Hartland Summer Conference 2021: Revelation's Cosmic Conflict

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Hartland Institute of Health and Education

Norbert Restrepo

The National Reform Movement & The Mark of the Beast

I pray you are rested and ready to go into another message.

Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer.

Heavenly Father, we Thank you for the Sabbath day.

We thank you for the word we have received.

We thank you for the fellowship and all the other blessings that you have allowed us to enjoy on this special day.

As we open your word again, we ask that you will be in our midst, that you will impress our minds and our hearts, that we will rejoice in your word and your promises, and that these promises will be fulfilled in each 1 of our lives.

We pray and thank you in the name of Jesus, amen.

When you think of emotions, what comes to your mind, what is the emotion that you most like?

And what is the emotion that you most dislike?

You know, there are several emotions is the ability is, you know, we feel things.

And there are emotions, there are feelings that are meant to protect us.

And even though God created us not to live in a world of sin, there are things that we experience and feel that can be warning signs.

So, you know, if you get too close to something that is hot, you feel that sensation, which is a warning.

But not speaking about physical sensations, but more of emotional feelings.

You have sadness, you have anger, what else could we think of?

So of those emotions that you would tend to think that they're not positive, which of those do you dislike the most?

While you think about it, I'll let you know which is the 1 that I do not, that I like the least.

That is the emotion that I like the least.

Now some people are, they actually enjoy fear and they like adrenaline rush so they go and they throw themselves and they do all types of scary things and that just gives them a thrill.

I have enough thrill in my life that when I have some break time, I want to relax.

But we read a lot in scripture about fear and the way fear is conveyed in scripture in different ways.

Casper was sharing with us early on when he started his seminar, fear in Scripture is not equated, the fear of God, with a negative emotion but with a positive experience.

Remember when God told Abraham, now I know that thou fearest me and that thou hast not withheld even thy son, thy beloved son, from me." So this afternoon, as we share from God's Word, my purpose is not for us to feel fear, but the opposite, And to resonate with the words we find in Luke chapter 21, in Luke chapter 21, let's read from verse 20 through 28.

And while you look for that passage, I'm just going to see, okay, yes, this clicker is working.

Luke 21, verses 20 to 28, but when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its destruction, its desolation is near.

Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her.

For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.

But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days, for there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people, and they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led away captive unto all nations.

And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled." Now this doesn't sound like a very happy scenario, does it?

But it goes on and says, And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon and in the stars, and on the earth distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, man's heart failing them, why?

From fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth.

For the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." But notice the message given to those who love and fear God.

Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads because your redemption draws near.

And that expression, lift up Your heads, look up and lift up your heads is actually translated in other Bible versions as rejoice.

Rejoice because your redemption draws near.

The National Reform Movement and the abomination of desolation are the mark of the beast.

In Mark chapter 13 and verse 14, we read the words of Jesus, which we also find in Matthew 24, but when ye shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing where it ought not, let him that readeth understand, then let them that be in Judea flee to the mountains." The disciples asked Jesus for a sign of the end of the world, of the destruction of Jerusalem, even though they did not believe that was going to happen, but they asked Him.

And Jesus had said, when they pointed out to the marble buildings and great structures of the temple, there shall not be left here 1 stone upon the other.

So then they asked him privately, what sign shall there be of the end of the world, of this age?

And Jesus gave him this sign, the abomination of desolation.

Now we will not go into a Bible study of what that means in its second application.

It's the final application, but you all, I think you know what it is, the mark of the beast, the final test.

The first 1 was the surrounding of Jerusalem by the Roman armies, which you can see there in the slide.

White wrote the following based on a vision she had received, and I read, A great crisis awaits the people of God.

The most momentous struggle of all the ages is just before us.

Events for which for the more than 40 years we have upon the authority of the prophetic word declared to be impending are now taking place.

For 40 years we were saying, we were announcing that certain events would be happening just on the authority of God's prophetic word.

But now They are taking place before our eyes.

Already the question of an amendment to the Constitution restricting the liberty of conscience has been urged upon the legislators of the nation.

The question of enforcing Sunday observance has become 1 of national interest and importance.

So let's look at the context, the historical context when Ellen G.

We read, but are we, we know what the result of this movement will be, but are we ready for the issue?

Have we faithfully discharged the duty which God has committed to us of giving the people the warning of the danger before them?

In Testimonies to the Church, Volume 5, page 711, she said, the National Reform Movement, exercising the power of religious legislation, will, when fully developed, manifest the same intolerance and oppression that have prevailed in past ages.

Now, the National Reform Movement was a movement that was trying to bring about a lot of good reforms.

We're gonna see some of the reforms that they were advocating for.

And this movement was also advocating for what eventually led Senator Blair to present a proposal of an amendment to the Constitution that would be enforcing a Sunday law in that period.

The National Reform Movement emerged in the United States in the 1890s to correct what they perceived to be deficiencies or problems in business, government, and society.

This movement was an outgrowth of the reform movement that arose during the antebellum period in America.

So the National Reform Movement was a movement that had its roots in previous reform movements that had manifested themselves in the antebellum period, which was a period between the 1812 War and the Civil War in United States.

Now, these movements of reform centered on issues such as pacifism, anti-slavery, women's rights, abolishing capital punishment, and temperance.

And the temperance movement was quite foremost in the National Reform Movement.

You can recall reading in the Spirit of Prophecy references to the temperance movement.

Those reform movements that arose during the antebellum period in America focused on specific issues.

Temperance, abolishing imprisonment for debt, pacifism, anti-slavery, abolishing capital punishment.

Lowering, improving the prison conditions into rehabilitation centers rather than just punishment.

The humane and just treatment of Native Americans, the establishment of public institutions for the mentally ill, for the destitute, the orphans, and the blind, the establishment of public schools, the abolition of tobacco use, vegetarianism, health reform, homeopathic medicine, women's rights, and the list continues.

And as you read this list, aren't many of these things good things that we should be advocating for?

But the interesting thing is that among all these reforms, there was 1 as well that was piggybacking or was included in this package and precisely within the temperance aspect of this National Reform Movement.

A movement for a national day of rest, a Sunday law.

And it was, as we read in the very first paragraph, this became such a big issue that it became of national interest and it was brought up to the halls of Congress by Senator Blair.

Jones, a lone-soothed figure, Jones wrote the following because he recognized what was happening And the Lord used him even in the halls of Congress to speak against this proposed amendment.

So I quote him, the proposed religious amendment to the national constitution introduced into the United States Senate by Senator Blair was first introduced on May 25, 1888.

Then on May 21st, but on May 21st, the same senator had introduced a bill to promote the observance of the Lord's day as a day of religious worship.

This bill with modifications was also reintroduced by Senator Blair December 9 of 1889.

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The National Reform Movement & The Mark of the Beast

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