ATTENTION! Part 2 of this series is missing due to technical issues. The speaker recommends this message he presented elsewhere that is similar in content as the missing part: The Counterfeit Image. We apologize for the inconvenience.

GYC Conference 2024: Wherever He Goes

<p>ATTENTION! Part 2 of this series is missing due to technical issues. The speaker recommends this message he presented elsewhere that is similar in content as the missing part: <a href="https://www.audioverse.org/en/teachings/41325/02-the-counterfeit-image" target="_blank">The Counterfeit Image</a>. We apologize for the inconvenience.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

Unveiling the End Times: Religious Liberty and the Quest for Truth

Jonathon Cherne

03 The Supreme Court and the Mark of the Beast

Father in heaven, Lord, as we open up your word and as we look at the things that are taking place around us, Lord, I just ask for your spirit to lead us and guide us, Father.

And Lord, we ask for your blessing on this seminar, Lord.

We ask for your blessing on this seminar, Lord.

We ask for your blessing on all the seminars, Father, as people are going to hear your word and your messages, Father.

Lord, may our hearts be drawn closer to you, and Lord, may we come away with a closer relationship and a deeper trust and love for you.

Hold on 1 second, I have a backup clicker here.

Alright, so what is the Mark of the Beast?

Hopefully you all already have studied this, and so we're just kind of gonna give a few statements here.

This is, first 1, the observance of Sunday is the mark of the beast.

Sunday's in quotations because it actually talks about Sunday in the prior sentence and then talks about the observance of that day as the mark of the beast.

So we know from inspiration that the observance of Sunday is the mark of the beast, but it doesn't mean that people are receiving the mark of the beast now if they observe Sunday.

And that's the next quote, which says, Sunday keeping is not yet the mark of the beast, and will not be until the decree goes forth causing men to worship this idle Sabbath.

The time will come when this day will be the test, but that time has not yet come." And so the Mark of the Beast crisis is when Sunday worship is enforced.

And so what we're going to look at today is, could Sunday worship be enforced here in the United States of America?

How could that be possible with our current Constitution and its structure?

And so I also just want you to turn to 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 8.

It's talking here about God's final judgment, and it says, "...in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God, " the mark of the beast on the forehead, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And so here Paul is talking about the mark of the beast is 1 in where, you know, We know that we can receive it on our hand and on our forehead.

And 1 is not knowing God, and the other is not obeying God.

So you might know God, but you don't obey, right?

You might know the Sabbath is the right day, but because of convenience, because you want to be able or you need to be able to by yourself, you do something different than that which you know is right.

And so there will be those who are deceived in thinking Sunday is the right day to worship, and there will also be those who know it's wrong, but out of convenience or fear, persecution, do it anyways.

So let's look at the history of the Sunday Law and how it came about because I think that gives us some insight of how the Sunday Law will come about in the future.

And so Sunday worship came about because of pagan influence.

You know, there was the worship of the Sun God on Sunday, and it also mixed in with that was anti-Semitism.

The Christians did not want to be in the same basket as the Jews.

The Jews were being persecuted by Rome, by pagan Rome, and the Christians were being lumped in with them because they also kept and worshipped on the Sabbath.

And we see this fall, when you read about the 7 churches in Revelation, you see the slow progression from the church that was faithful, you know, Ephesus at the beginning, to how it starts to compromise and then it becomes corrupt, and then, you know, it's a dead church.

And so, this is why we have to make sure that we don't compromise in our faith.

And so, it was because of pagan influence and because of anti-Semitism that Christians started to worship on Sunday.

And I actually wrote a paper on this in law school.

I went abroad and studied in Tel Aviv and studied Christian, Islamic, and Jewish religions and comparative perspectives.

And at the end of the class you had to write this paper, and so I wrote it on the Sabbath and how the different religions worship on different days and how that came about.

It was a very interesting research and I encourage you all to study into that as well.

Now the shift from Sabbath worship to Sunday worship and the laws that were passed really started with Constantine.

Constantine was the first government that embraced Christianity.

And that is the first time that we saw church and state from a Christian perspective merge together.

In fact, in 2025, I thought we were there, we're not there yet, 2025 is the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea.

And the Council of Nicaea was the very first conference where all the Christian churches got together.

And at that conference, Constantine set as the emperor, the pontifist, maximus, the head of the church and the head of the state, and he decided what was the true doctrine of the church.

Next year is the 17th hundredth anniversary of that, and the Catholic Church is throwing a big anniversary party and the World Council of Churches is joining in to commemorate this great event that took place 1, 700 years ago, what they think is great.

And so Constantine made a law that, you know, mixing Sunday worship with, or sun worship, with Christian worship, and had his empire, in order to unite the empire, merge the 2, and in 8321 he said, on the venerable day of the sun, let magistrates and people residing in cities rest and let all workshops be closed." And so this was the first legislation of a Christian Sunday law was by Constantine.

It's interesting if you read about the life of Constantine, it's hard to tell whether he was Christian or not.

And if you read different biographies about him, I don't know, I see a lot of resemblance in Donald Trump, the current incoming president, and working on a sermon, Trump, the modern day Constantine, just drawing a comparison, because it was really him that united Christianity, and you're seeing Trump uniting Christianity, at least they're uniting around him, and it's very, very interesting, But that's a sermon for another time.

I have to look for that 1 on the American Christian Ministries app.

So first it was, you know, the stop working in the cities, right?

The shops need to close down on Sunday in the cities.

So if anyone here is not living in the country yet, this is a good reason maybe why we should move to the country, right?

You know, if this is the pattern, then we're better off, and we know that from inspiration, we're better off living in the country anyways.

In fact, I think there's a quote that, those who live in the country and have gardens will be eating like kings and queens, right?

So, full disclosure, my family and I, we moved out of LA during COVID and now live in Tennessee, which is where my family is, where I was born and raised.

Thought we'd do it the Ellen White method and thought, man, 3 foot hole, that's not that big, right?

Well, 3 foot hole is very big, I realize.

And My daughter, she's like 3 feet tall, and I'm thinking that's pretty short, but it's a big hole you have to dig.

But country living's great, and encourage you all to do that.

So the next, you know, there was the Council of Laodicea in 8365 where they decreed that Christians must not Judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day.

And so here they were specifically, the Catholic Church was targeting, you know, it wasn't just honoring Sunday, but now it was you can't worship on the Sabbath.

And so then in 83-86, then they got more strict.

It was all civil transactions of every kind on Sunday were strictly forbidden.

And so things were shutting down on Sunday, all things were.

What's interesting is that this first law came about because the Bishop of Rome went to Constantine and argued to him that it was discrimination.

He says it's discrimination to have the public offices, the courts, and the public, you know, accommodations open on Sunday because our church members can't use it because they need to be in church, right?

And not only that, then they can't serve as judicial officers because they're not available on Sundays, And so you need to shut down because it's discriminatory to Christians to have the government open on Sundays.

And so they use this idea of discrimination in order to bring about the Sunday law.

And we'll see some Supreme Court decisions that are turning the Constitution on its head and using discrimination in order to provide, in order to get funding for religious institutions.

And so everything, all the work had to shut down.

People couldn't go to work anymore on Sundays in 386.

Well, we might as well go to church, you know?

Hey, we have off, let's go to the Coliseum.

And so, you know, you can't, you know, the state can't legislate and make someone Christian, right?

That's something that's in their heart, that by passing a law is not going to give them the desire to be Christian.

And so the the church was a little dismayed And they said, wait a second, you know, our coffers aren't full and our pews are empty.

You know, we thought shutting things down would help.

And so they went back to the Emperor, 8425, got a law passed that all circuses and theaters must be closed on Sunday.

And so now we have all the entertainment shut down on Sunday.

Because you can't make people be religious, right?

01 The Image of the Lamb is Forming

All right, we'll go ahead and get started.

My name is Jonathan Cherney, and I am a religious liberty attorney.

I've been practicing law since 2011, and I do, now, I only do religious liberty work.

I have my own practice though handling religious liberty matters for individuals who have issues in their workplace or school, getting accommodated, or are unlawfully terminated because of their religious beliefs, whether it's keeping the Sabbath or beliefs about creation or praying at work, or I've had a client who was fired for baptizing somebody.

So it, you know, spreads the whole gamut of all different types of religious discrimination.

So if you know of anybody or you yourself are having trouble being accommodated at work, be happy to either talk to you, help you or point you in the right direction.

And the beautiful thing is that the church provides this resource to help people.

And I specifically want to thank the Pacific Union.

I do a lot of work for them and they provide funding for the cases to help Adventists and not just Adventists but also non-Adventists as well.

Because we believe that religious liberty is for all people, not just for ourselves.

And so, you know, there is that benefit that they provide also.

Also, I help run American Christian Ministries.

I don't know if you all have heard of American cassette ministries.

So my wife's grandpa started American cassette ministries back in the early 70s.

He would go to camp meetings and record our evangelists before people were recording our speakers.

And so that kind of grew into a ministry where he started mass distributing cassettes of these sermons.

So we digitized all those old sermons going back to the 70s, and now you can listen to those great messages for free on an app or on our website.

We're now American Christian Ministries, cassettes kind of went out of style, so we changed the name, but it's the same ministry.

And also we're starting to put everything on YouTube as well, just because there's so many people on that platform.

Okay, so the title this morning is The Image of Christ, and this will be similar.

Was anyone here at Michigan Camp Meeting?

Did anyone go to my five-part presentation at Michigan Camp Meeting?

Okay, it'll be similar to that, so you'll get a refresher.

My first 2 presentations will be similar to that.

Father in heaven, Lord, just hearing the message this morning, Lord, about all that you've done for us, Father, We're so grateful and so thankful, Lord.

And Lord, we want to be used by you, Lord.

We want to go wherever you lead us, Father.

And right now, Father, as we study your image, the true image, Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit lead us and guide us as we open your word.

And may it change our lives, change our hearts, Lord, and that we reflect You in Your character.

All right, So, you know, as Adventists, a lot of times, at least from what I find doing religious liberty, is that there's a lot of focus on, you know, the mark of the beast, right?

But there's not a whole lot of focus, at least that I've seen, about the image of the beast, which is the image that enforces the mark.

And so I think it's important to, you know, set up the groundwork for, you know, the mark of the beast.

We need to understand the image of the beast.

But there's another image mentioned in the Bible, and that's the image of Christ.

And we need to study the true image first and then we'll study the counterfeit image which will be the next section.

And we see these in Revelation, I don't know if you have your Bibles, but I won't have every Scripture on the screen, so if you have your Bibles you can turn with me or open it up in your phone.

But Revelation 13 obviously talks about the image of the beast.

But then right after that, in Revelation 14, John looks and beholds, he sees the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him the 144, 000.

And so we see the image of the beast and then we see the true image of the lamb and those who have his father's name written on their foreheads, those who have the character of Christ.

And so we see the counterfeit image, and then the Bible talks about the true image, the image of Christ.

And when looking through Revelation, we see that Satan has constantly been trying to counterfeit everything that God does.

And the reason why he counterfeits it is because he wants to deceive us, right?

And so he tries to counterfeit the true image of Christ in order to deceive people to follow the wrong image.

And so we want to make sure that we as faithful Christians and followers of Christ do not do not follow the the counterfeit image but that we are following the true image.

There's a quote from the Testimonies 293 and it says, well this screen isn't lined up very good, you mind adjusting that for me?

It says, Satan has ever been ambitious to counterfeit the work of Christ.

So that's been Satan's ambition, and he wants to establish his own power and claims.

He does not generally do this openly and boldly.

He is artful and comes to poor fallen man in the form of an angel of light." And so Satan's work has been to counterfeit.

In fact, we see that in Revelation chapter 12.

If you go to the prior chapter, Revelation chapter 12, verse 9, it says, So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.

He was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him.

And so Satan was cast to the earth and his modus operandi is to deceive people by counterfeiting, looking like it's the real thing but it's not the real thing, right?

That's what, in fact, the very first deception was Satan counterfeiting 1 of God's most beautiful creatures, right?

In fact, I think Ellen White says it was 1 of the, it was the most magnificent creature.

And so it looked like a serpent, but it was really the deceiver.

And Satan deceived Eve by counterfeiting the work of Christ, counterfeiting His creation.

And we saw in the Exodus, when Moses went to Pharaoh, that he did these signs and wonders with throwing the staff down, it became a serpent, and turning the water to blood that Satan's magicians, the magicians of Pharaoh counterfeited that and led Pharaoh into deception, thinking that his God was also just as powerful, if not more.

And so we see all throughout Revelation, we see a counterfeit of the true that God has set up and Satan's false counterfeit of that.

We see, you know, God the Father, and then Satan is trying to take his place.

The Bible says in Isaiah that he wants to be like the Most High, right?

He wants to be the 1 giving the law and telling, directing the angels and having the whole world bow down and worship him.

And then we see Christ, the Son, and we have the beast from the sea in Revelation 13, also we know of as the papacy.

So, you know, in my presentations, I'll be operating under the understanding that you have the understanding of Bible prophecy that the first beast is The papacy the Roman Catholic Church That's the beast from the sea and the beast from the earth is the United States of America.

And so this is kind of a prophecy 201 class, I guess you could say.

So if you don't have that understanding, We're not going to go over that in here, but I know there are many people, your pastor or someone that would be happy to study that with you, I would as well if I have time.

And so, anyways, that's kind of the foundation.

And so there's the counterfeit of Christ, we know the CBC, he ministers for 3 and a half years the Bible says and then he dies and we know that Christ's ministry was 3 and a half years and then he received a mortal wound right and then was risen again and then after Christ died he said, I must leave so that the Comforter might come, right, and so the Holy Spirit came after Christ was risen again, And we see the false prophet, also known as the beast from the earth, the United States of America, rises after the papacy receives its deadly wound.

And the Bible says that they will all 3 be thrown into the lake of fire at the end.

We also see the image of Christ, which is what we're going to be talking about, and the image of the sea beast, the counterfeit image of the Antichrist, the false Christ.

We see the seal of God and the mark of the beast, the 3 angels' message, the 3 unclean frogs, or unclean spirits as frogs, the latter rain, and then the fire that comes down from heaven in Revelation 13, Christ harvesting his people and Satan gathering the world for battle, the river of life, the river Euphrates, the great city Babylon, and also the great New Jerusalem.

And so we see this, there's a true and then there's always a counterfeit.

And so how do we know which 1 is the correct 1?

How do we know what is the true and what is the counterfeit?

What's the best way to understand what is true and what is counterfeit?

But I would have to look at a true Canadian $20 bill to know is this a true $20 Canadian bill.

And if I look at counterfeits, I'm not going to know.

04 A Counterfeit Religious Revival is Coming: Are You Ready?

Father in heaven, Lord, as we look at these interesting times that we're living in, Father, and some of the things that are happening in this nation and around us, Lord, we ask that you give us wisdom, Lord, that you give us just clear minds, Lord, clear understanding.

Father, we want to be faithful to you through all the trials and tribulations of this world, Father, Lord, and we ask your blessing on this meeting, on all the meetings that are starting now, Father, that our hearts and minds are drawn closer to you, we pray in Jesus' name.

So we're going to talk about a counterfeit religious revival is coming.

Did you guys know a counterfeit religious revival is coming?

And we see this in the Bible and in the writings of Ellen White, this understanding that a counterfeit Christian revival is coming.

Ellen White says that before the final visitation of God's judgments upon the earth, there will be among the people of the Lord such a revival of primitive godliness as has not been witnessed since apostolic times.

And we looked at that quote in our very first session yesterday on the image of Christ.

Please don't just listen to the stuff about the image of the beast and all that, we need to focus first and have an understanding on the image of Christ.

And so I encourage you to go back and listen to that if you haven't.

But she says that before the final visitation, there will be this revival of primitive godliness among God's people.

It says, the Spirit and power of God will be poured out upon his children.

At that time, many will separate themselves from those churches in which the love of this world has supplanted love for God and his word." And she talks about a time when people will come out of the apostate Protestant churches and will come and unite with the true church, the Seventh Day Adventist Church, and in spirit and in truth.

And there will be this great revival that will happen.

But the quote goes on, the quote goes on, this great Christian revival is coming, but it's after a counterfeit revival happens first.

It says, "...the enemy of souls desires to hinder this work, and before the time for such a movement shall come, He will endeavor to prevent it by introducing a counterfeit." So before this great religious revival, this true revival where people are pouring in to the Adventist Church because they understand the truth of our message, she says Satan will seek to counterfeit this, and how does he counterfeit it?

By introducing, or he will, he seeks to hinder it by counterfeiting it, by introducing a false Christian revival.

In those churches which he can bring under his deceptive power, he will make it appear that God's special blessing is poured out.

There will be manifest what is thought to be a great religious interest.

Yes, a counterfeit Christian revival is coming.

In fact, the Bible says that Satan will even appear as an angel of light.

Now if it's a counterfeit it means that it looks like the real thing, right?

It means that it looks like the real thing.

Revelation talks about this counterfeit Christian revival.

Turn with me in your Bibles to Revelation chapter 13.

It's talking about the beast arising from the earth that we know is the United States of America.

Verse 13, it says, and he performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men." Now when you think of fire coming down from heaven, what does that make you think of?

The people all gave their hearts back to the Lord, right?

They killed the prophets of Baal and there was a great religious revival.

It's Adam and Gomorrah, hey, there you go.

Yes, there was that pillar of fire that led the people by day.

Yes, Acts chapter 2, the tongues of fire that came down, right?

Sorry, the pillar of fire led it by night.

And so when we see fire coming from heaven, it's a sign that God is working, right?

Whether it's a work of judgment or a work of repentance, bringing his people back to him.

And we saw that in Acts chapter 2, where the Holy Spirit was poured out and it was manifested as tongues of fire and this fire came down from heaven and then the people heard the sermon of Peter and the Bible says they were cut to the heart, right?

And 3, 000 people gave their hearts and joined the message.

And so this fire coming down from heaven is a symbol of God at work.

And there will be a counterfeit, a counterfeit outpouring of the Holy Spirit, where people, Christianity, believes that God is working in the beasts from the earth in the United States of America.

Back to Menu

Series

Unveiling the End Times: Religious Liberty and the Quest for Truth

04 A Counterfeit Religious Revival is Coming: Are You Ready?

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Parts

03 The Supreme Court and the Mark of the Beast

56m

01 The Image of the Lamb is Forming

48m

04 A Counterfeit Religious Revival is Coming: Are You Ready?

52m

05 Vaccines and Religious Liberty: Are they Connected?

1h 4m

Sound Doctrine