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The Final Controversy: Rome’s Symbolism in Adventist Prophecy and the Close of Probation
Key Takeaways
This article explores six significant historical lines within Adventist history, each marked by controversy surrounding the symbol of Rome. Employing the “line upon line” methodology of the latter rain, the article connects these past controversies to the present, illustrating that the current debate over Rome is the final prophetic controversy before the close of probation. The study highlights the importance of foundational truths represented on the 1843 pioneer chart and the consequences of rejecting the Spirit of Prophecy. As Adventism approaches the critical moment of the Sunday law, the article emphasizes the need for unity among the 144,000 and warns against the deceptions that threaten to undermine the faith of God’s people in these last days.
- Historical Overview:
- Examination of six historical lines within Adventism, all centered around controversies involving the symbol of Rome.
- The methodology of the latter rain, “line upon line,” is used to connect these historical events with current prophetic fulfillment.
- The First and Last Controversy:
- The first controversy over Rome in Adventism, as depicted on the 1843 pioneer chart, parallels the current and final controversy.
- This final controversy is seen as the last test for Adventists before the close of probation.
- Significance of Daniel 11:
- Verses 10-16 of Daniel 11 are identified as typifying the events leading up to the Sunday law in the United States.
- The history of these verses culminates in 1989 with the collapse of the Soviet Union, leading directly to the final events of probation.
- The Role of the Spirit of Prophecy:
- Rejection of the foundational truths represented on the 1843 chart is equated with a rejection of the Spirit of Prophecy.
- Ellen White’s endorsement of the 1843 chart underscores the gravity of adhering to these prophetic foundations.
- The Consequences of Rejection:
- The final deception of Satan involves undermining the authority of the Spirit of Prophecy, leading to spiritual nakedness and eventual downfall.
- Those who reject the prophetic warnings will face the same fate as the Laodiceans—being spewed out of Christ’s mouth at the Sunday law.
- Parallels with Historical Events:
- The article draws parallels between historical events, such as the disappointment of July 18, 2020, and previous prophetic fulfillments, emphasizing the repeating patterns in Adventist history.
- The refining process currently underway is seen as preparing the 144,000 for their final sealing.
- The Midnight Cry and the Loud Cry:
- The message unsealed in July 2023 is identified as the beginning of the Midnight Cry, which will swell into the Loud Cry at the Sunday law.
- The article stresses the importance of embracing this message to be among the wise virgins who are prepared for Christ’s return.
- Final Warning and Call to Action:
- The article concludes with a call for greater consecration and adherence to the foundational truths of Adventism.
- It warns that those who reject the current testing message will fall under the strong delusion prophesied by Paul in 2 Thessalonians, sealing their fate before the close of probation.
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We are considering six historical lines within the history of Adventism where controversies over the symbol of Rome was the issue. We are employing the methodology of the latter rain, which is “line upon line” from “here a little” and “there a little.” We began by identifying that the first controversy over the symbol of Rome illustrates the current controversy, and therefore emphasizes that we are now in the last controversy before probation closes.
The seriousness of this final controversy about the symbol of Rome is also represented by verses ten through sixteen of Daniel eleven, which typify the hidden history of verse forty of Daniel eleven. The history of verse forty brings the student of prophecy to 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Union as represented in verse ten. The next verse, verse forty-one, which identifies the soon-coming Sunday law in the United States, is typified by verse sixteen. Inspiration has identified that what was sealed was “the portion of the book of Daniel that related to the last days”.
1989 unto the Sunday law is the sealed portion of the last days, and it is typified in verses ten through sixteen. It is therefore the increase of knowledge that leads to the close of probation for Seventh-day Adventists, for Adventism’s probation in the United States is finished at the Sunday law. In verses ten through sixteen we find verse fourteen, which identifies that it is the “robbers” of God’s people that establish the vision.
Therefore, the Millerite controversy that is represented upon the 1843 pioneer chart is the first controversy of Rome in Adventism’s history. The fact that the very same controversy has again arrived, informs anyone who wishes to see that Jesus, as the Alpha and Omega, always illustrates the end with the beginning. The current controversy is the final controversy which sifts the wise and foolish virgins.
Sanctified prophetic logic teaches that the one hundred and forty-four thousand come into perfect unity before their close of probation at the soon-coming Sunday law. The refining fire of Malachi’s Messenger of the Covenant is now purifying the Levites as gold and silver. The Dirt Brush Man is now purging His floor with words of truth.
“‘Whose fan is in His hand, and He will throughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner.’ Matthew 3:12. This was one of the times of purging. By the words of truth, the chaff was being separated from the wheat. Because they were too vain and self-righteous to receive reproof, too world-loving to accept a life of humility, many turned away from Jesus. Many are still doing the same thing. Souls are tested today as were those disciples in the synagogue at Capernaum. When truth is brought home to the heart, they see that their lives are not in accordance with the will of God. They see the need of an entire change in themselves; but they are not willing to take up the self-denying work. Therefore they are angry when their sins are discovered. They go away offended, even as the disciples left Jesus, murmuring, ‘This is an hard saying; who can hear it?’” The Desire of Ages, 392.
The fact that the first sixteen verses are the beginning of Daniel’s last prophecy, and that those verses align with the last six verses of the chapter, indicates that the Alpha and Omega is using the verses in the beginning to accomplish the final separation of the wise and wicked, as represented by Daniel in chapter twelve, which is now occurring.
A third witness to the serious nature of the controversy is the fact that inspiration, through the writings of Sister White, clearly upholds the 1843 pioneer chart, which represents the controversy of Rome in verse fourteen. The beginning controversy represents the ending controversy, and the inspired endorsement of the Millerite understanding of verse fourteen’s “robbers of thy people,” means that if that foundational truth is rejected, it is simultaneously a rejection of the authority of the Spirit of Prophecy. In agreement with the previous two witnesses that emphasize that this controversy occurs just before probation closes is the certainty that the last, or final, deception for those who profess to uphold the Spirit of Prophecy, is a rejection of the Spirit of Prophecy.
“Satan is . . . constantly pressing in the spurious—to lead away from truth. The very last deception of Satan will be to make of none effect the testimony of the Spirit of God. ‘Where there is no vision, the people perish’ (Proverbs 29:18). Satan will work ingeniously, in different ways and through different agencies, to unsettle the confidence of God’s remnant people in the true testimony.
“There will be a hatred kindled against the Testimonies which is satanic. The workings of Satan will be to unsettle the faith of the churches in them, for this reason: Satan cannot have so clear a track to bring in his deceptions and bind up souls in his delusions if the warnings and reproofs and counsels of the Spirit of God are heeded.” Selected Messages, book 1, 48.
The making of none effect, or the rejection of the authority of the “testimony of the Spirit of God” through the writings of Ellen White, is the “very last deception of Satan.” Sister White wrote that she was “shown” that the “1843 chart was directed by the hand of the Lord, and should not be altered.” The previous passage directly associates the rejection of the authority of the Spirit of Prophecy with the vision of the last days, for all the prophets speak most directly of the last days. Therefore when Daniel says in verse fourteen that “the robbers” establish the vision, it is Solomon’s vision of Proverbs 29:18, which says that those who do not have the vision “perish,” and the word “perish” means “to be made naked”.
“Perish” is therefore identifying that those who profess to uphold the Spirit of Prophecy in the last days, but who reject the authority represented therein, become naked, and perish, which is a description of the Laodiceans, who are “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” They are counseled to buy “white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear.” If they refuse the counsel they are spewed out of the mouth of the Lord.
Thus, we find another witness that this nakedness is manifested just before probation closes. At the soon-coming Sunday law those naked souls will receive the mark of the beast, as they are overthrown, as represented in verse forty-one of Daniel eleven. The reason they will be overthrown is that they rejected the authority of the Spirit of Prophecy, which upholds the 1843 pioneer chart, which represents the foundations of Adventism, and includes the “key” which establishes the vision with the identification that Rome is the power represented as “the robbers of thy people” in verse fourteen.
“One thing is certain: those Seventh-day Adventists who take their stand under Satan’s banner will first give up their faith in the warnings and reproofs contained in the Testimonies of God’s spirit.
“The call to greater consecration and holier service is being made, and will continue to be made. Some who are now voicing Satan’s suggestions will come to their senses. There are those in important positions of trust who do not understand the truth for this time. To them the message must be given. If they receive it, Christ will accept them, and will make them workers together with him. But if they refuse to hear the message, they will take their stand under the black banner of the Prince of Darkness.
“I am instructed to say that the precious truth for this time is open more and more clearly to human minds. In a special sense men and women are to eat of Christ’s flesh and drink of his blood. There will be a development of the understanding, for the truth is capable of constant expansion. The divine originator of truth will come into closer and still closer communion with those who follow on to know him. As God’s people receive his word as the bread of heaven, they will know that his goings forth are prepared as the morning. They will receive spiritual strength, as the body receives physical strength when food is eaten.” Spalding and Magan, 305, 306.
In our last article we identified that Uriah Smith was the champion of the rebellion of 1863, for it was he who introduced the counterfeit 1863 chart. The chart he produced in 1863 removed the seven times of Leviticus twenty-six from Laodicean Adventism’s prophetic message, thus marking the beginning of the progressive tearing down of the foundations, and also the beginning of the construction of the counterfeit Laodicean Adventist foundation, which is built upon sand. Later in Advent history, his private interpretation of the king of the north, bore the fruits of his prophetic model as people fled the church.
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. Matthew 7:15–27.
The leadership of Laodicean Seventh-day Adventism was passed by in 1989, as assuredly as the leadership of the Jewish church was passed by at the birth of Christ.
“Men know it not, but the tidings fill heaven with rejoicing. With a deeper and more tender interest the holy beings from the world of light are drawn to the earth. The whole world is brighter for His presence. Above the hills of Bethlehem are gathered an innumerable throng of angels. They wait the signal to declare the glad news to the world. Had the leaders in Israel been true to their trust, they might have shared the joy of heralding the birth of Jesus. But now they are passed by.
“God declares, ‘I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground.’ ‘Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness.’ Isaiah 44:3; Psalm 112:4. To those who are seeking for light, and who accept it with gladness, the bright rays from the throne of God will shine.” The Desire of Ages, 47.
The time of the end in the line of Christ was His birth, and it was then that the message which would test that generation was unsealed. 1989 was the time of the end for the candidates who are called to be among the one hundred and forty-four thousand. Uriah Smith’s prophetic model rejected the foundational truths which are represented on the 1843 chart. Those truths were the “Rock.”
“The warning has come: Nothing is to be allowed to come in that will disturb the foundation of the faith upon which we have been building ever since the message came in 1842, 1843, and 1844. I was in this message, and ever since I have been standing before the world, true to the light that God has given us. We do not propose to take our feet off the platform on which they were placed as day by day we sought the Lord with earnest prayer, seeking for light. Do you think that I could give up the light that God has given me? It is to be as the Rock of Ages. It has been guiding me ever since it was given.” Review and Herald, April 14, 1903.
On September 11, 2001 the latter rain began to sprinkle as the winds representing Islam of the third Woe were released, and the Patriot Act marked a transition from English to Roman law prophetically announcing that the flood of the papal power had begun to flow. The final testing process for the house of Laodicean Adventism began, and “the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it”.
The message that the mighty angel announced at that time identified that all nations had drunk the wine of Babylon, and the counterfeit methodology of papal Rome and apostate Protestantism which had been progressively adopted since the rebellion of 1863, is represented by the wine (doctrine) of Babylon.
And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. Revelation 18:1–3.
At the disappointment of July 18, 2020, the testing process was over for the Laodicean Seventh-day Adventist church, and the testing process of those who were the candidates to be among the one hundred and forty-four thousand began. When Michael began to awaken those candidates in July of 2023, the message, represented as oil in the parable of Adventism was again unsealed. Whether post September 11, 2001 or post July 2023, there was an outpouring of the oil, and the message that was unsealed in July 2023, when fully developed, is the Midnight Cry message of the parable.
It begins in the testing time as the message for the wise and foolish virgins, but it swells to the loud cry message. That message arrives at the soon-coming Sunday law, and when it arrives the second voice of Revelation chapter eighteen calls God’s other flock out of Babylon.
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Revelation 18:4, 5.
The first voice of verse one through three announced the arrival of a testing time, and the sprinkling of the latter rain then began. The second voice identifies the end of that testing time, and announces the testing time for God’s other flock that is still in Babylon.
“So in the last work for the warning of the world, two distinct calls are made to the churches. The second angel’s message is, ‘Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.’ And in the loud cry of the third angel’s message a voice is heard from heaven saying, ‘Come out of her, my people.’” Review and Herald, December 6, 1892.
It is during the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that Paul’s strong delusion of Second Thessalonians is accomplished. Whether it was the testing of the Laodicean Seventh-day Adventist church that began on September 11, 2001 or the testing of the virgins who experienced the disappointment of July 18, 2020, the testing occurs during an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. That outpouring represents a testing message.
“The anointed ones standing by the Lord of the whole earth, have the position once given to Satan as covering cherub. By the holy beings surrounding his throne, the Lord keeps up a constant communication with the inhabitants of the earth. The golden oil represents the grace with which God keeps the lamps of believers supplied, that they shall not flicker and go out. Were it not that this holy oil is poured from heaven in the messages of God’s Spirit, the agencies of evil would have entire control over men.
“God is dishonored when we do not receive the communications which he sends us. Thus we refuse the golden oil which he would pour into our souls to be communicated to those in darkness. When the call shall come, ‘Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him,’ those who have not received the holy oil, who have not cherished the grace of Christ in their hearts, will find, like the foolish virgins, that they are not ready to meet their Lord. They have not, in themselves, the power to obtain the oil, and their lives are wrecked. But if God’s Holy Spirit is asked for, if we plead, as did Moses, ‘Show me thy glory,’ the love of God will be shed abroad in our hearts. Through the golden pipes, the golden oil will be communicated to us. ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts.’ By receiving the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness, God’s children shine as lights in the world.” Review and Herald, July 20, 1897.
The sealing time of the one hundred and forty-four thousand began on September 11, 2001, and it represents two testing periods. The first is the final testing of the Laodicean Seventh-day Adventist church, and the second is for those who are the subjects of the parable of the ten virgins. To be either a wise or a foolish virgin requires that all the virgins experience a tarrying time.
In Millerite history the tarrying time began with the arrival of the second angel, which occurred at the first disappointment. At that point the Protestants, who were God’s former covenant chosen people were passed by. On July 18, 2020 the former covenant chosen people were passed by, and the testing process that occurred during the tarrying time in the Millerite history began to be repeated. The message of the Midnight Cry was then developed in Millerite history, as it is currently being developed. When it fully arrived at the Exeter Camp meeting it was manifested who had the message (oil) and who did not. The former covenant chosen people of either history is the first to be tested and passed by.
“‘A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you.’ I believe with all my heart that the Spirit of God is being withdrawn from the world, and those who have had great light and opportunities and have not improved them, will be the first to be left. They have grieved away the Spirit of God. The present activity of Satan in working upon hearts, and upon churches and nations should startle every student of prophecy. The end is near. Let our churches arise. Let the converting power of God be experienced in the heart of the individual members, and then we shall see the deep moving of the Spirit of God. Mere forgiveness of sin is not the sole result of the death of Jesus. He made the infinite sacrifice not only that sin might be removed, but that human nature might be restored, rebeautified, reconstructed from its ruins, and made fit for the presence of God.” Selected Messages, book 3, 154.
In either testing period, those who rejected the message that is unsealed receive Paul’s strong delusion.
“It is a fearful thing to treat lightly the truth which has convinced our understanding and touched our hearts. We cannot with impunity reject the warnings which God in mercy sends us. A message was sent from heaven to the world in Noah’s day, and the salvation of men depended upon the manner in which they treated that message. Because they rejected the warning, the Spirit of God was withdrawn from the sinful race, and they perished in the waters of the flood. In the time of Abraham, mercy ceased to plead with the guilty inhabitants of Sodom, and all but Lot with his wife and two daughters were consumed by the fire sent down from heaven. So in the days of Christ. The Son of God declared to the unbelieving Jews of that generation, ‘Your house is left unto you desolate.’ Looking down to the last days, the same infinite power declares, concerning those who ‘received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved,’ ‘For this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.’ As they reject the teachings of His Word, God withdraws His Spirit, and leaves them to the deceptions which they love.” Early Writings, 46.
We will continue this study in the next article.
