Rome Establishes the Vision - Number Ten

The final controversy I wish to bring together with the other historical arguments over the symbol of Rome within Advent history is the book of Joel. That controversy took place after September 11, 2001, and without considering the circumstances of that period a few subtle points might very well be missed. To place those circumstances into context requires a consideration of the Millerite history. On August 11, 1840 the time prophecy of Revelation chapter nine, verse fifteen was fulfilled.

The verse identifies the “hour, and a day, and a month, and a year,” as equating to three hundred ninety-one years and fifteen days. The four angels represented when Islam rose to power and brought warfare against Rome, beginning on July 27, 1449. The starting point was determined by employing the ending point of another time prophecy of one hundred and fifty years. The first time prophecy of one hundred and fifty years was set forth in the history of the first woe, which is also the fifth trumpet of Revelation chapter nine. When the one-hundred-and-fifty-year prophecy concluded on July 27, 1449, the time prophecy we are now considering began, and three hundred and ninety-one years and fifteen days later the prophecy ended on August 11, 1840.

William Miller had understood the powers of Revelation nine to represent Islam, and prior to the date of August 11, 1840, a Millerite named Josiah Litch set forth a prediction based upon the prophecy identifying that in 1840, the Ottoman Supremacy would cease. Ten days before August 11, 1840, Litch fine-tuned and updated his prediction to identify not simply the year the prophecy would be fulfilled, but the very year, day and month. Sister White comments on the effect of Litch’s prediction upon the religious world of the Millerites when the event was fulfilled.

Her endorsement of this event has through the years been attacked repeatedly through a variety of ways by Laodicean Seventh-day Adventists. As with the seven times and “the daily”, to attack this truth is to rejected the foundations as represented upon the two sacred tables, and also the authority of the Spirit of Prophecy. The reason Satan has worked to destroy confidence in this history is multifaceted.

Litch’s prediction employed “the principles of prophetic interpretation adopted by Miller.” Miller was given insight to the element of prophetic time, and any who doubt that Miller’s message was based upon prophetic time, only needs to review the 1843 and 1850 pioneer charts to confirm that this was true. Before August 11, 1840, those opposing Miller’s prediction of the return of Christ would argue that prophetic time could not be employed to understand when Christ would return. They often used the Bible’s statement about not knowing the day nor hour, to resist his message and work.

In spite of this passage the Millerites found too much biblical evidence to support their predictions and carried on and operated upon a principle later identified by Sister White.

When Litch’s prediction was fulfilled men “of learning and position united with Miller, both in preaching and in publishing his views, and from 1840 to 1844 the work rapidly extended.” Miller’s message was empowered when his rules of prophetic interpretation were confirmed as valid rules. In response to the fulfillment of the time prophecy, not only was Miller’s rule confirmed, and many then joined the Millerite movement, but just as prophetically significant was that it was the primary rule of Miller’s rules that had been confirmed. Also, the fact that the confirmation was accomplished by the application of a prophecy of the second of three woes, which are also the fifth, sixth and seventh trumpet.

The empowerment of Miller’s message became one of the most significant waymarks of the Millerite reform movement. It had been typified by Jesus’ baptism. It marked that the final testing process of the former covenant people (the Protestants) had begun. It became the focus of Satan’s attack against the overall Millerite movement and message.

On September 11, 2001 the third woe arrived into prophetic history. The event confirmed the primary rule of prophetic interpretation adopted by the movement of the third angel that began in 1989. The first truth opened up to the messenger of that reform movement was opened up in 1989, and it was not the last six verses of Daniel eleven. It was the truth that all the reform movements run parallel to each other and are to be brought together line upon line in order to identify the characteristics of the movement of the one hundred and forty-four thousand which is the movement of the third angel. The first public presentation I ever gave was at a camp meeting in 1994, or perhaps 1995. The presentation was not on the last six verses of Daniel eleven, it was on the reform lines running parallel to each other.

When the prophecy of Islam of the third woe was fulfilled on September 11, 2001, it paralleled August 11, 1840. In 1840 a prophecy of the first and second woes confirmed the message of the Millerites, and on September 11, 2001 a prophecy of the third woe confirmed the message of Future for America. The recognition of that fact brought a multitude into the movement, where it had previously been primarily one individual. The message of the movement and the messenger then became under attack, just as the history of 1840 had become the focus of satanic attack through the decades that followed.

Those who joined the movement of Future for America adopted the rules of prophetic interpretation assembled by the messenger of that history. One of those rules, perhaps the most significant of those rules was and is a triple application of prophecy. The messenger had come to understand that certain prophetic truths were illustrated upon three specific fulfillments. Believing that the Millerite history was repeated in the history of the one hundred and forty-four thousand it was seen that August 11, 1840 typified September 11, 2001, and that the other sacred reform lines also possessed that very same waymark.

The evidence of the repetition of every sacred reform line in the line of the third angel was then opened up by the Lion of the tribe of Judah. It was seen that just as the Millerite history fulfilled the parable of the ten virgins to the very letter, so too did the history of Future for America.

The seven thunders of Revelation ten were recognized to identify that the experience of the Millerites from August 11, 1840 to October 22, 1844, and also the history of September 11, 2001 unto the soon-coming Sunday law.

It was recognized that Sister White directly said that the movement of the third angel runs parallel with the movement of the first and second angels.

The movement of the first and second angels runs parallel with the movement of the third angel. The prophecy that empowered the movement of the first and second angel, was empowered by a fulfillment of a time prophecy of the first and second woe, and the empowerment of the movement of the third angel was empowered by a fulfillment of a prophecy of the third woe.

As with August 11, 1840, when the message of Future for America was confirmed “multitudes were convinced of the correctness of the principles of prophetic interpretation adopted” by Future for America, and “a wonderful impetus was given to the advent movement.” “Men of learning and position united” with Future for America, “both in preaching and in publishing” the prophetic message of Future for America. The specific rule of Future for America which clearly confirmed September 11, 2001 as a fulfillment of prophecy was a “triple application of prophecy.”

When we accept the foundational view of Islam of the first and second woes, as represented on both sacred charts, in conjunction with the written testimony of those who taught the message, we recognize specific prophetic characteristics associated with the first woe, and the second woe. The Bible repeatedly teaches, in a variety of ways, that truth is established upon the testimony of two. The prophetic characteristics of the first woe, combined with the prophetic characteristics of the second woe, establishes the prophetic characteristics of the third woe. The triple application of Islam is so specific in identifying the arrival of the third woe on September 11, 2001, that it is impossible not to see, though most choose to close their eyes to the evidence.

The triple application of prophecy firmly established that the third woe arrived on September 11, 2001. It was then seen that the rule had been directly associated with the second angel’s message, which in the time of the Millerites and also in the time of the one hundred and forty-four thousand is the period when the Holy Spirit is poured out. Both histories are a fulfillment of the parable of the ten virgins, and in the parable the message of the Midnight Cry is where the distinction between the wise and foolish is manifested, and it is where the message of the second angel is empowered.

In the history of the first and second angels, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is accomplished by the Midnight Cry joining the second angels’ message. This is repeated in the history of the third angel.

In terms of a triple application of prophecy, the second angel’s message represents a triple application of prophecy, for the message in either history is Babylon twice fallen.

The mighty angel of Revelation ten descended with the fulfillment of a prophecy of the first and second woe on August 11, 1840, and in so doing it typified the descent of the mighty angel of Revelation chapter eighteen on September 11, 2001. That angel who lightens the earth with His glory then made a proclamation.

The message of the second angel of chapter fourteen, and of the mighty angel of chapter eighteen is identifying that Babylon has twice fallen, and the message is identifying Babylon of the last days. It identifies Babylon of the last days, for the two times Babylon previously fell in the time of Nimrod, and in the time of Nebuchadnezzar unto Belshazzar establishes the prophetic characteristics of the fall of the whore of Revelation seventeen who has written on her forehead, “Babylon the Great.” To identify that fall of Babylon in the last days requires the two witnesses of the two previous falls of Babylon, for the message of the last days is Babylon is fallen, is fallen. When the mighty angel descended when the great buildings of New York City were brought down by a touch of God, by His proclamation He identifies the rule of a triple application of prophecy. The triple application of prophecy that established September 11, 2001 as a fulfillment of God’s prophetic word was the triple application of the three woes.

At that fulfillment many joined the movement of Future for America, and they were convinced of the principles of prophetic interpretation that had been employed by Future for America. August 11, 1840 repeated, and in so doing the repetition did not confirm the primary rule of Miller, that being that a day represents a year in Bible prophecy, for the primary rule of Future for America was that the Millerite history of the first and second angels’ messages is repeated in the history of the movement of the third angel.

It seems self-evident that if the year 1840 became a specific attack of his satanic majesty, as Sister White identifies Satan, then the history of September 11, 2001 would also be subject to a similar attack. Thus, we find conspiracy theories identifying the role of the globalist, or the Jesuits, or the CIA, or the Bushes or some combination of those powers. Those theories, though containing some elements of truth are designed to refute the idea that it was a touch from God that brought down the great buildings of New York City, thus marking the arrival of the third woe into the history of the movement of the one hundred and forty-four thousand.

The conspiracy theories, whether containing no truth or partial truths all undermine the truth that it was God’s providential activity that brought about the events of that date. Those various conspiracy theories are Satan’s attack from the outside of the movement against the truth, but he also worked to undermine the truth from within the movement. One of those internal attacks is based upon a rejection of Rome as the subject of the book of Joel.

We will consider that controversy in the next article.