Three Angels, One Warning

“Three Angels, One Warning: American Confusion”

www.pmchurch.tv

□ Revelation 14:9-11—Angel #3

 “The most fearful threatening ever addressed to mortals is contained in the third angel’s message.” (The Great Controversy 449)

□  Revelation 13:11-17—Power #2

•   What power on earth sprang into existence and began its comparatively rapid growth into global dominance around the (see Matthew 13:17 for same verb)?
•   What power on earth sprang into existence from the waters, from the masses and multitudes of the great nations of the Middle Ages (compare with Revelation 17:15)?
•   What power on earth sprang into existence with those credentials and today holds sway?
•   Given the historical background as well as the time frame for its emergence, there is only one international power that fits the prophetic description of Revelation 13—late 1700s, away from Europe and the masses, growing rapidly into eventual global dominance—the .
•   “The Lord has done more for the than for any other country upon which the sun shines.” (Maranatha 193)

□  Catalysts of American Confusion

 #1—The mistaken belief that the United States is God’s chosen .

 Paul Dean: “Most American Christians believe that America has a special place in God’s heart. ‘God and Country’ are inseparable in the minds of many to the point that to be a good Christian is to be a good American and vice versa. . . . [However] we must learn to think biblically about ‘God and Country’ and the connection between the two. We must debunk the popular notions that America is a Christian nation (the is the only Christian nation according to the Scriptures); or that America is the New Israel; or that America will one day establish a Christian government and be the light of the world; or that to be a good Christian is to be a good American. . . . You can be a good Christian anywhere in the world and love your country of origin. The issue is not what country we love but whether we truly love .” (www.crosswalk.com/blogs/dr-paul-j-dean/the-shining-city-on-a-hill-americ...)

 #2—The mistaken belief that any is God’s chosen agent.

  Loren Seibold: “It has become virtually impossible to get elected as a Republican without leaning in some way toward conservative Christian values and promising governmental advocacy for the ideas that conservative Christians hold dear. I should clarify that many of these Christian values are also mine. However if were running for president today, it’s unlikely he could even be nominated by his own Republican Party. He was a member of no church, never publicly confessed a creed, and never publicly used religious beliefs to justify his policies.” (“Is God a Republican?” Signs of the Times November, 2012)

  “Jesus never placed much value on occupying an earthly throne. His kingdom, He insisted, wasn’t anywhere on this earth (John 18:36). Who ruled the nations down here was far less important to Him than that everyone understood the character and purposes of the of the universe.” (Ibid)

  “Suppose, for example, that a politician decided that everyone should worship on Sunday (an idea that has been proposed from time to time through history). That would be fine for most Christians, but it would put Jews and Seventh-day Adventists (who observe the seventh day of the week) in a situation where they’d have to choose between obeying a human law or their understanding of obeying God’s law. The politicians who give one religious group what they want may be taking from another.” (Ibid)

  “When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government . . .” (5T 451)

□ The Prayer of John Knox

“Give me America or I die!”