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# Rome Establishes the Vision - Number Eleven

Understanding the Triple Application of Prophecy: September 11, 2001, and the Final Testing Process for Laodicean Adventism

Author

Jeff Pippenger

Published

August 30, 2024

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Key Takeaways

- Introduction to the Triple Application of Prophecy
- Parallels Between August 11, 1840, and September 11, 2001
- Islam’s Role in Prophecy
- The Testing Process for Laodicean Adventism
- The Controversy Over the Insects in Joel
- Critique of Misinterpretations Regarding Rome and the United States
- The Abomination of Desolation and Its Misinterpretation

Just as August 11, 1840, confirmed the rules adopted by Miller, after September 11, 2001 it was seen by those willing to see, that the prophetic principles adopted by Future for America were the true biblical methodology of the latter rain, as set forth in Isaiah chapter twenty-eight. The application of reform line upon reform line as set forth in sacred history established that September 11, 2001, was a repetition of August 11, 1840.

They saw that as the mighty angel of Revelation ten descended in 1840, He typified His descent in 2001. Both angels descended as a prophecy of Islam was fulfilled. The movement then grew as men and women responded to the effectiveness of the methodology. The leadership of Laodicean Seventh-day Adventism was passed by at the time of the end in 1989, and now that church entered into its final testing process, as the Lord began to select the movement of the third angel to be His last-day spokesmen.

A premier rule of the rules given for the last days was the triple application of prophecy. Especially so at that time was the triple application of the three woes, which so clearly upheld the event of September 11, 2001. When that truth was honestly investigated, those who were then being led to Jeremiah’s “old paths,” by hearts seeking for the truth, the prophetic fulfillment, along with the validity of the rules of prophetic interpretation adopted by the movement of the third angel.

It was seen that the correct pioneer understanding of the history of the first woe of Revelation chapter nine represented Islam. The false prophet Mohammed was seen to be the king of that history. In that history Islam would attack the Roman Empire, and their mode of warfare was specifically identified as striking suddenly and unexpectedly. In that regard it was understood that the very mode of warfare of Islam provided the etymological roots of the word “assassin.” In that history Islam would hurt the armies of Rome, and the period concluded under the line of a one-hundred-and-fifty-year time prophecy. When that time prophecy ended on July 27, 1449, the time prophecy and history of the second woe began.

It began another time-prophecy of three hundred and ninety-one years and fifteen days, that ended on August 11, 1840. In that history the ruler that represented the prophetic work of Islam was Ottman, who had been typified by Mohammed in the history of the first woe. Chapter nine says that in the history of the second woe, Islam would kill the armies of Rome. They would still exercise the mode of warfare, attacking suddenly and unexpectedly, but in that history gunpowder was first invented and employed, so the second woe represented a mode of warfare represented by the assassin’s sudden attack, plus it included explosives.

On September 11, 2001 the third woe of Islam suddenly struck the spiritual armies of Rome with explosives. That event marked the beginning of several lines of prophetic truth, but it had clearly been established upon the two previous witnesses of the first and second woe. The event clearly demonstrated that just as the empowerment of the Millerite history of August 11, 1840, when the prophecy of Islam of the second woe was fulfilled and the angel of Revelation ten descended, that when the prophecy of Islam of the third woe arrived, it marked the descent of the angel of Revelation eighteen on that date.

> “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.

The movement of Future for America was then seen, by those willing to see, as the parallel of the Millerite movement. Islam of the third woe became a primary element of the message from that point onward. Inspiration plainly taught that when the angel of Revelation descended the latter rain would arrive.

> “The latter rain is to fall upon the people of God. A mighty angel is to come down from heaven, and the whole earth is to be lighted with his glory.” Review and Herald, April 21, 1891.

As the Lion of the tribe of Judah began to open the broader understanding of the latter rain, He led His people to the book of Joel, which is a primary point of reference of the latter rain. At that point some of those men who had joined the movement post September 11, 2001, determined that the insects of Joel that destroy God’s vine, leading up to the awakening of the Midnight Cry, represented Islam. They could not or would not see that the insects represented Rome.

The powerful light that had been brought about by recognizing the triple application of prophecy in regards to the three woes added an unsanctified logical support to their claim that the insects represented Islam. As is always the case, once a private interpretation is entertained a wresting of the Scriptures takes place in an attempt to uphold the false premise. In their work to uphold their view they demonstrated that they did not understand the principle of type and antitype.

In theological and biblical studies, the terms “type” and “antitype” are used to describe a relationship between two elements, where one prefigures or foreshadows the other. This concept often falls under the broader categories of “shadow” and “substance.”

A type is an event, person, or institution in the Old Testament that prefigures or foreshadows a corresponding event, person, or institution in the New Testament. It serves as a symbolic precursor. The antitype is the fulfillment or actualization of the type. It is the reality that was foreshadowed by the type. The concept of “shadow” and “substance” parallels the relationship between type and antitype. The “shadow” represents the (type), whereas the “substance” represents the (antitype).

> Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. Colossians 2:16, 17.

> For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. Hebrews 10:1.

In the post September 11, 2001 controversy over Joel, and the correct identification of papal Rome as symbolized by four insects, thus outlining the progressive destruction of Laodicean Adventism, those arguing that the insects were Islam, not only placed an unsanctified emphasis upon the triple application of the three woes, but they also pointed to types which pointed to the antitype of Rome, and claimed those types actually identified Islam. In doing so, they gave evidence that they either did not truly understand the principle of type and antitype, or they believed misrepresenting the types was a worthy means to justify the end.

In the current controversy over Rome, there is once again evidence that those holding to the flawed idea that the “robbers” of Daniel chapter eleven, verse fourteen is the United States do not correctly understand both the triple application of prophecy, or the principle of type and antitype.

When those who hold the view that the “robbers” are the United States seek to uphold their position they employ an application of a triple application of the three Rome’s, to supposedly prove that modern Rome, the third manifestation of Rome is the United States. Trusting that they are not purposely bearing false witness, and that they are only manifesting a blind ignorance of the rules of a triple application of prophecy, they employ a prophetic characteristic of the first two Rome’s and argue that a characteristic of Rome’s history identifies modern Rome.

Pagan Rome is the first of three prophetic fulfillments of Rome. In Daniel chapter eight pagan Rome is the masculine little horn. In chapter two pagan Rome is statecraft. In Daniel seven pagan Rome divides into a ten-fold kingdom.

The second manifestation of Rome is papal Rome, who in chapter eight is the feminine little horn, and who is churchcraft in chapter two, and who is the horn speaking blasphemies and plucks up three horns in chapter seven. Pagan Rome is a singular power, but papal Rome is a twofold power, representing the papal church as ruling over the statecraft of the previous political structures of pagan Rome. In 1798, the papal power received its deadly wound, but it did not cease to be a church, it only ceased to be a beast of Bible prophecy for the civil power it had previously controlled was removed.

The second Rome is papal Rome and it only functioned as a power (beast) of Bible prophecy when it had the ability to control the power of the state to carry out its blasphemous plans. The first Rome was a singular power, the second Rome was a twofold power and the third Rome is a threefold power. The three manifestations of Rome are governed by the same principles as every triple application of prophecy. Prophetically there are three woes, three Babylon’s, three Rome’s and three Elijah’s. In terms of type and antitype the first two manifestation of any of the triple applications are types which provide the shadow of the third fulfillment, which is the antitype and substance of the triple application of prophecy.

With Rome the characteristics of the first two Rome’s identify that both pagan and papal Rome gave the title of Pontifex Maximus to their ruler. Therefore, the title of the ruler of modern Rome would be Pontifex Maximus, a title never attributed to any president of the United States. The first two Rome’s would overcome three geographical obstacles in order to establish the authority upon the throne of their specific period of history. There is no evidence of the United States overcoming three geographical obstacles leading up to 1798.

The first two Rome’s had a specific period of time identified when they would rule supremely. In verse twenty-four of Daniel eleven pagan Rome is identified ruling for a “time,” or three hundred and sixty years, which it did from the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, until the year 330 AD. Repeatedly papal Rome is identified as ruling for twelve hundred and sixty years after the three horns were removed, from 538 until 1798. In Isaiah chapter twenty-three the United States is identified as reigning for seventy symbolic years, as the days of one king, but it never removed three geographical obstacles in advance of its ruling for seventy symbolic years.

Modern Rome is represented as overcoming the three geographical obstacles of the king of the south, the glorious land and Egypt in Daniel chapter eleven, verses forty to forty-two, and when those three obstacles are defeated and brought into the submission of Rome they then form the threefold union of the dragon, the beast and false prophet. John also informs us that the papal beast’s deadly wound is healed and that it then rules for forty-two symbolic months.

> And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. Revelation 13:3–5.

The beast that rules for forty-two symbolic months after its deadly wound is healed is the Roman power.

> The prophecy of Revelation 13 declares that the power represented by the beast with lamblike horns shall cause ‘the earth and them which dwell therein’ to worship the papacy—there symbolized by the beast ‘like unto a leopard.’ . .. In both the Old and the New World, the papacy will receive homage in the honor paid to the Sunday institution, that rests solely upon the authority of the Roman Church.” The Great Controversy, 578.

Pagan, the first Rome, ruled supremely for three hundred and sixty years in fulfillment of Daniel chapter eleven, verse twenty-four, and it did so after it removed three geographical obstacles in fulfillment of Daniel chapter eight, verse nine.

Papal, the second Rome ruled supremely for twelve hundred and sixty years in fulfillment of several passages of Scripture, and it did so after it removed three geographical obstacles in fulfillment of Daniel chapter seven, verses eight and twenty.

Modern Rome overcomes the king of the south in verse forty of Daniel eleven, and then in verse forty-one it overcomes the glorious land and in verse forty-two it overcomes Egypt. Modern Rome is the king of the north of Daniel chapter eleven.

Pagan, the first Rome, was a persecuting power, and papal, the second Rome, was a persecuting power and therefore modern Rome will be a persecuting power.

The United States will participate in the third persecution accomplished by modern Rome, but this doesn’t identify the United States as the papal power, it simply identifies a characteristic of the United States’ relationship to the papal power in the last days.

Those who wish to argue that the United States is the “robbers of thy people” in the last days employ the triple application of the three Rome’s to incorrectly identify the United States. The flawed method they employ in the context of a triple application is based upon identifying a characteristic of the first two Rome’s, and insisting that a prophetic characteristic of Rome, and not Rome itself, is the third Rome.

They identify Constantine’s first historical Sunday law in 321 AD, and then papal Rome’s Sunday law in 538 AD, to claim the soon-coming Sunday law in the United States defines the United States as modern Rome, and they also mix their flawed application by associating Jesus’ warning to flee when the “abominations of desolation” spoken of by Daniel, as the Sunday law. The “abomination of desolation” Jesus spoke of, points to two Sunday laws in the last days, but it is a very different symbolism in that it is a warning to flee, not the warning to shun the mark of the beast. Their flawed idea doesn’t even address that there are two specific Sunday laws in the last days.

> When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day. Matthew 24:15–20.

“The abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet,” was a sign which Jesus gave to His people that identified when they should flee from the coming destruction of Jerusalem as pagan Rome besieged and thereafter destroyed the sanctuary and city from the year 66 to the year 70 AD.

> “Jesus declared to the listening disciples the judgments that were to fall upon apostate Israel, and especially the retributive vengeance that would come upon them for their rejection and crucifixion of the Messiah. Unmistakable signs would precede the awful climax. The dreaded hour would come suddenly and swiftly. And the Saviour warned His followers: ‘When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains.’ Matthew 24:15, 16; Luke 21:20, 21. When the idolatrous standards of the Romans should be set up in the holy ground, which extended some furlongs outside the city walls, then the followers of Christ were to find safety in flight. When the warning sign should be seen, those who would escape must make no delay. . ..

> “Not one Christian perished in the destruction of Jerusalem. Christ had given His disciples warning, and all who believed His words watched for the promised sign. . . . Without delay they fled to a place of safety—the city of Pella, in the land of Perea, beyond Jordan.” The Great Controversy, 25, 30.

As the year 538 approached, the Christians of that era recognized that the church had been corrupted by a compromise with the religion of paganism, and based upon the warning of Christ, and in conjunction with the light given through the apostle Paul’s testimony in Second Thessalonians chapter two, they fled into the prophetic wilderness of the twelve hundred and sixty years.

> “But before the coming of Christ, important developments in the religious world, foretold in prophecy, were to take place. The apostle declared: ‘Be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.’

> “Paul’s words were not to be misinterpreted. It was not to be taught that he, by special revelation, had warned the Thessalonians of the immediate coming of Christ. Such a position would cause confusion of faith; for disappointment often leads to unbelief. The apostle therefore cautioned the brethren to receive no such message as coming from him, and he proceeded to emphasize the fact that the papal power, so clearly described by the prophet Daniel, was yet to rise and wage war against God’s people. Until this power should have performed its deadly and blasphemous work, it would be in vain for the church to look for the coming of their Lord. ‘Remember ye not,’ Paul inquired, ‘that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?’

> “Terrible were the trials that were to beset the true church. Even at the time when the apostle was writing, the ‘mystery of iniquity’ had already begun to work. The developments that were to take place in the future were to be ‘after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish.’

> “Especially solemn is the apostle’s statement regarding those who should refuse to receive ‘the love of the truth.’ ‘For this cause,’ he declared of all who should deliberately reject the messages of truth, ‘God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.’ Men cannot with impunity reject the warnings that God in mercy sends them. From those who persist in turning from these warnings, God withdraws His Spirit, leaving them to the deceptions that they love.” Acts of the Apostles, 265, 266.

The compromise between paganism and the church was the warning sign that led the Christians of that era to separate from papal Rome, but it should be noted that the light that Paul contributed to Jesus’ warning to flee, is the same passage that William Miller came to understand that “the daily” of the book of Daniel represented pagan Rome. The prophetic relationship between pagan Rome restraining, and then falling away in order for papal Rome to ascend to the throne was a truth that must be understood, for the consequences of not recognizing that the prophetic relationship would bring strong delusion upon those who did not love that truth. Sister White addresses the same history:

> “It required a desperate struggle for those who would be faithful to stand firm against the deceptions and abominations which were disguised in sacerdotal garments and introduced into the church. The Bible was not accepted as the standard of faith. The doctrine of religious freedom was termed heresy, and its upholders were hated and proscribed.

> “After a long and severe conflict, the faithful few decided to dissolve all union with the apostate church if she still refused to free herself from falsehood and idolatry. They saw that separation was an absolute necessity if they would obey the word of God. They dared not tolerate errors fatal to their own souls, and set an example which would imperil the faith of their children and children’s children. To secure peace and unity they were ready to make any concession consistent with fidelity to God; but they felt that even peace would be too dearly purchased at the sacrifice of principle. If unity could be secured only by the compromise of truth and righteousness, then let there be difference, and even war.” The Great Controversy, 45, 46.

The prophetic relationship between the United States and the papacy in the last days has been typified, and emphasized, by Paul’s identification of the relationship between pagan and papal Rome leading up to 538 AD. In the triple application of Rome, pagan Rome fulfilled Jesus words identifying the abomination of desolation as a sign to flee, and papal Rome also fulfilled Jesus’ words. Sister White identifies another fulfillment of Christ’s words.

> “It is no time now for God’s people to be fixing their affections or laying up their treasure in the world. The time is not far distant, when, like the early disciples, we shall be forced to seek a refuge in desolate and solitary places. As the siege of Jerusalem by the Roman armies was the signal for flight to the Judean Christians, so the assumption of power on the part of our nation in the decree enforcing the papal sabbath will be a warning to us. It will then be time to leave the large cities, preparatory to leaving the smaller ones for retired homes in secluded places among the mountains.” Testimonies, volume 5, 464.

For the Christians of Christ’s time period the warning identified when to flee Jerusalem. In the fifth and sixth century the warning for the Christians led them to flee into the wilderness.

> And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. . .. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Revelation 12:6, 15–17.

Jesus always illustrates the end of a thing with the beginning of the thing, for He is Alpha and Omega. The warning of the abomination of desolation in the history of papal Rome was recognized when the papal power was recognized as standing in the holy place.

The warning is recorded by Matthew, Mark and Luke, and each reference has a slight variation of words. Matthew states, “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place,” and Mark states, “when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not.” Luke states, “when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains.”

All three testimonies apply together. I a more specific application Luke’s reference of Jerusalem being compassed with armies identifies the warning that when pagan Rome began its siege against Jerusalem in the year 66 AD, that Christians still in Jerusalem were to immediately flee. Matthew’s reference of “the holy place,” corresponds with Paul identifying the “man of sin” who “sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God,” thus representing the papal fulfillment of the “abomination of desolation.” Mark identifies the abomination of desolation standing where it ought not, and it corresponds to the warning to flee given to Adventism in the last days. Two of the warnings are associated with the command that whoever reads the warning should understand, and they all address a sign that was to inform the Christians of the era to flee.

The false application of a triple application that is misrepresented by those who claim the “robbers of thy people” are the United States, identifies that when the “abomination of desolation” is fulfilled at the Sunday law in the United States, that the Sunday law that then is enforced identifies the United States as Modern Rome, for pagan and papal Rome both previously enforced a Sunday law.

The problem with that flawed application is that the Sunday law of pagan Rome took place in the year 321 AD, but pagan Rome’s fulfillment of the “abomination of desolation” was fulfilled in the year 66 AD, 255 years before the Sunday law of 321 AD. So too, the compromise that produced the “man of sin” was already occurring in the time of Paul, who said, “the mystery of iniquity doth already work,” yet the papal Sunday law came over four centuries later. The first two witnesses in a triple application of prophecy establish the characteristics of the third fulfillment of the last days. The “abomination of desolation” in the last days, upon two historical witnesses, and three biblical records of Christ’s words, represents a warning to flee, not the enforcement of a Sunday law.

In the next article we will break down why the application is flawed in the context of established rules associated with a triple application of prophecy, and why the identification of the Sunday law in the context of the warning given by Christ is a misrepresentation of prophetic history.

> “This compromise between paganism and Christianity resulted in the development of ‘the man of sin’ foretold in prophecy as opposing and exalting himself above God. That gigantic system of false religion is a masterpiece of Satan’s power—a monument of his efforts to seat himself upon the throne to rule the earth according to his will.” The Great Controversy, 50.

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