The Beast Numbered “666” and His Mark Who is the beast? What is his mark? Is it a physical mark? How do you find his number? Millions of people are asking these questions, and, God helping me, I shall endeavor to show from the Bible the answers. First of all, let me say that the ONLY REASON we present this subject at all is that it is SO IMPORTANT IN THE SIGHT OF GOD. God’s Word goes all out in condemning this apostate power. Not only does God condemn it, but He threatens the greatest reprisals against those who worship the beast and receive his mark. In Revelation 14, we read: “And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the lamb.” (Rev. 14:9, 10). There will be no mercy for those who refuse allegiance to God. And we continue in verse 11: “And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.”. God does not want us to suffer these things, and so He has clearly revealed the truth about the beast and his mark. I want to make it clear that it is God who CONDEMNS the beast and his work. It is not for me to judge or condemn any system. The wrath of God spoken of here, that is to be poured out upon those who worship the beast and receive his mark, is the seven last plagues. In addition to these terrible judgments of God, the worshippers of the beast will also suffer the fires of hell. Truly, it is important for us to know who the beast is, in order to avoid these judgments. The Bible says: “A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.” (Prov. 22:3). All who want an understanding of this matter will know the truth and the truth will make them free. Those who wish to remain ignorant will have to suffer the consequences. The Lord will not consider that anyone has the mark of the beast unless that individual has an opportunity to know. God tells us in His Word: “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.” (Acts 17:30). I want to say here that no man, woman, or child has the mark of the beast at this time. The mark of the beast will not be received UNTIL IT IS ENFORCED BY LAW, and that is yet in the future. `Now let us turn to the 13th chapter of Revelation and read the first ten verses where it describes the beast: “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of BLASPHEMY. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the DRAGON GAVE HIM HIS POWER, AND HIS SEAT, AND GREAT AUTHORITY. “And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his DEADLY WOUND WAS HEALED: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him? “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and BLASPHEMIES; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in BLASPHEMY AGAINST GOD, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. “And it was given unto him to MAKE WAR WITH THE SAINTS, and to overcome them; and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear. “He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.”. What are the outstanding characteristics of the beast as described in this reading? The first important point is that “THE DRAGON GAVE HIM HIS POWER AND HIS SEAT AND GREAT AUTHORITY.”. So if we find out who the dragon is, then we will know who the beast is. Next it tells us that “THE BEAST WAS WOUNDED TO DEATH”, and that the “DEADLY WOUND WAS HEALED”. Also: “ALL THE WORLD WONDERED AFTER THE BEAST”. We are told also that “THERE WAS GIVEN UNTO HIM A MOUTH SPEAKING GREAT THINGS AND BLASPHEMIES”. In other words, he blasphemed the God of heaven. Then it says that the beast would rule supreme for “FORTY AND TWO MONTHS”. In bible prophecy a day is equivalent to a year. For in Eze. 4:6, it says: “I have appointed thee each day for a year.”. FORTY-TWO MONTHS WOULD BE 1260 LITERAL YEARS. The prophecy also reveals that during his reign of power, he was to make war with the saints, and that he was to have power over all kindreds and tongues and nations. The beast was to be a world-wide power, with practically the entire world worshipping him. I wish to point out right here that beasts in Bible prophecy represent kingdoms. A lion is the symbol of Great Britain today, and a bear represents Russia today. An eagle is the symbol of the United States of America. The Bible uses beasts in several instances to represent kingdoms. (See Dan. 7). Now, let us take up the various points that describe the beast in Rev. 13:1-10. The first clue that is given regarding the beast is that the DRAGON gave him his POWER, HIS SEAT, AND GREAT AUTHORITY. Who is the Dragon? Turn back one chapter to Rev. 12:4: “. . . and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.”. This woman in Bible prophecy represents the church. The child here mentioned represents Jesus Christ. According to this prophecy, the dragon was going to attempt to destroy this man child as soon as he was born. Satan was very unhappy to know that Jesus was soon to be born as the world’s Redeemer, so he endeavored to have Jesus destroyed as a babe in Bethlehem. “And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.” (Rev. 12:5). There was only ONE CHILD who was ever born in this world who has been caught up to the throne of God, and who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron. That child was Christ. Do you know what power tried to destroy Christ at the time of His birth? It was none other than the PAGAN ROMAN EMPIRE. Herod, who was a Roman ruler, decreed that all the male infants in Bethlehem, up to the age of two, should be slaughtered. He had heard that the Christ Child was born, and for fear that Christ would become a mighty ruler, and throw off the Roman yoke of bondage, he was determined to rid the world of Christ as soon as He was born. God warned Joseph in a dream of this attempt on the life of the Child, and Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt with the Child. Thus His life was spared. Pagan Rome ruled the world at the time Jesus was born. It was the ONLY POWER that could do such a thing as the Bible prophecies. There is no doubt that ROME is the dragon power symbolized in Revelation. In the 12th chapter and the 9th verse, it says: “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: He was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him.”. But Satan never works in the open. He always works behind the scenes, and operates through earthly powers. In this case he was operating through PAGAN ROME, in an attempt to destroy the Christ Child. Did Pagan Rome turn over its SEAT OF GOVERNMENT and its POWER AND GREAT AUTHORITY to another organization? We are told that the beast received his seat of government and power, and great authority from the dragon. Pagan Rome’s SEAT OF AUTHORITY was the City of Rome itself. This city was turned over to the BISHOP OF ROME (Pope) by the Emperor (Constantine) of Pagan Rome. In the Vatican City there is a large painting, perhaps 75 feet long, depicting Sylvester I, who was at that time the Bishop of Rome, receiving a little figure, a statue of a warrior. Constantine is passing this figure of a warrior into the hands of the Pope just as he is getting ready to leave Rome, and underneath the picture is this inscription: “The donation of Rome from Constantine to the Pope”. When the Roman emperor, Constantine, moved his headquarters from Rome to Constantinople, he turned over the City of Rome to the Papal Church. Here is a statement to this effect by Labanca, a professor of history in the University of Rome. He says: “To the succession of the Caesars came the succession of the Pontiffs in Rome. When Constantine left Rome, he gave his seat to the Pontiff.”. Notice this statement in Stanley’s History, p. 40: “The Popes filled the place of the vacant Emperors at Rome, inheriting their power, prestige, and titles from Paganism . . . Constantine left all to the Bishop of Rome . . . The Papacy is but the ghost of the deceased Roman Empire, sitting, crowned on its grave.”. Numerous statements could be quoted to the effect that the Pagan Roman Empire, the dragon power, turned over its seat of government and authority to the papal Church, but one more should suffice. “Meekly stepping to the throne of Caesar, the VICAR OF CHRIST took up the scepter to which the emperors and kings of Europe were to bow in reverence through so many ages.” Father J. P. Conroy, in the American Catholic Quarterly Review, April 1911. If we had no further facts, this would be sufficient to prove that the Papacy is the beast power; for the dragon, or Pagan Rome, donated its seat of authority to none other than the Papal Church, and the Papacy ruled as a mighty power in the world for centuries. Not only did Constantine donate the capital city of the Roman Empire to the Papacy, but he also gave power to the church and great authority. He poured money into their coffers and empowered the church with the support of his mighty army. A second point mentioned in the prophecy that reveals to us who the beast is, is found in Rev. 13:3: “And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death, and his deadly wound was healed; and all the world wondered after the beast.”. The Encyclopedia Americana says: “In 1798 he (Napoleon’s General Berthier) . . . made his entrance into Rome, abolished the Papal government and established a secular one.” At the Emperor Napoleon’s command, Berthier entered Rome and took the Pope prisoner and returned with him to France; and also brought a wagon-train filled with books and other valuables from the Vatican City. The Pontiff died in France, and with his death all of Europe believed that the papacy had died. Napoleon would not permit a new Pontiff to be designated. It was several years before another Pope was elected. The following statement supports this fact: “Berthier entered Rome on February 10, 1798, and proclaimed a republic . . . Half of Europe thought that Napoleon’s veto would be obeyed and that with the Pope the papacy was DEAD.”. The fact that the Papacy received its deadly wound in 1798 was not purely coincidental. Napoleon could have sent his general in 1797 or 1799, but there is a reason why the Papacy received its deadly wound in 1798. The prophecy of Revelation tells us that the beast power would rule supreme for 42 months or 1260 years. The Papal Church attained to supreme authority in the year A.D. 538. In that year the last of the opposition against the church was squelched. From this year, 538 A.D. to the year 1798 A.D., is exactly 1260 years, and this is the number of years that prophecy allows for the Papacy to rule supreme in the world. If Napoleon had sent his general in 1797, then the prophecy would not have been fulfilled. It strengthens our faith in the reliability of God’s Word when we see how precisely these events take place. It is an amazing fact that Bible prophecy goes into great detail in connection with world events, and the Lord stakes His reputation upon the reliability of these prophecies and their fulfillment. The prophecy of the deadly wound does not end here. It says that the deadly wound would heal. In the month of February, 1929, Mussolini and other leaders of his government, sat down with the dignitaries of the Papal Church in Rome and signed a Concordat, a document giving the Papal Church complete independence once more. While the Papacy functioned after it received its deadly wound in 1798, it did not have independence until Mussolini gave it such in 1929. It is interesting to note that the Associated Press used the language of the Bible in reporting this outstanding event. It was given as follows in the San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 12, 1929: “MUSSOLINI AND GASPARRI SIGN HISTORIC ROMAN PACT. Rome, Feb. 11 -- The Roman question tonight was a thing of the past and the Vatican was at peace with Italy . . . in affixing the autographs to the memorable document, healing the wound which has festered since 1870, extreme cordiality was displayed on both sides.”. Mar. 9, 1929, Pope Pius XI said: “The peoples of the entire world are with us.”. Prophecy in respect to the beast tells us that when this wound is healed, all the world will wonder, or marvel, after the beast. Since the year 1929, the Papacy has again become a world power. Practically every nation under the sun is represented at Vatican City. Today the papacy is coming back. Much could be said about the tremendous power that the Papacy wields in the earth today. In all parts of the world, in every field of endeavor, the influence of the Roman Church can be felt. Bishop James H. Ryan, of Omaha, says: “In few periods of history have the popes exercised a larger influence . . . An interesting phenomenon when one recalls the LOW POLITICAL EBB to which the papacy had sunk at the middle of the last century.” New York Times, May 12, 1940. Papal propaganda has been winning and subtle in America. By tracts, advertisements, sermons, radio, and television hours, charities, secret orders, lobbyists, and their schools, it is appealing to high and low. From statesmen and professional people to the oppressed classes, it is gaining its adherents by the thousands, from Senator Wagner and Claire Luce to an Ex-communist editor. Totalitarian in religion, professing love for all mankind, posing as foot washer of the world, SHE SITS A QUEEN. In the same paper, New York Times, May 12, 1940, Bishop James H. Ryan also says: “With the election of Pius XII now behind us, and the memory of the almost UNIVERSAL APPROBATION it received still fresh in the public mind, the PLACE OF THE PAPACY IN WORLD AFFAIRS seems to stand out in bolder relief than at almost any other epoch of its long existence.”. Catholicism is in the vast ascendancy today. It dominates the screen, the stage, the microphone, the press, the labor unions, and many legislative halls. Let me make it clear right here that there are many honest-hearted people who belong to the Papal Church. Be it far from me to seek to arouse prejudice or bigotry toward them. Many of them are serving God to the best of their knowledge. We love them even as God loves them. It is the SYSTEM and what it has done that God condemns in His Word. Another outstanding proof of who the beast is, is given in the statement in Rev. 13:7: “. . . and power was given him over ALL KINDREDS AND TONGUES AND NATIONS.”. During this literal 1260 year period, the world was plunged into what is known in history as the “Dark Ages”. During this time the Papacy reigned supreme, the Bible was suppressed, the kings of the nations bowed in humble submission to the Pontiff’s commands. There was not a ruler who dared defy his power for fear of excommunication. When a king was excommunicated by the Pontiff, his subjects would no longer recognize him as their king; so he might just as well abdicate. No king was considered properly crowned unless the Pontiff placed the crown upon his head. Henry IV, King of Germany, was excommunicated because he did not please the Pontiff, so he came and stood barefoot in the rain and snow for four days at the gate of the Pope’s castle until the Pontiff agreed to let him in and pardon him for his SO-CALLED mistakes. Francis I, of France fell into disfavor and had to come crawling to the Pontiff, doing penance, in order to be re-established in good favor. King John, of England, also fell into disfavor and was excommunicated. He came on bended knee and lay naked on the marble floor for a day and a night, doing penance, before the Pontiff relented and pardoned him. Kings and rulers alike bowed at the feet of the Pope in humble submission to his will. In Rev. 13:5, 6, it tells us: “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and BLASPHEMIES . . . and he opened his mouth in BLASPHEMY AGAINST GOD, TO BLASPHEME HIS NAME . . .”. The Bible gives us two outstanding things that are called blasphemy: (1) When a man claims the office and title of God on earth. (2) When a man claims to forgive sins. There is only one man in this world who claims to be God, and who claims to have the power to forgive men’s sins; and that man is the head of the Church of Rome. Martin Luther says: “Let the great day of God come and destroy the DEVIL’S NEST AT ROME. There sits the man of whom Paul said he shall act as God: the man of sin and the son of perdition.” Erland, Augs., pp. 274-360. The beast is not any single pope, but the succession of pontiffs. They all make the same boastful claims of being God and having such unusual powers. Let us read some of these boastful claims. Ferraris says: “The Pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that HE IS NOT A MERE MAN, but as it were God, and Vicar of God. . . he is likewise the divine monarch and supreme emperor, and king of kings, . . . so that if it were possible the angels might err in the faith, or might think contrary to the faith, they could be judged and excommunicated by the Pope.” Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Dictionary, Article on the Pope. Notice that the claim is made that the Pontiff is God and that he can even excommunicate the angels of God! Here is a statement by Bellarmine: “All names which in the Scriptures are applied to Christ, by virtue of which it is established that he is over the church, all of the same names are applied to the Pope.” On the Authority of Councils, Vol. 2, p. 266. Here we are told that all the names that apply to Christ also apply to the Pope. God calls such claims blasphemy. But this is not all. Here is another statement: “The Pope is not only the representative of Jesus Christ, but he is Jesus Christ Himself, hidden under veil of flesh.” The Catholic National, July, 1895. And Pope Leo XIII said: “We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty.”. These are truly blasphemous statements. In John 10:33, it says: “The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because thou, being a man, makest thyself God.”. Now Jesus had the right to call Himself God because He is God; but no man of this earth has that right. Anyone who makes such a claim is blaspheming God. Do the Papal leaders claim to have the power to forgive sins? We all recognize that the confession of sins to the leaders of the church is one of the outstanding tenets of this faith. But when Jesus healed the paralytic and said: “Thy sins be forgiven thee”, the Jewish leaders said: “. . . Who is this that speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”. In The Catholic Priest, by Michael Muller, we quote: “There is a man on earth that can forgive sins and that man is the Catholic Priest.”. The Bible tells us there is only one Mediator between God and man, and that is Jesus Christ. But in The Pilot, May 29, 1915, it says: “The Priest stands as a mediator between God and man.”. It is clear from the facts presented that the Papal church CLAIMS TO BE GOD, and CLAIMS TO FORGIVE SINS. These two things are called blasphemy in the Bible. With BLASPHEMY stamped all over the Papacy, it is branded at once as the beast power. Paul describes the Beast power thus: “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come (speaking of the day of the Lord) except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped: so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” (2 Thess. 2:3, 4). Another prophecy of revelation 13, pinpoints who the beast is with even greater certainty: “And it was given unto him to MAKE WAR WITH THE SAINTS . . .”. He would make war with the saints, lead them into captivity, and kill them with the sword. Consider the Dark Ages. Literally millions of Christians were tortured in the Inquisition and slain for their faith in God and their refusal to deviate from what the Bible teaches. Was the Papal Church the power here represented as persecuting the saints? The reformers believed that it was. Prelate Johann Conrad Bengel said, in the latter part of the 17th century: “The beast here described is the papacy . . . Ever since the time of the Waldenses this has been confirmed by the blood of so many witnesses for the truth; it has also been sustained at great cost by the Reformations.” Erklarte Offenb. Joh., Stuttgart, pp. 423, 438. Most of the accounts of the Inquisition and the terrible persecutions of the Dark Ages have been censored out of the books that are in print today. The Papal Church has done a good job of wiping out the record of its evil deeds. Millions of Christians have recognized the papacy as a false, apostate system. The Huguenots, Waldenses, and many others were practically destroyed by the Papal Church because they were true to God. It wasn’t until God raised up Martin Luther and other reformers to rebel against this system that it was finally stopped. Do you think that Martin Luther knew who the beast was? Ah, yes, he knew. It is strange that Protestantism today has forgotten about the work of the Papacy during the Dark Ages. The Protestant voice of protest against this system has died. But does the Catholic Church admit to the charge of persecution and slaughter? Here is a statement made in a Roman Catholic magazine regarding the night when they endeavored to slaughter all of the Huguenots in Paris in one bold stroke: “Catholics say only 30,000 were slain; Protestants put the number at 70,000. We prefer the latter figure. If there were 70,000 Huguenots in Paris the night of the massacre, so much the more justification for the slaughter.” The Western Watchman, Nov. 21, 1912. The Papal church is responsible for the slaughter of more lives than any dictator or tyrant who ever lived in the history of this world -- killed by the church in the name of God! From the same Roman Catholic magazine we quote: “We have heard ring out many times the very bells that called the Catholics together on that fatal night. They always sounded sweetly in our ears.”. Notice that they boast of the slaughter. Just think of it! Though we condemn Adolph Hitler, and rightly so, for his terrible concentration camp slaughters, Adolph Hitler by comparison did nothing like this. The facts are clear. There is only one organization that fits the description of the beast power. That power has been in existence for centuries. Not just one point is true in the prophecy, but every point. God has not left us any shade of doubt. The beast is not any one man but a succession of men ruling over a system that claims to represent God on earth, and yet has done every despicable thing that could be imagined against God and His people. Now, with the evidence that has been presented so far from God’s word, let me ask: Can there be any doubt who the beast is? There has never been any power that has succeeded Pagan Rome and founded its government upon the seat of Pagan Rome, and has ruthlessly slaughtered millions of Christians, claimed to be God on earth, to forgive sin, and claimed infallibility -- EXCEPT THE CHURCH OF ROME. Although we have presented enough evidence to make it clear, we will present another very conclusive bit of evidence that puts the finger unquestionably on the Papacy as the beast. The following striking statement is made in Rev. 13:18: “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man: and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.”. We are told here that the number of the beast is 666. God has even put a number on him so that we may know who he is. On the Pope’s coronation day, a triple crown or mitre is placed upon his brow. Notice this statement from a Catholic publication: “The letters inscribed in the Pope’s mitre are these: ‘Vicarius Filii Dei’, which is the Latin for Vicar of the Son of God.” Our Sunday Visitor, April 18, 1915. In 1439 the Council of Florence decreed: “We define, that the Roman Pontiff is Successor of Blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles and TRUE VICAR OF CHRIST.” Labbe & Cossart’s History of the Councils, Vol. 13, p. 526. Now that we have found the official title, we must find his number in this title by some well recognized method of mathematical computation. Dr. Albert Barnes, the great Presbyterian commentator says: “The plain meaning is that the number 666 would be so connected with his name, or with that which would properly designate him, that it could be determined who was meant by finding that number in his name or in his proper designation . . . in some well understood method of computation.” NOTES, Explanatory and Practical, on Rev. 13:18. The most acceptable and best understood method of computation is that of Roman numerals. It is a world-wide standard of numerical value. The following shows how the 666 is derived on this basis Now you can see when this is added up that the number of the beast is in his title, and it is exactly 666. This reveals in a positive way that the Papal Power of Rome is the beast power of Bible prophecy. Next we want to discover what the mark of the beast is. The best way to do this is to ask the beast. Let him tell us what his mark is. Here is a statement made in answer to a letter to Cardinal Gibbons: “Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change (from Sabbath to Sunday) was her act . . . and the act is a MARK of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters.” C. F. Thomas, Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons, Oct. 28, 1895. Here the Catholics plainly reveal what their MARK is. We must plainly admit that this is the mark of the beast. “The Catholic Church for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant changed the day from Saturday to Sunday . . . The Christian Sabbath (Sunday) is therefore to this day the ACKNOWLEDGED OFFSPRING OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH . . . without a word of remonstrance from the Protestant world.” The Catholic Mirror, Sept. 23, 1893, p. 29. Rev. Stephen Keenan, a Catholic Priest, says: “Question: Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept? Answer: Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her -- she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, A CHANGE FOR WHICH THERE IS NO SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITY.” Doctrinal Catechism, p. 174. Father Enright says: “It was the holy Catholic Church that changed the day of rest from Saturday to Sunday, the first day of the week, and it not only compelled all to keep Sunday, but at the Council of Laodicea, A.D. 364, anathematized those who keep the Sabbath and urged all persons to labor on the seventh day, under pain of anathema.”. The Papal Church not only has made changes in God’s law, and in the important teachings of God’s Word, but it boasts of it, and says that it is an indication or MARK of its great authority. The Papal church admits that it holds tradition above the Bible. I quote: “TRADITION, NOT SCRIPTURE, is the rock on which the church of Jesus Christ is built.” Catholic Doctrine as Defined by the Council of Trent, Rev. A. Nampon, 1869, p. 157. When the Protestant Reformation was at its height of strength, and the reformers were crying, “The Bible and the Bible only”, the Church of Rome had to decide whether or not it would return to the teachings of the Bible or go all out for tradition. Another Catholic writer says: “Finally, at the last opening on the 18th of January, 1562 (Council of Trent), their last scruple was set aside; the Archbishop of Reggio made a speech in which he openly declared that TRADITION STOOD ABOVE SCRIPTURE.” Canon in Tradition, by Dr. J. H. Holtzmann, p. 263. The acceptance of tradition above the Bible immediately brands this system in God’s sight as the Anti-Christ. No longer could God or man have confidence in a church whose foundation was built on the sands of tradition. Should we, will we, accept tradition above the Bible? May we say as the apostle Peter once said: “. . . We ought to obey God rather than man.” (Acts 5:29). Jesus said in Matt. 15:3: “Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?”. Oh, that God would give us the courage of the brave martyrs who refused to accept the traditions of the church. They preferred to die rather than forsake the truth of God. Anyone who accepts tradition in the place of the Bible is like the foolish man who built his house on the sand. “We read of Christians bound to chairs of red hot irons . . . of bodies torn limb from limb or sprinkled with hot lead, of mingled vinegar and salt poured over flesh bleeding from the rack, of tortures prolonged and varied . . . for the love of their Divine Master, for the cause they believed to be true. Men, women, and even girls endured these things without flinching, when one word would have freed them from their sufferings.” Lecky’s History of European Morals, Chap. 3. Are you willing to be true to God’s cause as were these faithful martyrs? Consider if it is too hard to serve Christ today. At the close of the Civil War, to lend prestige and influence to the Louisiana State Lottery Association, the promoters desired the name of a truly worthy man of influence to head their organization as president. Accordingly, they approached Gen. Robert E. Lee, offering him $10,000 for the use of his name. But knowing that the lottery business was not honorable, he would not consent, much as he needed the money. So, removing his worn and faded army hat, he said: “Gentlemen, this old faded hat and this worn and soiled military uniform and MY CHARACTER are all that I possess since the war, but they are not for sale. Good day, Gentlemen.”. Would we, for a consideration, sell our hope of eternal life? Would we sell God short in the matter of obedience to His truth? Or, would we remain true to His Word, the Holy Bible?
Posted on: Mon, 10 Jun 2013 01:21:19 +0000
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