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# Laodicea - Number Five

The Last Three

Author

Jeff Pippenger

Published

September 3, 2023

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Key Takeaways

- Symbolism of Churches and Seals
- Fifth Seal
- Sixth Seal
- Seventh Seal
- Historical Parallels
- Key Historical Events
- End-Time Prophecy

Ideally the seven churches and seven seals should be understood as parallel symbols representing internal and external lines of the same history. It is also important to note that when considering the last three churches and the last three seals that the historical line representing progressive history is not a primary subject of the symbols. When the churches are applied in the context of parallel histories, the progression of history is an essential element of the symbolism, but this is not the case when the last three churches and seals are treated as a symbol unto themselves.

The last three churches as a symbol are about the relationship of three groups and the dynamics of the interaction of the three groups of worshippers represented by the various churches. The last three seals identify God’s people as represented by Moses and Elijah. Elijah representing the one hundred and forty-four thousand and Moses the righteous dead.

> And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. And when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? Revelation 6:9–17.

Sister White informs us that that the fifth seal addresses “a period of time in the future.” The verses of the fifth seal are asking when God would judge the papacy for murdering God’s people during the Dark Ages. The answer was given that in the “last days” God would judge the papacy for their murder and also for another group of papal martyrs that would also be murdered by the papacy during the Sunday law crisis.

> “‘And when he had opened the fifth seal . . . [Revelation 6:9–11]. Here were scenes presented to John that were not in reality but that which would be in a period of time in the future.” Manuscript Releases, volume 20, 197.

Inspiration also confirms that the souls under the altar, who desire to know when God will judge the papacy are connected with the two voices of the angel that lightens the earth with its glory in chapter eighteen of Revelation.

> “When the fifth seal was opened, John the Revelator in vision saw beneath the altar the company that were slain for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. After this came the scenes described in the eighteenth of Revelation, when those who are faithful and true are called out from Babylon. Revelation 18:1–5 quoted.” Manuscript Releases, volume 20, 14.

In Revelation eighteen Catholicism’s judgment is double for there and then she is punished for not only those she will murder in the “last days,” but also for the murder victims during the Dark Ages of papal rule.

> And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. Revelation 18:4–6.

The sixth seal provides one of the Bible’s classic illustrations of the events which immediately precede the Second Coming of Christ during the seven last plagues. It concludes with the introduction to chapter seven of Revelation which provides the answer for the question raised in the last verse of the sixth seal, “who shall be able to stand.” There are two groups that will stand as God’s ensign in the Sunday law crisis that concludes when the seven last plagues arrive. Those two groups are the one hundred and forty-four thousand who are represented by Elijah, and the “great multitude” who are represented by Moses. These two symbols of Moses and Elijah were previously identified as those who stand at the end of the world, for they both stood with Christ at the Mount of Transfiguration.

The first group of papal martyrs from the Dark Ages were given white robes, and the second group that they were told to wait for until that group was made up is the “great multitude” who are also wearing white robes. The fifth and sixth seal is not providing a parallel history of the fifth and sixth churches, they are providing a witness about the two groups that stand up as an ensign for the Lord in the “last days.” Those two groups are they who proclaim the messages of the two voices in Revelation chapter eighteen. The message that is then proclaimed is accompanied with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as typified by the history of Pentecost and the history of the Midnight Cry at the beginning of Adventism.

> “The angel who unites in the proclamation of the third angel’s message is to lighten the whole earth with his glory. A work of world-wide extent and unwonted power is here foretold. The advent movement of 1840–44 was a glorious manifestation of the power of God; the first angel’s message was carried to every missionary station in the world, and in some countries there was the greatest religious interest which has been witnessed in any land since the Reformation of the sixteenth century; but these are to be exceeded by the mighty movement under the last warning of the third angel.

> “The work will be similar to that of the Day of Pentecost. As the ‘former rain’ was given, in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the opening of the gospel, to cause the upspringing of the precious seed, so the ‘latter rain’ will be given at its close for the ripening of the harvest. ‘Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: His going forth is prepared as the morning; and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.’ Hosea 6:3. ‘Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for He hath given you the former rain moderately, and He will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain.’ Joel 2:23. ‘In the last days, saith God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh.’ ‘And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ Acts 2:17, 21.

> “The great work of the gospel is not to close with less manifestation of the power of God than marked its opening. The prophecies which were fulfilled in the outpouring of the former rain at the opening of the gospel are again to be fulfilled in the latter rain at its close. Here are ‘the times of refreshing’ to which the apostle Peter looked forward when he said: ‘Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and He shall send Jesus.’ Acts 3:19, 20.” The Great Controversy, 611.

After the sixth seal raises the question that introduces Elijah and Moses represented in chapter seven of Revelation the seventh seal is opened and describes the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon those two groups. It is to be noted that in the description there is a silence for a half an hour. The outpouring of the latter rain represented with the opening of the seventh seal includes a period of silence.

> And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. Revelation 8:1–5.

As just noted in the passage in The Great Controversy the latter rain begins to be poured out when the mighty angel descends and lightens the earth with his glory. The latter rain began when “the great buildings of New York City were thrown down” on September 11, 2001.

> “Now comes the word that I have declared that New York is to be swept away by a tidal wave? This I have never said. I have said, as I looked at the great buildings going up there, story after story, ‘What terrible scenes will take place when the Lord shall arise to shake terribly the earth! Then the words of Revelation 18:1–3 will be fulfilled.’ The whole of the eighteenth chapter of Revelation is a warning of what is coming on the earth. But I have no light in particular in regard to what is coming on New York, only that I know that one day the great buildings there will be thrown down by the turning and overturning of God’s power. From the light given me, I know that destruction is in the world. One word from the Lord, one touch of his mighty power, and these massive structures will fall. Scenes will take place the fearfulness of which we cannot imagine.” Review and Herald, July 5, 1906.

On September 11, 2001 the latter rain began to fall and the outpouring of that rain falls upon those represented by Elijah and Moses, and includes a time of silence. A time of silence for Moses and Elijah is also represented in chapter eleven of Revelation where Moses and Elijah, those two prophets that tormented the world, were “slain” in the streets. But after three and a half days they came out of the cave of Horeb and ascended to heaven. In the history of the latter rain the message, represented by those two messengers, is slain and cast into the street, but not buried until they are resurrected. This is one of the primary truths that the Lion of the tribe of Judah is now unsealing.

The last three seals are identifying the final movement of God’s people as represented by Elijah and Moses. That movement dies and is resurrected. It is a movement, for Adventism began with a movement that continued until 1863 when they set aside the first truth William Miller was led to recognize. In 1863 the movement ended, for in 1863 they legally became a church. The Alpha and Omega insists that if He began His remnant people as a movement, He will also end it as a movement.

We have now finished the overview of the seven churches and seven seals. In the last three seals we see two classes of the redeemed that are represented by Moses and Elijah. Those seals all testify of the mighty angel of Revelation eighteen. When he descended on September 11, 2001 two classes of redeemed entered into a purification process which is designed to expose and separate two classes of worshippers within the movement at the end of Adventism as prefigured by the movement at the beginning of Adventism. Daniel identifies that one class, which he calls the wicked will not understand the increase of knowledge, but the wise do. Matthew informs us that those lacking the understanding of the knowledge that has been unsealed identifies a virgin as foolish. The wise virgins demonstrate in the crisis at midnight that they understood and possess the increase of knowledge. The wise and the foolish are represented by the church of Philadelphia or the church of Laodicea. The wicked, foolish virgins of Laodicea are to be spewed out of the mouth of the Lord and the wise receive God’s name, or His character in their foreheads. If the sixth church of Philadelphia represents the wise, how is it that the seventh church of Laodicea represents the wicked? If this is the case, the sequence is out of order, is it not? The answer of course is solved by Alpha and Omega.

At the beginning of the first denominated people of God, ancient Israel, Moses typified Christ at the end of that denominated people.

> For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. Acts 3:22, 23.

At the end of the first denominated people of God, John the Baptist was the Elijah messenger that prepared the way for Christ’s first coming. Jesus would then make His offering at the cross and thereafter begin His High Priestly work in the holy place of the heavenly sanctuary. At the beginning of the second denominated people of God, modern Israel, William Miller was the Elijah messenger that prepared the way for Christ’s Second Coming. Jesus then suddenly came into the Most Holy Place and began judgment. At the end of the second denominated people of God, a final Elijah messenger prepared the way for Christ to begin the dispensation of the judgment of the living, the conclusion of His work as Heavenly High Priest and his Second Coming.

William Miller symbolizes not only the messenger, but the movement he was associated with.

> “With trembling, William Miller began to unfold to the people the mysteries of the kingdom of God, carrying his hearers down through the prophecies to the second advent of Christ. With every effort he gained strength. As John the Baptist heralded the first advent of Jesus and prepared the way for His coming, so William Miller and those who joined with him proclaimed the second advent of the Son of God….

> “Thousands were led to embrace the truth preached by William Miller, and servants of God were raised up in the spirit and power of Elijah to proclaim the message.” Early Writings, 229, 230, 233.

In the beginning of ancient Israel God called Moses, who received forty years of corrupted education in Egypt, that required forty years of wilderness living in an attempt to remove the influence of Egypt from his character. Forty years after his birth, understanding that he had been chosen to lead God’s people out of Egypt, Moses exercised human strength to kill the Egyptian. Forty years later at the burning bush he rebelled against God’s calling. After finally accepting the calling, he disregarded the command to circumcise his son until threatened with death. On the border of the Promised Land, he rebelled and struck the Rock a second time. At the beginning of ancient Israel, Moses possessed the character traits of a Laodicean. In doing so he still fulfilled his high and holy calling, including the typification of Christ at the end of ancient Israel. Christ, who struggled with the quibbling Jews, or those who said they were Jews, but were not, represented the character of a Philadelphian. At the beginning of ancient Israel Moses represented a Laodicean in need of gold, eye salve and white raiment. At the end Christ is a Philadelphian.

At the beginning of Adventism, William Miller, represented by those few in Sardis that had not defiled their garments, represented a Philadelphian, as did the movement associated with him. At the end of Adventism, the movement that recognized the time of the end in 1989 were as much Laodicean as was Moses. The Millerite movement typifies the movement of Future for America with the prophetic caveat that the first movement was fulfilled by Philadelphians in the time of Philadelphia, and the last movement is fulfilled by Laodiceans in the time of Laodicea.

I am the witness of more of the prophetic history of this movement from 1989 than any other person associated with the history of Future for America, and I testify that I personally walked through the history beginning in 1989 onward as a certified Laodicean Adventist. There are many souls along that path who would uphold my testimony. I also can testify of a certainty that those associated with the movement at the end of Adventism were also certified Laodicean Adventists. The first denominated people begin with a Laodicean that becomes a Philadelphian and ends with a Philadelphian. The second denominated people begin with a Philadelphian and ends with a Laodicean that is called to become a Philadelphian. This is the signature of Alpha and Omega.

In spite of the wretched, miserable spiritual blindness of the leader and those who joined with him, God still directed and controlled the prophetic waymarks which transpired from 1989 until now. In spite of the spiritual nakedness and poverty of the leader and those who joined with him, God was still directing the unsealing of the truths He saw fit to unseal. In His mercy which is never separated from His “truth,” He devised a purification process that provided for a Laodicean to die and thereafter be resurrected as a Philadelphian. That death and resurrection was typified by the authors of the books of Daniel and Revelation, who both were symbolically killed and resurrected. John was resurrected from the death of being thrown into a pot of boiling oil, Daniel from the den of hungry lions. Thus, the two books, which are one book provide an emphasis to the symbol of death and resurrection as part of the message that is now being unsealed.

As the movement in the “last days” of the investigative judgment, (which was typified by the Millerite movement), approached the end of time God designed that the leader and the movement should be killed and thereafter resurrected. In the context of the seven churches, Laodicea was slain on July 18, 2020 and would be resurrected as Philadelphia before the approaching Sunday law. The resurrected movement would be of the seven churches, but it would be the eighth. The movement would be the eighth, that is of the seven.

This prophetic secret is supported in the book of Revelation upon several witnesses, though heretofore not recognized. In this time period we are now entering into the test of the image of the beast, which Sister White informs us is the test that comes before the Sunday law. It is at the Sunday law that the seal of God is impressed upon the Philadelphians of that history. But they must pass the test of the image of the beast that comes before probation closes.

> “The Lord has shown me clearly that the image of the beast will be formed before probation closes; for it is to be the great test for the people of God, by which their eternal destiny will be decided. Your position is such a jumble of inconsistencies that but few will be deceived.

> “In Revelation 13 this subject is plainly presented; [Revelation 13:11–17, quoted].

> “This is the test that the people of God must have before they are sealed. All who proved their loyalty to God by observing His law, and refusing to accept a spurious sabbath, will rank under the banner of the Lord God Jehovah, and will receive the seal of the living God. Those who yield the truth of heavenly origin and accept the Sunday sabbath, will receive the mark of the beast” Manuscript Releases, volume 15, 15.

In this current history, the two horns formerly identified as Republicanism and Protestantism have already changed to a democracy and apostate Protestantism. When those two horns are fully joined, they then form one power, one horn. In that same period, God will identify and lift up the genuine horn of Protestantism to warn against the image of the beast. Those two horns run parallel to one another until the United States ceases to be the sixth kingdom of Bible prophecy.

Revelation seventeen identifies that the three-fold union of the dragon (the United Nations), the beast (the papal power) and the false prophet (the United States) is the power that is the eighth head, that is of the seven heads. Those seven heads are the kingdoms of Bible prophecy beginning with Babylon, then Medo-Persia, Greece and then pagan Rome. Then the fifth kingdom is papal Rome who prophetically received a deadly wound in 1798. At that point in history the sixth kingdom of Bible prophecy, the United States ascended the throne until it is overthrown at the soon coming Sunday law.

The United Nations will be then forced by the power that forces the entire world to set up an image to the beast. At that point the sixth kingdom has also received a deadly wound, but the United States will then force the entire world to accept its leadership over the United Nations and demand that they also accept the moral authority of the papacy to govern the three-fold union.

> And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. Revelation 13:13, 14.

The only definition of the “image of the beast” in inspiration is that it represents the combination of church (the papal power) and state (the United Nations, with the United States controlling the other nine kings.) Jezebel is the papal power; Ahab is the United States who is king of the ten northern tribes.

When the United States falls at the Sunday law, Tyre (the papacy) who has been forgotten since 1798 is “remembered” and she begins her seductive songs. Due to the financial collapse represented as “national ruin” in the writings of Ellen White, the United States is forced to bring the entire world together to address the biblical power that brings every man’s hand together against him. That power is Islam, as represented by Islam’s forefather Ishmael.

> And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. Genesis 16:11, 12.

The United States forms an alliance with the other nine kings, taking the leadership position. It does so for only a brief time, and it will then insist that the papal power becomes the head of it all, just as Jezebel controlled Ahab.

Thus, the three-fold alliance of the dragon, beast and false prophet march off together to Armageddon. The number eight represents resurrection, and the kingdom that is noted by prophecy as receiving a deadly wound was the fifth kingdom, the papal power. When the papacy is resurrected, they become the eighth kingdom and they are given control of the three-fold union and that eighth kingdom is the one head of the seven kingdoms that has been identified as receiving a deadly wound, but inspiration also identifies the healing of that deadly wound.

> “As we approach the last crisis, it is of vital moment that harmony and unity exist among the Lord’s instrumentalities. The world is filled with storm and war and variance. Yet under one head—the papal power—the people will unite to oppose God in the person of His witnesses. This union is cemented by the great apostate. While he seeks to unite his agents in warring against the truth he will work to divide and scatter its advocates. Jealousy, evil surmising, evilspeaking, are instigated by him to produce discord and dissension.” Testimonies, volume 7, 182.

The fifth kingdom, the sixth kingdom and the seventh kingdom at that point have all lost their individual kingdoms, so their respective kingdoms are all resurrected together as one kingdom made up of three parts, counterfeiting the three-fold makeup of the godhead.

The sixth kingdom that began with two lamb-like horns and ends as one horn that speaks as a dragon possesses the prophetic characteristic of the papal power for it becomes the image of the beast. It is the beast, the papal power, that is primarily represented as the resurrected eighth kingdom that was of the seven. But even though it is the papal power that most directly fulfills the prophetic enigma, of the eighth being of the seven, the United States forms an image of the papacy and therefore prophetically produces the same characteristics as the papal power.

The United States began in 1798 when according to Isaiah twenty-three, Tyre, the papal power was to be forgotten until the end of the sixth kingdom. 1798 was the time of the end for the Millerites at the beginning of Adventism. By the spring of 1844, Millerite Adventism had accepted the mantle of Protestantism which runs parallel to the horn of Republicanism representing the government of the United States. The two horns are on the same animal, so they proceed through history together. The beginning and ending of Adventism runs parallel to the Republican horn. The history of 1798, until the Protestants rejected the first angels’ message, was the period where God established that Protestant horn. He did so through a testing process, as He did with the Republican horn. There is much to say about the parallel horns, but not now.

The Republican horn commits fornication with apostate Protestantism, not with the true Protestant horn, for the true horn is the Lamb’s bride and she is a virgin. Since the time of the end in 1989 there have been seven presidents. The sixth of those presidents received a deadly wound in the very year that the movement at the end of Adventism also received a deadly wound. The eighth president since the time of the end in 1989, will be the one who received a deadly wound that is healed. He must be a president that is of the seven. At the same time, in 2020 when the sixth president received his deadly wound, the horn that is now carrying the Protestant mantle was also killed. As with the beast of Catholicism, and as with the image of the beast of apostate Protestantism, so with the genuine horn of Protestantism. The horn of Protestantism is represented as the sixth church, that becomes the eighth, but is of the seven.

When you test these claims, remember the message that is unsealed just before probation closes will most certainly be presented within the context of the beginning illustrating the end. That message will be presented with the methodology of “historicism,” which employs biblical history aligned with world history to identify the end of the world. That message springs up out of the earth.

> Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps. Psalms 85:11–13.

It is not simply that earth in the passage is identified as a “land.” The passage in Psalms not only identifies the “land” as the “earth” beast of Revelation thirteen, but it also notes that “truth” “springs” up out of the earth.

> “What nation of the New World was in 1798 rising into power, giving promise of strength and greatness, and attracting the attention of the world? The application of the symbol admits of no question. One nation, and only one, meets the specifications of this prophecy; it points unmistakably to the United States of America. Again and again the thought, almost the exact words, of the sacred writer has been unconsciously employed by the orator and the historian in describing the rise and growth of this nation. The beast was seen ‘coming up out of the earth;’ and, according to the translators, the word here rendered ‘coming up’ literally signifies ‘to grow or spring up as a plant.’” The Great Controversy, 440.

The United States is the earth beast that “springs up.” So, when you are testing the claims made in these articles, inspiration identifies the message will be based upon the end being illustrated by the beginning, it will be placed in the context of historical line upon historical line, and it must come from a voice in the United States. There are of course false voices within the United States, but according to and upon the authority of God’s Word any messenger or ministry that is located or has its origins outside the United States is a false light. Adventism began in the United States with the voice of a man and a movement established in the United States. Jesus illustrates the end of a thing, with the beginning of a thing.

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

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