- In I John 2:22, we read these words: “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ. He is anti-Christ who denies the Father and the Son.” The Holy Spirit inspired the apostle John early on, before he had penned the Book of Revelation, to reveal to us that one main criteria in identifying the end-time anti-Christ would be that this person or religious entity would deny that God has a Son. Over and over again in the Koran it is clearly and plainly stated that Allah has no son. Roman Catholicism has never made such a claim.
In Revelation 20:4, we read these words: “And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those WHO HAD BEEN BEHEADED FOR THEIR WITNESS TO JESUS AND FOR THE WORD OF GOD, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” This passage clearly tells us that one identifying characteristic of the end-time “beast” is that this religious power BEHEADS Christians – those who identify with Jesus and proclaim the Bible to be God’s Word! Roman Catholicism burnt at the stake those she deemed to be heretics.
So, in these two small verses, John informs us that the anti-Christ and the “beast” of Revelation (and Daniel) will insist that God has no son and that this religious power will use beheading as its chief instrument of executing Christians Many followers of Herbert W. Armstrong assign to him the attribute of infallibility whenever he spoke on spiritual matters. Followers of Ellen G. White do the same. If these two now long dead believers say the scriptures teach such and such a doctrine, their followers take it as gospel truth and run with it. Followers of Herbert W. Armstrong referred to him as God’s end-time apostle and believe he was the “Elijah” that was to come and restore all things shortly before Christ’s return. Followers of Ellen G. White refer to her as being God’s end-time prophetess. Therefore, since a prophet or prophetess speaks under divine inspiration, anything Ellen G. White said or wrote concerning spiritual matters had the weight of infallibility. If she said the two witnesses of Revelation 11 were the Old and New Testaments, then that was that. There can be no questioning of her interpretation. If she had said they were Ma and Pa Kettle, you can believe that some would have believed that, also. How anyone can read the first thirteen verses of Revelation 11 and then insist these two prophets are the Old and New Testaments and that those 13 verses were totally fulfilled during the French Revolution staggers my mind.- Just because someone can speak and write convincingly, with picturesque speech, language that uplifts and enthralls, speaking much undeniable plain and clear truth does NOT mean that person is infallible when speaking on spiritual matters and giving their interpretation of what they believe the scriptures teach and reveal. They can be and too often are dead wrong in some of what they say and write.
The Seventh Day Adventists believed Christ’s return was imminent in the mid-1800’s, hence the name “adventists.” Herbert W. Armstrong believed Christ’s return was imminent in the 1970’s. Ellen G. White has now been dead for just over a century. Herbert W. Armstrong has now been dead for nearly forty years. Neither of them would have ever believed that we living in the year 2015 would be living on an earth still to be visited by a returning Jesus Christ. Those who do not have the presence of mind to prove all things of a spiritual nature will find themselves automatically believing whatever they are spoon-fed by their spiritual leaders – even those long dead. God help us to keep open minds and really PROVE what we believe to be true.
Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
Donald Wiley