Welcome back, I hope everybody had a good
lunch today. I know that there are
different choices, when I asked,
Mediterranean, Mexican, Gringo, lots of
choices around here. Anyway we are going
to study beginning on page 179 the third
seal. And my goal this afternoon is to
finish the third and fourth seals and
tomorrow we will dedicate probably the
first two sessions in the morning to the
fifth seal and the two sessions in the
afternoon to seal number six, and then
after that, we still have the interlude,
the sealing of 144,000 in chapter seven
and then we still have the seventh seal
plus all of the
presentations at the end, the five that
deal with the Sabbath, Sunday seal of God
mark of the beast issue. So let's have a
word of prayer and we'll begin. Father in
heaven thank you for the good rest that
we've been able to enjoy and now as we
gather once again we ask for the
guidance of your spirit, we ask that you
will help us to understand how history
is flowed and what things are moving
towards so that we can be prepared for
the great events that will soon explode
upon the world scene. Thank you, Lord, for
the promise of your presence and we
claim that promise in the name of Jesus
Amen.
All right, page 179. The third seal
represents the period when Constantine
favored the Christian church and as a
result persecution ceased and the world
entered the church. Let's read the verses
that deal with this seal, with the third
seal, Revelation 6 verses 5 and 6
we have several symbols here. When He
opened the third seal, I heard the third
living creature say, Come and see.
So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and
he who sat on it had a pair of scales in
his hand. And I heard a voice in the
midst of the four living creatures
saying, A quart of wheat for a denarius,
and three quarts of barley for a
denarius; and do not harm the oil and the
wine. So we have several symbols in this
third seal. We have first of all a horse
whose color is black, we have a rider on
the horse who has a scales in his hand
and this rider of the horse is weighing
wheat and barley, we're going to talk
about what the wheat and the barley
represent, and then also we find the
command not to hurt the oil or the wine.
Now on the next page let's take a look
at the historical context, what we've
studied so far and where we are at now.
The white horse describes the victories
of the early church according to what
we've studied. The red horse describes
the imperial persecutions by the Roman
Emperors in the early centuries of the
history of the Christian church. The
black horse, which is the third seal
represents the infiltration of the
church by the world. Now Satan in the
course of history has used two methods
to try and defeat God's people. The first
method is by trying to kill them by
persecution and we find this method from
the very beginning of human history. Cain
killed Abel and of course it wasn't Cain
by himself because 1 John chapter 3
verse 12 says that Cain was of the
wicked one,
in other words, Cain killed Abel because
Satan was in charge behind the scenes
and he influenced Cain to kill Abel.
So the first method that Satan uses from
the very beginning is to try and kill
those who are faithful. When that doesn't
work Satan changes his methodology
he says if you can't fight them join
them, because after Cain killed Abel God
brought forth another seed, Seth.
So the devil says, well I can't
continue like this, I kill one seed
and God brings another seed so I
have to use a different method. So what
he did at the time of the flood was that
he mingled the sons of God which is the
righteous with the daughters of men and
he was much more successful because the
world that undoubtedly had millions of
inhabitants only let eight peoples, were
left on earth that were faithful to God.
If God had not sent the flood the
righteousness would have been totally
uprooted from the earth. So Satan uses
two methods, persecution and infiltration.
In the second seal we have persecution
in the third seal we have infiltration.
Now in the next section, we're going to
find that the third seal, the black horse
is parallel to the third church period
the church of Pergamum. So Ephesus would
be equivalent to the first seal, that is
the apostolic church. Smyrna would be
equivalent to the red horse, the second
seal and that's the persecuted church.
And then Pergamum the third church, would
be the compromising church symbolized by
the black horse of Revelation chapter 6.
Now let's read the note at the bottom
here because it's very important.
Satan's throne was in Pergamum
that's what Revelation chapter 2:13 says.
The third seal is the transition
period between the conversion of the
emperor Constantine, and the rise of the
papacy to supremacy. So in other words
it's the hinge between the persecuted
church and the rise of the papacy in the
year 538.
Thus, Pergamum is the connecting link
between the pagan Roman Empire and Papal
Rome. During this period the restrainer
was removed
Who is the restrainer that restrains the
man of sin from openly manifesting
himself?
It is the Roman Empire. As long as the
Empire is there the papacy cannot rise
to dominion because there's already
somebody who is ruling and so during
this period the restrainer was removed
and I have here that we should study
Romans 13:1-5 so that the
papacy could fully manifest itself.
Now it's helpful for us to
realize that the third church has a
person that is mentioned in that church
and this person is an Old Testament
figure and that figure is Balaam. Now we
would have to go back to the Old
Testament to study this story to
Numbers 22 through Numbers 24. I will just
give you a very brief summary of what
happened in that time. In the Old
Testament story, this is at the top of
page 181. In the Old Testament story,
Balaam did his utmost to cursed Israel
from outside but he could not, because
there was no iniquity in Israel, they had
a proper and strong relationship with
the Lord and God protected the church.
Satan could not conquer the church from
outside or Israel from the outside so he
infiltrated it with idolatry and
fornication. Idolatrous pagan customs
came into the church as it did into
Israel through the influence of Balak
and Balaam who was doing the work for
Balak. So idolatrous pagan customs
came into the church at this
time and the church committed spiritual
fornication by linking up with the state,
that is what the Bible calls fornication
spiritually speaking and fail also into
idolatry or idol worship.
These two sins were the very ones that
Israel practiced on the borders of
Canaan and the church of the fourth
century embraced when persecution ceased.
Now I'm going to read you a passage
that's not in the syllabus, this is found
in Patriarchs and Prophets page 451
about the Old Testament story. So you see
that because Satan was not able to
eliminate Israel by actually
battling against them and destroying
them physically he said
let's just infiltrate them with
fornication and idolatry. Patriarchs and
Prophets, page 451, speaking about Balaam.
He immediately returned to the land of
Moab and laid his plans before the king,
that is before Balak. The Moabites
themselves were convinced that so long
as Israel remained true to God, He would
be their shield. The plan proposed by
Balaam was to separate them from God by
enticing them into idolatry. If they
could be led to engage in the licentious
worship of Baal and Ashtoroth, 
their omnipotent Protector would become
their enemy, and they would soon fall
prey to the fierce, warlike nations
around them. This plan was readily
accepted by the king, and Balaam himself
remained to assist in carrying it into
effect.
Balaam witnessed the success of his
diabolical scheme. So the 3rd church has
the doctrine of Balaam because that's
the period of Constantine it's a period
of the black horse when darkness comes
into the church. Now in Great Controversy
page 42, this one is not in the syllabus
as well. Ellen White is obviously drawing
on the story of Balaam to describe the
period when compromise came into the
church, this is how it reads. Because he
was not able to destroy the church by
persecution Satan therefore laid his
plans to war more successfully against
the government of God by planting his
banner in the Christian church.
Listen carefully. If the followers of
Christ could be deceived and led to
displease God, then their strength, fortitude,
and firmness would fail, and they would
fall an easy prey. Do you see the parallel?
Third church doctrine of Balaam, Balaam
could not curse Israel from outside so
he infiltrates Israel so that God takes
away His protection and as a result, the
church falls. Now let's talk about this
horse whose color is black. By the way
Jesus does not ride all these horses, the
devil is riding these horses, the red
horse, the black horse, and the yellow
horse. Because Jesus does not persecute the
church and you know Jesus does not
bring darkness into the church, Jesus
doesn't bring death into the church,
Jesus is the rider of the first horse.
Now notice the color black, this is very
interesting, we just noticed that when
the church is persecuted, the title of
the chapter is Persecution in the 
Early Centuries.
Now notice what the next
chapter is. An Era of Spiritual Darkness
and we're going to see in a few moments
that in the Bible
darkness is used synonymously with black,
are you following me? So Ellen White
is following the seals. She is first in
Acts of the Apostles speaks about the
conquests of the church, then she goes to
persecution in the early centuries
that's the second seal the red horse,
persecution; then an air of spiritual
darkness which is the black horse. 
She is commenting on the seals even
though she doesn't quote the verses so
you would never know unless you
really look beyond the references
themselves. Ellen White
underlined that the darkness grew ever
deeper because the papacy undertook a
war against the Bible. Now Jesus is the
incarnated Word of God, right?
He is the Word of God in person in other
words and where the Word is there is
light and life. The Bible identifies
light with what color? We've noticed this,
light is identified with white, we
already noticed that and here you have
the verses. The written Word of God is
also light, so Jesus is light and
the written word is light. During the
period of the white horse, God's people
proclaim the Word of God which is light
to the world, that's an era of 
white or light. God's Word is the
original light and when it
shines on God's people, they reflect the
light to others. Where the Word of God is
absent there is darkness
or blackness. So what begins to be
replaced in the times of Constantine
with what is the Word of God replaced 
in the times of Constantine?
Human traditions. And what is the
greatest of those human traditions
that's going to be the final controversy?
Sunday worship came in during that
period. So they started forsaking the
Word of God which is light, which is
white and what is the result?
darkness or black. Are you with me or not?
Now let's notice several texts where you
find darkness and black synonymous.
Isaiah 50 and verse 3 God says I clothed
the heavens with blackness, and
I makes sackcloth their covering. 
By the way sackcloth was black.
Notice Jude 12-13, speaking about those 
who are beyond the point of no return
These are spots in your love feasts,
while they feast with you without fear,
serving only themselves. They are clouds
without water, carried about by the winds;
late autumn trees without fruit, twice
dead, pulled up by the roots; raging waves
of the sea, foaming up their own shame;
wandering stars
for whom is reserved the blackness
of darkness. So the black horse
is a period of darkness. 
Why is it a period of darkness?
Because there is no light, and what is
the light? The Word of God. Are you with
me or not? Notice Proverbs 7:9 In
the twilight, in the evening, in the black
and dark night. Once again black and dark
are related to one another. Jeremiah 4:28
For this shall the earth mourn,
and the heavens above be black
because I have spoken. I have purposed
and will not relent,
nor will I turn back from it. The way of
the righteous is light, but the way
of the wicked is darkness. Notice
Proverbs 4:18 and 19
But the path of the just is as the
shining light, that shineth more and
more unto the perfect day. The way of the
wicked is as what darkness; they know not
at what they stumble. Notice this
interesting comment, powerful comment,
actually there's several here where
Ellen White also in harmony with the
Bible relates the idea of darkness and
the color black. God desires His people
to be light, the white horse. God
desires to see His people to be light
bearers to a world lying in the midnight
darkness. But if they refuse to go
forward in the light which He causes to
shine on their pathway, the light will
finally become to them darkness,
and now notice; and instead of being light
bearers to the world, they themselves
will be lost in the what in the
blackness that surrounds them. Do you see
once again the idea of darkness and
blackness together, because where there
is darkness there is no light and the
Word of God is light. So at this time
the Word of God is being supplanted
by human traditions. Here is another
statement from Ellen White Great
Controversy, page 20. The hour of hope and
pardon was fast passing; this is for the
Jewish Theocracy; the cup of God's long
deferred wrath was almost full. The cloud
that had been gathering through the ages
of apostasy and rebellion, now black with
woe, was about to burst upon the guilty
people. So what does black represent?
Apostasy and rebellion according to this.
In the Spaulding Magan collection, page 153
Once again the idea of black and
darkness are related. He calls upon his
servants to receive from the Holy Spirit
his sanctifying power that the light may
shine forth in clear, distinct rays, amid
the constantly increasing moral darkness,
which is becoming as black as
sackcloth of hair all over our world.
Creatures of the night roam and thrive
in darkness. Bats, rats, roaches, germs are
in the realm of darkness. The black horse
stands in contrast to the white horse.
During the period of the white horse
God's people radiated the light of God's
word. The black horse represents darkness
that came in from a rejection of God's
word. Where God's word is not, there is
darkness or blackness. Black represents
sin, apostasy, error, heresy and human
traditions. So far so good?
Now there's another thing that is
mentioned here in this particular seal,
not only darkness or blackness but
also bread is mentioned, more
specifically wheat and barley. By the way
those were the two grains that were used
to bake bread in Israel, so when you talk
about wheat and barley, you're talking
about making bread with the wheat and
with the barley. The barley was the
harvest at the time of Passover early in
the spring and the wheat harvest was at
the time of Pentecost, about 50
days later you had the harvest of
the wheat, they were the grains that were
used to make bread. Now let's continue
here with this in mind. Another symbol
for God's Word is bread. Man shall not
live by bread alone but by every word
that proceeds from the mouth of God.
During the third seal, there was not only
a scarcity of light in other words
darkness but also a scarcity of bread.
We are going to notice that in a
few moments, two ways of saying the same
thing. This is the reason why wheat and
barley during this period were extremely
expensive. When human traditions suppress
the Word of God the result is darkness
or blackness and the result of the
darkness is famine, pestilence which
exists in the period of the fourth horse.
In short, both light and bread symbolized
the Word of God.
Where there is no light and no bread
there is death.
Amos 8:11 and 12 which we're going to
read later, predicts the time when there
will be famine in the land. Not famine
for bread but famine for the
Word of God. Let me ask you, was the Word
of God scarce did it become scarce
during the times of Constantine and
intensify as time went on? Absolutely.
Let's notice on page 184, Revelation 6
verse 6. And I heard a voice in the midst
of the four living creatures saying, a
quart of wheat for a denarius, and three
quarts of barley for a denarius; and do
not harm the oil and the wine. Now
what we're going to notice is very very
important. The purpose of scales in the
third seal is to weigh grain, right?
Because it's grain that's mentioned.
Elsewhere in Scripture, the scale or
balance can represent
judgment,
but remember that symbols are
flexible they'd all don't always mean
the same thing. So every time that you
find the word scale in the Bible doesn't
mean judgment. Here it means that the
grains are being weighed and they're
very scarce because the Word of God is
becoming scarce. So the purpose of the
scales in the third seal was to weigh
grain. Elsewhere in Scripture, the scale
or balance can represent judgment, but
not in the third seal. Barley, the early
spring harvest and wheat the late spring
harvest were staple crops that
Israel used to make bread. These grains
were very scarce during the period of
the third horse, during the dark period.
The famine during the period of the
third horse will intensify and bring
about even worse famine and death during
the period of the fourth horse because
the fourth horse is a pale horse, it's
the horse of death, and when there is
famine there is pestilence and where
there is famine and pestilence there is
death.
Now the next paragraph, Revelation 6
verse 6 describes scarcity of bread
because the wheat and the barley were
extremely expensive. A denarius was the
daily wage of a common laborer.
Thus, a laborer was only making enough to
purchase one quart of wheat and three
quarts of barley, wow that would lead to
starvation wouldn't it? Especially if he
has a family. According to the Roman
historian Cicero who lived around that
same time, the price mentioned by John
would have been 8 to 16 times higher
than normal. So was it very expensive to
make bread? There was no scarcity of
bread. During the third seal, there was
famine for bread in the land. Barley was
a staple used to feed the very poor
and animals. It is no coincidence
that the fourth horse is pale because
the result of famine is death.
Jay A Seiss, who wrote a
commentary on Revelation, he's not a
Seventh-day Adventist it's a very very
interesting commentary, lots of good
insights, of course, lots of things that
Adventist would not agree with but
it's a good commentary that has many
insights wrote this. In ordinary times, a
denarius would buy 24 choenixes of
barley; but here a denarius will buy only
three the scanty allowance for a day's
subsistence for a slave. The arrival of
things at such a pass, accordingly argues
a severity of hard times, distress, and
want, almost beyond the power of
imagination to depict. So the Word of God
is becoming scarce, darkness, blackness is
coming into the church because the
church is no longer sharing the light,
darkness is entering the church the Word
of God is scarce, very expensive. Notice
Amos chapter 8 verses 11 and 12. Once
again
bread is related to abundance or famine.
It says there. Behold, the days are coming,
says the Lord God. And Ellen White
applies these verses incidentally to
after the close of probation when people
are going to seek the Word of God and
they're not going to find it. Behold, the
days are coming, says the Lord God, that I
will send a famine on the land, not a
famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the
Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea,
and from north to east; they shall run to
and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, and
shall not find it. So where there is a
scarcity of bread famine ensues and when
the famine intensifies the result is
death. You have a living example of that
in Venezuela right now. What about
the oil and the wine? The wine or
libation
was a symbol of the blood of Jesus and
the oil is a symbol of what of the Holy
Spirit. Ellen White makes the following
important statement. In order to secure
man to Himself and ensure his eternal
salvation, Christ left the royal courts
of heaven and came to this earth, endured
the agonies of sin and shame in man's
stead, and died to make him free. In view
of the infinite price paid for man's
redemption, how dare any professing the
name of Christ treat with indifference
one of His little ones? How carefully
should brethren and sisters in the
church guard every word and action lest
they hurt the oil and the wine! How
patiently, kindly, and affectionately
should they deal with the purchase of
the blood of Christ! To hurt God's people
is to despise what to despise the blood
of Christ and to offend 
the Holy Spirit who might be
working upon that human heart. Luke 10
verse 34, speaks about the parable of the
Good Samaritan. What were the healing
agencies in the story of the Good
Samaritan? Oil and wine. Did the Good
Samaritan treat this individual properly
the way he should using these remedies?
Did the priest do it?
No, the priest didn't do it. Did the
Levi do it? No. They mistreated. Who
were they really mistreating? They were
mistreating Christ and they were
mistreating the Holy Spirit, so it says
there. So he went to him and bandaged his
wounds, pouring on oil and wine; which are
the healing agencies and he set him on
his own animal, brought him to an inn, and
took care of him. Now notice on the next
page all of the verses that say that
whoever touches one of Christ's children
actually is touching the Lord.
Zechariah 2:8 Whoever pokes the
eye of one of God's people
is poking God's eye. I am paraphrasing
For thus says the Lord of hosts:
He sent Me after glory, to the nations
which plunder you, for he who touches you
touches the apple of His eye. Notice,
to touch one of the children of
Jesus is to touch Jesus.
Matthew 25:40 And the King
will answer to them, this is the
sheep parable, the sheep and the goats.
Assuredly, I say to you inasmuch as you
did it unto one of the least of these My
brethren, you did it to whom you did it
unto Me.
Mark 9:41. For whoever gives you a
cup of water to drink in My name, Jesus
says, because you belong to Christ,
assuredly I say to you, he will by no
means lose his reward. And of course you
all know about Saul of Tarsus, he was on
his way to Damascus. I've been to the
place where supposedly this occurred, it
was in May of 2001 just a few
months before the Twin Towers
came down. Now you can't go over there
it's a war zone, but we went to
Damascus, I didn't preach in
Syria because it's forbidden
for foreign pastors to preach in Syria
I preached in Lebanon and also in Jordan.
I went with Sarkis Calabrian, from the
Fresno Central Church and it reminded me
when I was there of this particular
episode where Saul is on the way to
persecute the Christians and suddenly a
voice comes from heaven knocks him to
the ground and says, Saul why do you
persecute me? and he is probably
wondering I'm not going up, I'm going to
Damascus, who are you that I'm persecuting?
And what was the answer?  I am
Jesus whom you are persecuting.
So to persecute a follower of Jesus is
to persecute Christ, it's to hurt the
wine the blood for which Jesus
gave for the salvation of souls 
and also it hurts the Holy Spirit
who is working upon human hearts to woo
them and bring them to Christ. Now let's
read what Ellen White has to say about
the third seal. As noted before Ellen White
described this period in the
chapter the Great Controversy, titled
An Era of Spiritual Darkness. In several
statements in the chapter, she refers to
the darkness that came into the church
after Constantine's conversion in
quotation marks to Christianity. Lets
read some of those statements.
The accession of the Roman Church to power
marked the beginning of the Dark Ages.
As her power increased, the darkness
deepened. Great Controversy, page 57
The darkness seemed to grow denser.
Great Controversy, page 60. But the noon
of the papacy was the midnight of
the world. The Holy Scriptures,
why were they in darkness? Notice.
The Holy Scriptures, which are light by
the way, were almost unknown not only to
the people but to the priests. In Great
Controversy, page 79. The world had passed
it's midnight, this is talking about John
Wycliffe who is the morning star of
the Reformation. The hours of darkness
were wearing away and in many
lands appeared tokens of the
coming dawn. Now it's significant that
Ellen White dedicates three pages on the
issue of the change of the Sabbath 
during this era of spiritual darkness
because Sunday worship
entered the church during the period
of Constantine.
1st John chapter 2 verses 8 through 11
explains that those who are in darkness
they hate their brother, so the
result of darkness is persecution.
Those who are in darkness
hate their brother. Let me ask you,
when the darkness enters the church did
the nominal church begin persecuting
those that didn't agree with the church?
Absolutely. So those that are in
darkness hate their brother and want to
kill them. The darkness of a third horse
leads those who are in darkness to want
to kill those who are in the light. The
darkness and famine of the third seal
leads to death and the grave in the
fourth which we're going to talk about
later. Now Ellen White has several
statements where she describes what
happened during this period, very
perceptive what she writes. The spirit of
compromise and conformity, with the
world that is, was restrained for a time
by the fierce persecutions. Which horse
would that be? The red horse, right before,
was restrained for a time by the fierce
persecutions which the church endured
under paganism. But as persecution ceased,
what horse would that be? It would be the
black horse, right? For  the persecution 
is the third horse but when
it ceases that is the black horse and
Christianity entered the courts and
palaces of kings,
she laid aside the humble simplicity of
Christ in His apostles for the pomp and
pride of pagan priests and rulers; and in
place, listen carefully now, and in place
of the requirements of God, where are the
requirements of God revealed?
In the Bible. She substituted
human theories and traditions and then
she refers to Constantine. The nominal
conversion of Constantine, in the early
part of the fourth century, that's a
period of the black horse, caused great
rejoicing; and the world, cloaked with the
form of righteousness, walked into the
church. Now the work of corruption
rapidly progressed. Paganism, while
appearing to be vanquished, what would
vanquish mean? Defeated, overcome, 
right? So a reference to the
first horses, the church went out
conquering and to conquer to overcome.
But now darkness comes into the church
and it says, paganism will appearing to
be vanquished, became the Conqueror.
Her spirit controlled the church. Her
doctrines, ceremonies, and superstitions
were incorporated into the faith and
worship of the professed followers of
Christ. So did Satan change his strategy
under the third seal? Yeah.
By the way the persecution
decimate the church, did the persecution
against the church make the
church smaller? Are you kidding,
the church became larger and larger, more
and more people joined the church
because they said if people are willing
to die for this then it must be
must be worth living for. These people
really believe this, if they're willing
to die for it there is something in
this, let's check it out. Ellen White
wrote in Great Controversy, page 42
Satan therefore laid his plans to war more
successfully against the government of
God by planting his banner in the
Christian church.
If the followers of Christ can be
deceived and led to displease God, then
their strength, fortitude, and firmness
would fail, and they would fall
an easy prey. Did they fall easy prey?
Yes, they most certainly did. Listen to
this statement. The great adversary now
endeavored to gain by artifice, that's
under the third seal the black horse,
what he had failed to secure by
force, that's the second horse.
Persecution ceased,
in othre words the persecution under
the red horse ceases, and in
in instead were substituted the dangerous
allurements of temporal prosperity and
worldly honor.  Which is which seal? The
seal of darkness. Idolaters were led to
receive a part of the Christian faith,
while they rejected other essential
truths. They professed to accept Jesus as
the Son of God and to believe
His death and resurrection, but they had
no conviction of sin and felt no need of
repentance or a change of heart. With
some concessions, now listen carefully to
the terminology, with some concessions
on their part they proposed
that Christians should make concessions
that all might unite, oh this was an
ecumenical age, they all may unite on the
platform of belief in Christ. Let's set
aside the doctrines and just come
together on what we have in common.
Nothing new under the sun. In the book
Christ Triumphant, this is not in your
syllabus, you might want to write it down
Christ Triumphant, page 319 Ellen White
describes the period of the persecution
of the church. In vain were Satan's
efforts to destroy the church by
violence. The great controversy in which
the disciples of Jesus yielded up their
lives did not cease when those faithful
standard-bearers fell at their post. By
defeat they conquered. God's workmen were
slain, but his work went steadily forward.
The gospel continued to spread, and the
number of its adherents to increase. 
Said a Christian, expostulating with the
heathen rulers who were urging forward
the persecution, he said; You may
torment, afflict, and vex us. Your
wickedness puts our weakness to the test,
but your cruelty is of no avail. It is
but a stronger invitation to bring
others to our persuasion. The more we are
mowed down, the more we spring up again.
The blood of Christians is seed.
Tertullian, one of the church fathers
said that. So Satan says, the more I
persecute the more they grow I gotta go
to plan B because the whole Empire is
becoming Christian, paganism is being
defeated. Here's another statement, this
is also on page 188 Great Controversy
page 43. Others were in favor of yielding
or modifying some features of their
faith and uniting with those who had
accepted a part of Christianity, does that
sound familiar?
urging that this might be the means of
their full conversion. That was a time of
deep anguish to the faithful followers
of Christ. Under a cloak of pretended
Christianity, Satan was insinuating
himself into the church, to corrupt their
faith and to turn their minds from
the word of truth which leads to
darkness. Great Controversy, page 45. But
there is no union between the Prince of
light and the prince of darkness, in
other words there's no union between
white and black, and there can be no
union between their followers. When
Christians consented to unite with those
who were but half converted from
paganism,
they entered upon a path which led
further and further from the truth.
Now I want to read you 
some statements that are not in
the syllabus. I can actually copy this
off if you want me to. These are from
authors that are not Seventh-day
Adventists
I'm going to read three of them,
one is Dave Hunt
Global Peace, pages 106 and 107. Let me
tell you something about Dave Hunt, Dave
Hunt was an evangelical. He died a few
years ago. An evangelical writer who
believed that the harlot of Revelation
chapter 17 is the papacy
but he believed that the little horn is
a future Antichrist, he believed in the
rapture of the church etc. But he
believed that the seven churches
represent seven periods, just like we do,
and he describes the third period of the
Christian church in the following way.
Global Peace, 106 and 107. So you see that
it's not only Ellen White that has seen
this in the times of Constantine, there
are other Christian writers that also
have seen that happen in the course of
Christian history. He's speaking about
Constantine and he wrote: A brilliant
military commander, Constantine also
understood that there could be no
political stability without religious
unity.
Yet to accomplish that feat would
require a union between paganism and
Christianity; how could it be
accomplished he asks. The Empire needed
an ecumenical religion that would appeal
to every citizen in
a multicultural society. So what
became the way in which
everybody could come into the church, not
what the word of God says, culture. Wow if
that doesn't sound familiar today that
culture dictates what the church should do.
You know if LGBT is accepted in
the world the church needs
to accommodate to that, if the
world says gay marriage, if
the world says that women in the church
should occupy the same position,
leadership positions as men 
we need to just go along with
culture, we need to follow. He is writing
here about this period of the Christian
church. The Empire needed an ecumenical
religion that would appeal to every
citizen in a multicultural society,
giving Christianity official
status was not enough to bring internal
peace to the Empire. Christianity had to
undergo a transformation so that pagans
could convert without giving up their
old beliefs and rituals Constantine
himself exemplified this expediency.
Isn't that a telling statement? This next
statement is from Henry Cardinal Newman
a Roman Catholic Cardinal. Catholic
church doesn't hide the idea that
many of the things that are in
the Catholic church actually come from
paganism, they don't try to hide it, they
say, wherever we go we just
baptize the heathen customs and let
people continue practicing their heathen
customs as long as they become members
of the Roman Catholic Church. They don't
try to hide that, notice what Henry Cardinal
Newman had to say. We are told
in various ways by Eusebius, 
do youk now who Eusebius was?
He was a historian of the Christian
Church that lived in the times of
Constantine, he was actually
Constantine's historian. We are told in
various ways by Eusebius, that
Constantine in order to recommend the
new religion to the heathen transferred 
into it the outward ornaments to which
they had been accustomed in their own.
In other words he says, if they
worship the sun let's just
say that they are worshipping the s o n
instead of s u n, and instead of
saying that they're supposed to keep
Sunday because they're honoring the
sun god let's just say that they're
honoring Jesus' resurrection; he continues
writing. It is not necessary to go into a
subject which the diligence of
Protestant writers has made familiar to
most of us, the use of temples and these
dedicated to particular saints. Let me
see if I have the rest of the statement
okay here it is. The use of
temples and these dedicated to
particular saints, and ornamented on
occasions with branches of trees, incense,
lamps, and candles, votive offerings on
recovery from illness, holy water, asylums,
holy days and seasons, use of calendars,
processions, blessings on the fields,
sacerdotal vestments, the tanjur, the
ring in marriage, turning east images at
the latter date, perhaps the
ecclesiastical chant are all of pagan
origin and sanctified by their adoption
into the church. That happened during the
period of Constantine and what was the
result? Darkness. 
What was a result? A scarcity of
of bread which will lead to famine and 
to death under the fourth horse.
I want to read now from Philip Schaff
great church historian, you can still get
his encyclopedia of the history of
the Christian church, this is in volume 3
page 93. But the elevation of
Christianity, this is interesting that he
would say the elevation of Christianity.
Do you know what the word Pergamum means?
The word Pergamum means elevation.
See from the valley of persecution under the
second church Smyrna, the church 
is now at the heights of prosperity.
So he states, but the elevation of
Christianity as the religion of the
state presents also an opposite aspect
to our contemplation. It involved great
risk of degeneracy to the church. The
Roman state with its laws, institutions,
and usages was still deeply rooted in
hedonism and could not be transformed by
a magical stroke. The Christianizing of
the state amounted therefore in great
measure to the paganizing and
secularizing of the church.
Once again, the Christianizing of the
state led to the paganizing and
secularizing of the church. The world
overcame the church as much as the
church overcame the world and
the temporal gain of Christianity was in
many respects canceled by spiritual loss.
The mass of the Roman Empire was
baptized only with water, not with the
spirit of the gospel and it smuggled
heathen manners and practices into the
sanctuary under a new name; the very
combination of the cross with the
military ensign by Constantine was the
most doubtful omen portending
an unhappy mixture of the temporal
and spiritual powers.
Interesting isn't it? So are you catching
a glimpse here of what's involved with
the black horse? We are following
the course of history, this is
historicism. Historicism is
simple not complicated is the best way to
interpret. The evangelical
churches they say,  you have
the rapture, then you have all of
these disasters in the seals; you're
gonna have the Antichrist riding on
a white horse, and you're gonna
have all kinds of bloodshed with the
sword, and you're gonna have
famine and they usually consider it
literal famine, and then you're gonna
have death in the grave, and then you're
gonna have the martyrs crying out
because they've been killed, all after
the rapture of the church; and preterists
they say, all of this was fulfilled way
back then during the period of the
Caesars. So none of this applies
to us today because preterists say it
all happened in the past, futurists say
it all is going to happen in the future,
so it has no significance and no meaning
for us. But when you use historicism as
the method it's beautiful because we can
see the trajectory, we can see that God
has given the entire history from the
times of apostolic times through the
persecutions of the Roman Empire,
to darkness entering the church and a
scarcity of bread leading to death and
the grave, through persecution by the
papacy, and also by a lack of the Word of
God which leads then to the martyrs to
cry out until when Oh Lord do you not
judge and avenge our blood on those who
are shedding our blood on the earth.
And then the martyrs, which is the 
group of martyrs that died during the
Roman Empire and during the period
of the papacy, they're told
no sweat, rest a little while
you got your white robe, don't worry
about it, you are okay
you are saved, you died for the
sake of the gospel, just rest a little
while until the papacy
resurrects from its deadly wound
and persecutes again
and then you have all the rest of the
martyrs and then both groups will be
rewarded. Are you with me or not? 
And then you have the signs, you have the
great earthquake and you have the sun
darkened and the moon that looks like
blood and the falling of the stars which
are announcing that the judgment is
about to begin, that it's going to set
things straight. The cases of the martyrs
are going to be looked at in the
heavenly books, that is Daniel 7.
And the cases that were decided 
wrongly on earth are now going
to be rectified in the heavenly
sanctuary, are you with me? And then you
have after that, during the period of the
sixth seal you have those signs, and then
between the signs and the last part of
the sixth seal you have the interlude,
the sealing of 144,000 right before the
last part of the sixth seal, you have
sealing of the faithful to enter the
time of trouble, to be protected in the
time of trouble; and then they go through
the time of trouble and you come all the
way to page 641 of Great Controversy and
Jesus is descending from heaven, He has
already begun His second coming 
when He's part of the way down all of
God's people who are on the earth 
they still feel unworthy they say, who shall
be able to stand, and there's an awful period
of silence in heaven. Are you with me?
And after that long period of silence
the voice is heard saying, My grace is
sufficient for you. Ellen White says
that their faces light up and the burden
is removed, and then Jesus descends from
heaven He comes the rest of the way, He is
above the earth and He says, arise arise
you who sleep in the dust of the earth;
and the dead in Christ rise first
in glorified form, the 144,000
have been glorified before that,
those of the special resurrection are
there. Then all of God's faithful
followers are caught up in the clouds to
meet the Lord in the air, and then they are
taken to heaven for a thousand years.
We're just following the order of
the book of Revelation folks. Taken to
heaven for a thousand years and there,
there will be a millennial judgment
to reveal to God's people and for 
God's people to pronounce sentence on
the wicked that stayed behind based on
what is found written in the books. And
then after the millennial judgment Jesus
returns with all the saints, the Holy City
descends after Jesus feet, Paul upon the
Mount of Olives, everything opens into a
great plain for the New Jerusalem to
rest there according to Zechariah 14
verses 4 and 5. The Holy City descends,
Jesus and the saints enter the Holy City,
the gates are closed, the wicked
resurrect, Satan goes among them saying
they're less in there than we are, we can
conquer them, we can overcome them, and
everybody gets ready for battle. Isn't this
an exciting story? This is better than
Hollywood. You know why it is better?
Because it's the truth, it's not
imaginary it's going to happen.
Many times I've wondered whether it
would be nice for some studio to do a
movie on this, but a movie based
on what the Bible and Spirit Prophecy say
not just imaginary stuff because they
add a lot of stuff that there isn't in
the story. So then all of the
wicked resurrect they prepare for battle,
when they're about ready to attack
a panoramic view shows all of them why
they were lost, and after they see the
cases of their lives they say, God is
right we're wrong. Just and true are your
ways Oh God.
And they kneel, Satan kneels, his angels
kneel before the majesty of God. For the
first time since sin came into the world
the whole universe is agreed that God is
right, sin and Satan are wrong. And only
at that moment can sin and Satan and
sinners be destroyed without any
questions remaining. And fire descends
from heaven and fire destroys the wicked,
destroys Satan and his angels and after
they burn out God is going to make a new
heavens and a new earth like existed at
the beginning where righteousness dwells
and thus the Great Controversy is ended
and the whole universe will see that God
is love. Do you know 
how the conflict series begins?
God is love. Do you know how it ends? 
God is love.
The whole universe will see that God was
right, God is justice but God is also love.
Isn't that an exciting story? We need
to make sure that we're inside the
city not outside. Don't let anything in
this world keep you from being inside.
We think that we're going to
live forever in this world and we have
all these nice things, folks that is only
to get us from point A to point B
that is only to survive until we get there;
the food that we eat, and the house
that we live in, the car that we drive,
that is only a temporary thing
that kind of bail us over until we
get there but our focus needs to be on
heaven. As the song says, turn your
eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His
wonderful face, and the things of earth
will grow strangely dim, in the light of
His glory and grace.
Some people say as I was mentioning
before that, you're so earthly minded
you're no heavenly good, and I say
that we're so heavenly minded sometimes
that we are no earthly good either.
So we have to have a balance
we have to be focused on this life 
doing the work of God
but our focus on eternal life 
in heaven with Jesus.
