholic source, under the heading “Papa,” “Vicarius Filii Dei” appears as the title of the Pope.

Now friends who are watching, you’re gonna have to order the tape and read the references cause I can’t even read them all, there’s so many tonight. But you have it there in your screen some of them are very lengthy when you get into these encyclopedias.

Again here’s a document and this is from someone who actually worked locally a number of years back, Dr. J. Quasten, Professor of Ancient History in Christian Archaeology, Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. And he said, and this is actually a notarized letter that he signed cause people doubted it, “The title ‘Vicarius Filii Dei’ as well as the title ‘Vicarius Christi’ is very common as the title of the Pope.”

And some of you have heard of Samuel Bacchiochi, he’s in England, he knew I was doing this presentation, he emailed me last night. He said, “Doug, you can also safely say that it is a very common salutation that the Pope signs at the bottom of his letters over history.” And this is coming from someone who studied at the Vatican University. So I want you to know this title “Vicarius Filii Dei” is authentic.

And of course, this some famous quotes from the “Sunday Visitor,” one from 1914, one from 1915. “The title of the Pope of Rome is “Vicarius Filii Dei,” this is inscribed in his miter.” Our Catholic friends have expunged this from their archives at the “Sunday Visitor” cause they got so many questions on it, but this is a photograph of an original copy that some people still had. And again from the “Sunday Visitor,” April 18, 1915: “What are the letters on the Pope’s crown and what do they signify if anything? Answer: The letters on the Pope’s crown are these, ‘Vicarius Filii Dei,’ which is a Latin for ‘Vicar of the Son of God.’”

Now the mystery is what crown? You know how many crowns the Pope has? Here’s three of them, beautiful aren’t they? And some of them are priceless treasures. They look a little like wedding cakes, don’t they? They--they all have triple tier, I don’t mean to be disrespectful, they are, they’re very pretty, almost wanna eat ‘em. But the--the--they’re triple-tiered and there’s a reason for that. And here’s another one that you can find in the Vatican, many, many different crowns. The triple-tiered crown there’s a reason for that, his title was Lord of Heaven, Lord of Earth, and Lord of Purgatory. That’s true, a matter of fact, when they coronate the Pope they have something that they recite in Latin that is very similar to that.

Now the Pope has got at least five or six different types of hats that he wears. He’s got the little white one, I don’t know what they call it but I’m Jewish we’d call it the yamica, and they have a different name I’m sure. They’ve got a little Italian sombrero; you may be seeing that one. They have the more cloth starched miter, they’ve got the tiaras, and then they’ve got the metal crowns. And so this title “Vicarius Filii Dei” on the crown there’s a real mystery about what crown it’s on. Nobody can get close enough to any of those bejeweled crowns, you just try to get up closer when the Pope’s wearing that with the camera and take a picture of that. I don’t know if it’s the inside or the outside so that I can’t show you, I can’t prove that, but that doesn’t matter. We’ve proven that it is one of his titles.

And what is that add up to? “Vicarius Filii Dei.” How many of you remember when you went to school and you did Roman numerals. I hated that because I--I thought why do we have to learn how to count like the Romans, but it’s coming in handy now. You know I is one, V is how many? X is okay, and you can go on down like that. When you add up the Ro--and certain words had no numerical value, certain letters. When you add that title up, what does it come to? Six-six-six (666).

Now I’ve also added a few others just to make you think that I think are interesting. Over time and number of others have done studies; you’d be surprised to know that even our Roman Catholic friends used this one because they apply it to Nero. And it’s the Lateinas--Lateinos, Greek word for the Latin speaking man, and see, they think that Nero was the antichrist, and that adds up to six-six-six. But what was the official language and what is the official language of the Roman church? Latin.

And again in Greek, the Latin kingdom, and again this was used by the church to try to point to Nero. In Greek you add up in the Greek characters there is six-six-six. Now we don’t do that much in English where we say the numerical value of Douglas, oh somebody is gonna add up my name now and send it to me. I’ve no idea, I’ve never done it before, sure hope it ain’t six-six-six, but I think it’s much more than that. Now I’m not telling you my middle name. Someone added up Ronald Reagan a few years ago and they said it was six-six-six (666). So you can do this, you can play that game with a number of things but not in this many languages. The odds start to drop.

And again, now we go to Hebrew. We’ve done Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew you’ve got Roman kingdom, Romiith, and it’s six-six-six, and also the Roman man six-six-six. Now why did I pick those three languages? Above the head of Christ when He was crucified He did not wear a triple-tiered crown that was bejeweled, did He? Jesus wore a different kind of crown, didn’t He? And above His head there was a title too, what did it say? This is the king of the Jews. Said it actually a little bit differently, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, King of the Jews, because it was in three different languages: Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.

I think the odds of those titles adding up to six-six-six in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin are pretty remote, very intriguing, if nothing else. We’ve talked a little bit about what the number represents. Let’s find out more specifically what is the seal of God? Do we all want the seal of God? How many want to be marked with the seal of God? That protects you from the wrath of God, you want that, trust me.

Question #2: What is a, what is God’s mark or symbol of authority?

Answer? Exodus chapter 31 verse 13, this is from the Bible. “Verily, my Sabbaths you shall keep: for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that you might know that I am the Lord that does sanctify you.” It’s a sign that He sanctifies. Does God only sanctify Jews? How many want to be sanctified? The Sabbath is a sign that He makes us holy. Did He make that day holy? If He can make the day holy, He can make you holy. And it is to remind us every Sabbath that He is the one that makes me holy.

That’s one thing; okay let’s look at another one, Ezekiel 20 verse 12, “I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that does sanctify them.” Again, makes them holy. And again, Ezekiel 20 verse 20, “And hollow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that you might know that I am the Lord your God.” Are Christians supposed to know the Lord?

You know one of the things Jesus said about salvation is He said, “Many will come to Me in that day saying, ‘Lord, Lord’, and I’ll say ‘I don’t know you, depart from Me you workers of iniquity.’” And again the Bible says John chapter 17, “This is eternal life that they might know Thee, the only true God.” It’s a sign that we know Him when we give Him our time. You know the Sabbath truth is a really difficult study for people. It’s a shame because God didn’t give it to you to be a burden it’s to be a blessing.

But it would be easier—it is easier, for people to give their money. Let’s face it; do people throw their money at evangelists when they promise some things? It’s easier for people to do that than to give God their time. Because when you give your money you can still live life your way. But time is what life is made of and when you give God every seventh day you say, “You are my God, this is day is yours, I’m gonna worship you today in a special way,” quality time with God. It does matter.

And again, Ephesians chapter 4 verse 30, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” So what is the first seal of God in the forehead? Holy Spirit, right? The inner seal, how many let’s see, show off your hands here, I always pause cause the studio spins the camera around when I do that. How many would agree that everybody that has the seal of God has the spirit of God, does that make sense? Sure! It’s--gonna be hard to have the seal of God and the spirit of the devil. So everyone already knows that the inner seal is the Holy Spirit. But there’s something more evident in the life. And we, I believe, are learning that that is a special commandment in the middle of God’s law that tells who you worship. It’s all about worship. Worshiping the beast, we’re learning about that, but the Sabbath’s all about worshiping God.

And again people are gonna come up to you and say, “Well, I worship God seven days a week.” That is a bogus answer cause first of all if you’re worshiping God the way God tells you to keep the Sabbath seven days a week, you’re resting seven days a week? That’s not holy, that’s lazy, right? So that’s not what it’s talking about. We all wanna worship God, we wanna think of God, and walk with God, and have God in our hearts seven days a week, amen? But we don’t keep seven days a week as the Sabbath.

So He then goes on to say in Hebrews chapter 8 verse 10, “I will put my laws in their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they will be to me a people.” The seal of God is the law, where? In the mind and in the heart. Let’s talk for a minute about what a seal is, talks about the seal of God in Revelation, we need that seal.

If you look at a government seal, it usually will have three characteristics. Here’s one from Canada, we’ve been leaving them out and I know they are tuning in. It says Elizabeth II Queen of Canada, the Province of British Columbia. It tells her name, office; her name is Elizabeth, office—Queen, territory—Canada. All the seals will have three things you find many of them in the Bible. It will say Darius: King, Medo-Persia, right? Ahasueras: King, Persia; Nebuchadnezzar: King, Babylon; Pontius Pilate: Governor, Judea, when he sealed the tomb of Christ, that was on the seal, those three characteristics are gonna be in any seal.

And you know whenever the President, since we’re here in DC we shouldn’t leave him out. He has the presidential seal, but our presidents change so frequently they don’t usually put the president’s name right on the seal, it’s often under or on the podium somewhere else. But a seal, would-- we all agree, it authenticates a document.

God’s seal is going to contain the same three things. It will have His name, His title, and His territory. Where in the sanctuary would you find the seal of God? You’d find it in the holy of holies, in where? In the Ark of the Covenant. What’s in there? The Ten Commandments. Which table? The Ten Commandments that deal with our com--relationship to God, and in the middle of that law is the law that tells who we worship.

Notice Exodus 20 verse 11, this is out of the fourth commandment on the Sabbath day, “For in six days the Lord,” that’s His name, “created the heavens and the earth and the sea.” His name: the Lord, Jehovah; Creator, that’s His office, can you get any bigger than the Creator? Where? The heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and all that in them is. That’s the seal of God in the middle of the law of God. And when we recognize that He’s the Creator, the Sabbath is a sign not only He sanctifies, not only is it a sign that we recognize Him as Lord, it’s a sign that we believe He’s the Creator, that He can recreate us.

See, every Sabbath day we’re remembering that He can create within me a new heart, cause He created the whole world. He spoke and it happened, He can speak through His word and give me a new heart. The Sabbath reminds us that He can recreate us. It’s not to be a burden, God didn’t curse the day, He blessed the day. And so many people have been missing that blessing, friends. God wants you to hear these things. So you’ve got all the elements of a seal, are where? In the Sabbath commandment.

Little amazing fact, I’m giving you two tonight cause it’s a tough subject. Do you know that seven is a perfect number, biblically? Those of you who like math will enjoy this. If you take six circles that are of equal dimension: pennies, quarters, I’d took quarters here; and you put them on a circle, the empty space in the middle will always equal the diameter of the outer circles. One of the strongest forms in nature is a beehive, which is a composition of six cones surrounding one in the middle for the seventh. And you know we live in a week and what our week is six days that really surround the holy day, don’t they? Front and back.

You know how the Jews number the day? First day to the Sabbath; second day till the Sabbath; third day till the Sabbath; that’s how they counted their days, everyday was looking forward to their time with God. We’ve kind’a lost that concept of God being the middle of our lives. You know the way we figu--fill out our planners is, “Ahh, do I have any time for God to fit in my schedule”? But for the really converted person, God is our schedule, right? He’s everything! We walk with Him, and talk with Him, and--and that’s what it means to abide in Christ.

Question #3: Number three. What does the papacy say is her symbol or mark of authority?

Now these are actual quotes from the “Convert’s Catechism,” I think this is Steven Keenan’s Convert’s Catechism. And how many of you--I remember going to Catholic school they taught you with a Catechism, it’s in a question and answer format which is a good way to teach; it’s the same way that I teach, nothing wrong with that. But if you read this, notice what it says:

Question: Which day is the Sabbath day?

Answer: (What does it say?) Saturday (this is a Catholic Cathechism) Saturday is the Sabbath day.

Bless their hearts. Next part, keep going.

Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday? (We’d like to all know that, right?)

Answer: We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, (Peter, James, Jesus?) The Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday. (Notice this) Had she not such power, she could not have done that, (and this is a continuation in the answer) had she not such power she could not have done that in which all modern religionists (I would say most) 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 of the week, a change for which there is no scriptural authority.

And again a letter from October 28, 1895, F. C. Thomas or C. F. Thomas, “Of course, the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act,” and this is interesting, “and the act is a mark,” notice that word, mark? Huh! “The act is a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters,” she will think to change times and laws.

Question #4: Question number four. Did God predict such a change in Scripture?

I know what some of you are thinking right now, “Pastor Doug, we come to this seminar, we wanna hear about prophecy and you’re making such a big deal about one of the commandments, you’d preaching doctrine.” Well let me ask you, friends, what would be more important in the Bible than one of the Ten Commandments? Of all the things in the Bible, the ones written with God’s finger I would think would get a priority, don’t you? And I would think that prophecy would deal with human attempt to alter the commandments of God and claim it’s done in His name. It is a big issue.

Matter of fact, I always wonder if you are God what more could you do to tell people how important this is to you than He has done? What evidence would you accept? I mean, He speaks it with His voice, He writes it with His finger, proclaims it from a mountaintop, puts it in prophecy, tells you you’ll be blessed, says don’t forget; remember, and then if we get irritated when He shares that with us, it’s cause He loves us and we’re missing a blessing. Did God predict such a change in Scripture? It said, Daniel 7:25, speaking of the little horn power, “He will think to change times and laws.”

Now this is an interesting quote from 1995, I’ve been giving you some older quotes from history. This is from “St. Catherine’s Catholic Church Sentinel,” May 21, 1995, “Perhaps the boldest thing, the most revolutionary change the church,” this is a Catholic document, obviously, “the most revolutionary change the church ever did happened in the first century,” it was actually later, “the holy day, the Sabbath, was changed from Saturday to Sunday, not from any direction noted in the Scriptures.” They freely admit that, I’m not criticizing them I’m using their own teachings. But from the church’s sense of its own power. “People who think that the Scripture would be the sole authority should logically become Seventh-day Adventist and keep Saturday holy.” Well, I don’t know where you stand but I think the Scripture should be our sole authority and I’m much obliged for the honesty of the individual who wrote this.

Acts 5 verse 29 the big issue in Revelation 13, will you worship the beast or will you worship God? Peter said, “We ought to obey God rather than men.” And after Peter said that, he was beaten. Would you say, “I’m gonna obey God even it means I go to the lion’s den, even if it means I go to the fiery furnace where I’m whipped as Peter was”? This is a kind of faith Christians need if they’re gonna survive the mark of the beast.

Any of you who’ve been living into illusion, you could come to a seminar like this and I’m gonna give you some little abracadabra formula just don’t let anyone tattoo your forehead and you’re safe. You’re living under illusion. If you don’t give God your heart, it doesn’t matter how much you know. Does the devil know what the mark of the beast is? Is it gonna save him? So it’s obviously a surrender to the Lord’s will, that’s what gonna make the difference.

Keep going here, not only that they think to change times and laws but just the whole origin of the Creator is under attack. US News World Report, this is from ’96, “Vatican Thinking Evolves,” it says, “Did God create mankind in His image as the Bible says or did humans evolve from animals as Darwin theorized nearly a hundred and fifty years ago”? According to Pope John Paul II, evolution maybe a better explanation; I respectfully disagree.

Matter of fact, in the Catholic Encyclopedia, it says, “We should not interpret Genesis literally.” Well see, I respectfully disagree. That’s--that’s just where we’re at. I do believe that we were created in God’s image, I don’t believe we evolved, I used to believe that, I don’t anymore, it’s not scientific, that’s the reason I don’t believe it. Ask me a question about evolution some night.

Question #5: Number five. How could anyone dare attempt to change God’s holy day?

What did Jesus say? Matthew chapter 15 verse 3, “He answered and said to them, why do you transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition”? People putting their traditions so they could follow traditions more than the commandments of God. I’ll tell you one thing that happened. Their goal was sincere. As Christianity became a nationally accepted religion in the Roman Empire, they wanted to reach more Pagans. And some in leadership said if we would make a few concessions, if we would make a few compromises with the pagans it’ll make it easier for them to come into the church. It will create--create a bridge. Let them call their statues of Jupiter, and Mercury, and Venus, let them call them, Peter, James, and Joseph and Mary, and you know they worship on the first day of the week, they worship the sun, let’s keep both days for a while, make it easier for them to transition in.

And in an effort to try and reach the pagans, they meant well but you should never compromise truth. Gradually, the Bible Sabbath was abandoned, and they fully embraced the Pagan Sabbath which was the worship of the Sun, that’s where Sunday gets its name, and it happened slowly. That’s the devil does things, he’s creeping compromises, right?

Question #6: Number six. What solemn warning has God given regarding His law, sign, or mark?

Hosea 4 verse 6, He says, “Because you have forgotten the law of your God and have hid their eyes from my,” what? “My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.” Let me ask you, friends, “What do you think, are there religious--religious leaders out there that are hiding their eyes from the Sabbath”?

I understand a dear friend of fine has spoken face to face with Billy Graham of--about this a number of years ago, who I have great deal of respect for. And Billy Graham told him, “Biblically, I know this is true, but if I was to make this an issue in my ministry, it would destroy my ministry, because it’s very controversial.” A lot of religious leaders out there know this.

Move on Ezekiel 22 verse 8, it says, “Thou has despised my holy things and profaned my Sabbaths.” And again, verse 26 of Ezekiel 22, “Her priests have violated my laws and profaned mine holy things, they have put no difference between the holy and the profane.” This is what God said have happened back then. Has history changed or it’s being repeated again?

Hosea 8 verse 12, “I have written to them of the great things in my law but they were counted as a strange thing.” And I’ve gotten that reaction before when I’d present these things they say, “Oh, you’re so different how can you be right when everybody else believes this”? Alright, I’ve got a question for you, friends, when Jesus came the first time and He told the truth, did the religious leaders of His day embrace Him? Matter of fact, you know the common question, “Well, if the religious leaders haven’t accepted Jesus, how could He be right”? That’s what some people were saying. “If He was really the Messiah then He would be endorsed. If it was the truth then everybody would accept it.”

Doesn’t the Bible actually say the opposite? “Strait is the gate, narrow is the way that leads to life and,” how many, “few there be that find it.” If you’re waiting for the truth to be popular, it’s never gonna happen, friends. The Bible has told you that. But God is speaking to you, you’re not responsible for what the whole church and the whole world does, but when God gives you light, He wants you to walk in the light that you might experience the blood of Jesus Christ cleansing you from all sin.

Malachi chapter 2 verse 8 and 9, “You have caused many to stumble at the law, you have not kept my ways but have been,” notice, “partial in the law,” what would that mean? Keeping part of it! You know what is says in Deuteronomy chapter 4, “Oh, that there was such a heart in them,” I think this is verse 29, “Oh,” when God says “oh,” translate that for me. “Oh, that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear me and keep all of my,” how many? “All of my commandments always that it might be well with them and their children.”

God wants us to be keep how many, partial? Everybody and every person in North America keeps some of God’s law, at least when they’re sleeping, right? Is God looking for people that just keeps some of God’s law? He wants us to be consistent. You know what they said to Daniel when they threw him in the lion’s den, King Darius said, “Your God who you serve continually, He will deliver you.” God wants us to be consistent, not just hearers but doers of the word.

Question #7: Question number seven. Revelation 13 verse 16 says people will receive the mark of the beast in the forehead or in the hand, what does this mean?

Let’s read it now, Revelation 13 verse 16, “And he causes all both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in the right hand or in their foreheads.” Now, I remember, there have been so many crazy ideas about what the mark of the beast is. Anyone here remember when they thought it was a computer in Brussels? They said there is a computer in Brussels they call it the beast and I guess it was, this very big computer that took up a whole city block. Do you know that all of the technology of that computer they had in Brussels can just about fit in a palm pilot or a laptop right now, it’s obsolete, that was not the beast.

And then how many remember when the bar code came out? Any of you still remember that? I’m getting old. I was living up in the cave when the barcode first came out, started appearing on pro--po--products and some of my friends said, “That’s the mark of the beast, don’t buy anything that has those.” First it was just on a few products you know, “don’t buy anything that’s has that mark, that’s the mark of the beast, they’re gonna use that to control the buying and the selling.”

All my friends that told me that have starved to death long time ago, because now it’s on all the products, right? And some folks actually thought, “Whatever you do if anyone comes after you and they want to brand you in your forehead with a bar code run, that’s the mark of the beast.” Have you heard this, these kinds of things?

All kinds of wild--then I remember that they had this thing that went around that it was the Colgate. Colgate or is it Procter and Gamble? Procter, oh, sorry hope I don’t get sued by Colgate now, Procter and Gamble. They they had this insignia and they said okay that does have kind of a, looks a little cultish to me, but they got this weird thing of stars and they said look you can draw lines between the stars and it makes six-six-six, and people said, “Don’t let your baby wear pampers, whatever you do, it’ll have the mark of the beast.” Christians, any of you remember these things? Yes, they were all circulating, that’s not the mark of the beast.

What does it mean in the hand or in the forehead in the Bible? Ecclesiastes 9 verse 10, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.” In the Bible, when it says in the hand it means in the actions, in your deeds. I’m gonna prove that to you, just park that for a second. It says, “Their works are works,” Isaiah 59 verse 6, notice, “their works are works of iniquity and the act of violence is in their hands,” in the hand and act. And in the same passage it goes on to say, “Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction in their paths.” The hand and in the forehead, now it means in the thoughts and in the actions.

Got your Bibles? Turn with me to Deuteronomy please, Deuteronomy chapter 4 chapter 6 rather, you all remember this, “Hear oh Israel, the Lord our God is one. Thou shalt love the Lord your God with all thy heart, thy mind, thy soul, thy strength.” Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 6, don’t lose your place but turn to chapter 5 of Deuteronomy. What’s in chapter 5? Ten Commandments, see it there? The repeating of the Ten Commandments, the word “Deuteronomy” means a repeating of the law.

Now you go back to chapter 6 it says, “These words I command you this day,” what words is He commanding? He’s repeating the Ten Commandments. “These words that I command you today shall be in your heart, you shall teach them diligently to your children, talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up, you’ll bind them for a sign on your hand and they will be frontlets between your eyes,” what’s that? That’s where Goliath came down, isn’t it? In the forehead, okay.

Deuteronomy 11:18, you wanna jump just a couple pages. I love hearing the rustle of your Bibles. “Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul and bind them for a sign on your hand they will be as frontlets between your eyes.”

Now you can trust me, just jot down Exodus 13:9, “It shall be a sign to you on your hand and a memorial between your eyes that the Lord’s law may be in your mouth.” Exodus 13:6, “It shall be a sign on your hand and frontlets between your eyes,” you seeing a pattern here? You noticed it never says hand, eyes, or--, never gets the order backwards, it always says hand, and then forehead, hand-forehead, hand-forehead, you get to Revelation, hand-forehead.

Now is that literally were they to tie it on their hand and on their forehead? How many of you have seen my Jewish brothers and sisters or brothers wearing these phylacteries? Little leather boxes with portions of scriptures that are strapped to their foreheads and to their hands, see them? This really wasn’t put into practice until after the Babylonian captivity because when Moses told the children of Israel these words that I command you today shall be in your heart, do you think they opened their chest and tried to stuff scriptures and--is that obviously a--an--a metaphor for in your affections, right? And when He said, in your hand that meant in your actions, in your thoughts.

Did God really intend us to strap scripture to our heads? I don’t mean to ridicule but it’s--I think it’s a beautiful tradition but that’s really not what it’s talking about. You can’t just strap the Bible to your head and strap it to your hand and suddenly be holy. That’d be easy, wouldn’t it? He wants it in the head, “Thy word I had hid in my heart.” “As a man thinketh in his heart,” that’s talking about that here, so is He; in your hand, in your actions.

So in Revelation when it talks about the seal of God in the forehead, don’t forget, everybody’s got a mark. Do you think that we’re all gonna go around with a tattoo that has the name of God in our foreheads in the last days? Or is it in your head? And by the way, if you’ve got the King James Version it doesn’t say “on” it says “in”—in your hand—actions, in your forehead. This is--this is the place where the seals are gonna be found.

Hebrews chapter 10 verse 16, “Thus sayeth the Lord I’ll put my law in their hearts and in their minds I will write them,” in their mind. Now I’m gonna make something really easy for you right now. Want me t--I tell you a secret if you wanna be in the kingdom and get the seal of God accept Jesus who is the Word into your heart, He is the Word incarnate. When you accept Jesus in your heart, if you have the law of God, you have Jesus in your heart you’ll have the law of God in your heart, cause He is the Word incarnate, He says, “I’m the rock.” The Ten Commandments is written in stone. You accept Jesus into your heart and you’ll have the seal of God. You’re gonna either have the law of God in your heart or you’re gonna have the law of the beast.

Oh, by the way, do you notice it doesn’t say the seal of God in the forehead or your hand, it just says in the forehead, why? Cause works have nothing to do with it; the hand is a symbol of works. Mark of the beast, it could be in the forehead, meaning in your worship, it could be in your hands, it could be in your works, but the seal of God only the forehead, cause it’s only through faith. It has nothing to do with the hand, you don’t work your way to heaven.

Oh, a little bit of trivia. How many of you remember Jezebel? How did Jezebel die, who knows? Bible says she painted her face and got thrown out the window. And then when they came back to bury her there was only two things left, her skull and her hands. I know that’s a little grisly, isn’t it? But it’s a symbol for the forehead and the hands of the beast. Jezebel is the--like a parallel of that woman in Revelation 17, we’ll get there later.

Question #8: Number eight. According to Isaiah 58 verse 1 and 13 and 14 what decisive message does God delivered to His people in the last days?

Answer? It says, “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgressions.” Is it ever popular for a preacher or a prophet to tell the church what they’re doing wrong? It’s a very dangerous position to be, and a lot of prophets Jesus said got killed for doing it including Christ Himself. It’s never popular but the truth is the truth is the truth, amen? Truth doesn’t need changing, we do; nothing wrong with the truth.

And it goes on and He specifies one of these messages that they’re to cry aloud about. “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my holy day,” turning away your foot means stop trampling away under foot something that’s holy, “then,” will you be miserable? No, says, “Call the Sabbath a delight then you will delight yourself in the Lord.” God says it’ll be a delight, why does He want to share the Sabbath truth with us, for to be a burden or a blessing? He didn’t curse the day; He blessed the day, as you’ve heard me say it. “You’ll delight yourself in the Lord.”

Question #9: Number nine. Here’s a big question. “So, Pastor Doug, are you telling me that people who worship on Sunday, today, is a holy day, have the mark of the beast now?

What’s my answer? No! I don’t--I’m not saying anybody has the mark of the beast now. I’ve had people quote me on TV and radio saying, “Pastor Doug says people who go to church on Sunday have the mark of the beast.” That is categorically untrue. And I’m saying it for everyone. I think that it’s going to be an issue. The issue comes when it is a forced issue and you must choose--now the Holy Spirit might work on your heart to keep the Sabbath right now and if you’re refusing to walk in the light that’s a different issue, that’s a sin-obedience issue. But a mark of the beast issue is when the beast compels people to do it by law, has that happened yet?

It goes on to say and that the way that we know it’s gonna be a determining factor, “When no man might buy or sell save he that has the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name.” Now it’s very interesting, people have often wondered—I remember when credit cards first came out they said, “That’s the mark of the beast.” And then I remember folks mocking me when I did this a few years ago because I pulled out one of my--my audience never gets more quiet than when I opened my wallet. I rarely do I have the people’s more undivided attention.

But you know the magnetic strips that they’ve got on the back of your your--you know your debit card or your credit card. By the way, these are very dangerous. Americans are greatly in debt. Karen and I pay ours off right away. If you can’t control it, cut it up, amen? Driver’s license and I was saying back then that they’re moving towards a super card which is in my quote here. Now if you listen to the news just lately, they’re talking about, they don’t call it a super card for financial purposes, now it’s called a national card for Homeland Security, a national ID card. How many of you have heard about this? It’s on the floor of the Senate, matter of fact, it may have been voted, the--the--it was being discussed a couple of weeks ago.

But they’re paving the way where everybody in the country has a card, they already have this in I think Canada, England, several countries, have a national ID card. But what they’re doing is they’re maximizing the amount of information they can put on that magnetic strip on the back of the card. And they’re developing these cards now where it will not only have your driving record; I mean driver’s license has that as soon as they plug that in with the police man. They’ll--It’ll have financial record, you can go to work, slide your card and that’s how you punch your clock. I mean one card can end up covering a lot of information.

Do we all agree that technology’s in place now, does that mean that’s the mark of the beast? No! You think so; you can give me all your credit cards. Won’t do me any good, will it? But it maybe a device that will be used to control the buying and the selling. Let’s move on here, still got a lot to cover and just a little time left.

Oh, I thought it was interesting I put it in--technology is not only affecting buying and selling, I got this picture somewhere of a computerized confessional that the Catholic Church has, isn’t that fascinating? You’d--you’d--you’d type it in, you confess, and it tells you how many Hail Mary’s, I don’t know how they do that but I’m not trying to be unkind, I mean you might type in what the specific sins are and they’ve got a list or something like that, but this is a real picture.

Question #10: Number ten. According to the book of Revelation, whom did John specifically see in God’s eternal kingdom?

Answer? Revelation 14 verse 1, “I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion and with Him a hundred and forty four thousand,” what do they have in their forehead? “Having their father’s name written in their foreheads.” Who’s gonna be in heaven? Those that have the name of God in their foreheads. Everybody in Revelation has something on their forehead, matter of fact, Babylon, chapter 17, she’s got a whole paragraph in her forehead. Do you really think there’s a woman riding on a beast with seven heads and ten horns that has a paragraph in her forehead, or is this a symbol?

So these movies and books that are being multiplied that say the mark of the beast is the tattoo six-six-six in the forehead, is that accurate, or is that dangerous misconception? Don’t underestimate your enemy. The devil is a smooth operator, he’s a bamboozler. He will get you looking this way saying, “Ahh, I’m not get anyone get a rubberstamp in my forehead, I’m watching out real careful,” and he comes up behind you and he gets you to embrace it right in front of your nose. I mean think about it, look at history.

When Jesus came the first time, God’s people with the Bible crucified Him cause they were looking for something completely different, the devil deceived them. Do you think things have changed or can he do it again? So don’t think that the most popular view is the truth, usually it’s not. The idea this rubber stamp, or barcode, and all these crazy notions is in the head, in your thoughts, and in your actions, were sealed by God one way or the other.

Revelation 15 verse 2, “And those who have gotten the victory over the beast, over his image, and over his mark.” Who’s gonna be in heaven? It says, “And over the number of his name are standing on the sea of glass having harps of God,” how many want to be on that sea of glass playing a harp? I do. Who’s gonna have that privilege? Those that get the victory over the beast, and his image, and his mark.

Friends, there are really two directions; you’ve got the law of God, the New Covenant, “I’ll write the law in their hearts, in their minds, the name of God.” With the seal of God and the law of God, the middle of His law, the Sabbath commandment is the very epitome of who you worship. Any man says I know him and keeps not His commandments he’s a liar and the truth is not in him. A lot of people out there say, Lord, Lord, and they’re not keeping His commandments. They think that some of them are optional. Do you think God goes for that?

Try telling your spouse that the seventh commandment’s optional, will he or she go for that? You think God is gonna go for telling Him that the day that we have our intimate worship with Him is optional? Or, “I’m gonna pick my own day, Lord, it doesn’t matter,” you’re not God, He picked the day. Can you bless the day? He didn’t say, “A seventh-day is a Sabbath,” He said “The seventh day is the Sabbath.” If I said to you, “Can you bring me a cell phone”? You could bring me any cell phone in the room, am I right? But if I said to you, “Can you bring me the cell phone?” what does that tell you? That tells you I’m thinking of a specific cell phone, right?

When God says, “The seventh day is the Sabbath,” that cycle has never changed. Man may have tried to mess with things but God is not, He doesn’t change, He says, “I am the Lord, I do not change.” Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever, amen? Now I’ve told you that there’s a lot of people out there that know that. I want you to bear with me as I share some of these quotes. I may not get through them all but I’ll do my best. These are quotes from religious leaders in a variety of denominations.

Here’s one from a Congregationalist, Dwight’s theology: “The Christian Sabbath, Sunday, is not in the Scriptures and was not the prim--was not by the primitive church called the Sabbath.”

Presbyterian: “Until therefore it can be shown that the whole moral law has been repealed, the Sabbath will stand. (Moral law means the Ten Commandments) The teaching of Christ confirms the perpetuity of the Sabbath. (The teachings of Christ, that’s what Presbyterian says.) T. C. Blake.

Encyclopedia, this is from “It Is Biblical Encyclopedia” “Sunday was a name given by the heathen to the first day of the week because it was the day on which they worship the Sun. The seventh day was blessed and hallowed by God Himself. He requires His creatures to keep it holy to Him. This commandment is of universal and perpetual obligation.”

Universal, not just Jews; perpetual—forever; they know this, anyone who reads the Bible knows these things. If you really study there’s no other answer.

Catholic, James Cardinal Gibbons says: “You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday, the Scriptures, (If you wanna be a Bible Christian) enforced the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we Catholics never sanctify.”

A matter of fact, I think I’ve got another quote here that I might read to you, oh yeah, I do. I think I got time to read this. This is a question that the Catholic Church has posed and this is from a book printed by Burns and Oats in London called, “Why Don’t You Keep the Sabbath Holy?” It is a challenge from the Catholics to the Protestants and here, and it’s a very appropriate challenge.

“We asked the Papacy, did you really change the Sabbath to Sunday? She replied, yes, we did. It’s a symbol or mark of our authority and power. We asked how could you even think of doing that is a pertinent question. But the question the papacy officially asks Protestants is even more pertinent, please read carefully. You will tell me that Saturday is the Jewish Sabbath but the Christians--that the Christian Sabbath has been changed to Sunday. Changed? By whom? Who has the authority to change an expressed commandment of God Almighty? When God has spoken and said, ‘Thou shalt keep holy the seventh day,’ who will dare say, ‘Nay, thou mayest work and do all manner of worldly business on the seventh day, but you should keep holy the first day in its place.’ This is a most important question which I do not know how you can answer. You’re a Protestant and you profess to go by the Bible and the Bible only and yet in such an important matter as the observance of one day in seven is a holy day, you go against the plain letter of the Bible and put another day in the place of that day the Bible has commanded. The command to keep holy the seventh day is one of the Ten Commandments. You believe the other nine are still binding, who gave you the authority to tamper with the fourth? If you’re consistent to your own principles, if you really follow the Bible and the Bible only, you ought to be able to produce some portion of the New Testament in which the fourth commandment has been expressly altered.”

A good challenge, there isn’t any. It is history’s greatest hoax as we shared with you the other day.

A quote from Methodist here, this is from Harris Franklin Rall, Christian Advocate: “Take the matter of Sunday. There are indications in the New Testament as to how the church came to keep the first day of the week as the day of worship. But there is no passage telling Christians to keep that day or to transfer the Jewish Sabbath to that day.”

Baptist, this is from Dr. Edward T. Hiscox, the author of the Baptist Manual, notice this: “There was and is a commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day but that Sabbath day was not Sunday. It will be said however in which some show of triumph that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week. Where can the record of such a transaction be found? Not in the New Testament, absolutely not. There is no scriptural evidence of the change of the Sabbath institution from the seventh to the first day of the week.”

Pentecostal, for our Pentecostal friends out there: “Why do we worship on Sunday? Doesn’t the Bible teach us that Saturday should be the Lord’s Day? Apparently, we’ll have to seek the answer from some other source than the New Testament.”

It’s not in the Bible.

Moody Bible Institute, this is a quote from Dwight Moody, I have a tremendous respect for Dwight Moody, you should read his autobiog--or his biography. “The Sabbath was binding in Eden and has been enforced ever since. This fourth commandment begins with the word remember, showing that the Sabbath already existed when God wrote the law on the tables of stone at Mount Sinai. (I agree completely) How can man claim that this one commandment has been done away with when they will admit that the other nine are still binding?

Good question.

Lutheran: “The observance of the Lord’s Day, Sunday, is founded not on any commandment of God but on the authority of the church.”

Now my question for you is, if we should all get together right now, let’s suppose that we’re a church, we’re a collection of large believers, if we wanted to vote to change one of the Ten Commandments, could we vote? Sure! Would it be binding? Is there any--do we have authority to change the law of God? Can humans by popular vote change what God has written in stone and spoken with His voice? Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not pass away.” Mortals don’t have that authority, church officials, administrations, they don’t have that authority. God’s words stands.

And you know we need to have the kind of faith--this is--this subject is so important, friends, because the same test that was faced by Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego where they had to decide are we going to obey the popular law and worship the golden image or die? They said we’d rather die than disobey that commandment that says don’t pray to idols.

Daniel had to decide am I going to obey the popular law? And you know there were a lot of other Jews in Babylon that probably were hiding but Daniel would not hide his prayers to God, he opened his window, he said “I’m not gonna hide.” And he said, “I’m willing to die and go to the lions’ den rather than disobey.” It’s gonna be the same kind of test.

Mordecai would not bow down and worship Haman and he knew that meant not only would he die but his people would be persecuted. Now that’s when it gets really tough. What if the beast power says to you, “You either break one of God’s commandments, we’re not only gonna persecute you, we’re gonna persecute your family.” And you know just about every despot who’s ever lived has found one of the most effective ways to manipulate people is to say, “I’m not only gonna hurt you, I’m gonna take it down on your family.”

How do you think Saddam Hussein stayed in power so long? He terrorized his people by saying, “You can go ahead and run away but I’ll kill your family when you’re gone, all your relatives. I’ll put them in jail, I’ll torture them.” Is your faith in God so secure, do you love His word so much that even if it meant not only would you suffer and die but those who you love might suffer and die, you would not deny your Lord, you would not willingly disobey Him?

We can’t be so wishy-washy, friends. Everybody acts like the truth of God is so--you know debatable. Some things are not debatable. The Ten Commandments are not debatable, and we need to be able to say, “Lord, you said it, I’m gonna do what you said,” and you’re safe when you obey God, amen?

What is Jesus saying to people today? Very simply, “If you love Me, if you love Me.” I had a bumper sticker years ago, “If you love Jesus, honk.” I remember that and I pulled up behind someone one time I was in a good mood, I read it, and I went “ditdit” and they turned around and gave me a ugly gesture. I think it must have been his wife’s car. But there’s--there’s something you can do to really prove you love Jesus that requires more than honking your horn, cause anyone is gonna honk their horn. I saw another bumper sticker it said, “If you love Jesus, tithe. Anyone can honk.” If you love Jesus, tithe, did you hear that? Cause you--anyone can honk their horn. If you love Jesus, obey Him.

You know Jesus died on the Cross because of our sins. Sin is the transgression of God’s law. Friends, how can we dare say it doesn’t matter? It’s our breaking His law that hurts Him so much. He said, “If you love Me, keep my commandments.”

Tonight would you like me to pray for you, you who are watching, you here, that God will help us love Him enough that we not only hearers but doers of the word, is that your prayer?

Father in heaven, thank you so much for the sacrifice of Jesus. He died in our place and suffered for all of our sins, our disobedience. Lord, some of us have been disobeying you and--and breaking this commandment regarding the Sabbath day. We’ve done it in ignorance and we pray that you’ll forgive us, Lord. Now that we know your will, I pray that we’ll be willing to do your will. Please bless us, dear Lord, give us your Spirit, be with all these people in their various struggles, and I pray you’ll continue to bring us together that we might know how we might be sealed with your name, we pray in that holy name, amen.