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# The Book of Daniel - Number Seventy-Four

Unveiling the Prophetic Puzzle: Ezekiel’s Abominations, the Last Day Church, and the Mark of the Beast

Author

Jeff Pippenger

Published

February 7, 2024

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Key Takeaways

- The article delves into the biblical book of Ezekiel and highlights four abominations mentioned in Ezekiel chapter eight, which lead to the leadership of God’s last-day Laodicean church bowing down to the sun and receiving the mark of the beast.
- It connects Ezekiel chapter nine with the sealing described in Revelation chapter seven, suggesting that these are related concepts.
- The year 1863 is highlighted as a significant point in religious history, marking the beginning of a rebellion within Laodicean Adventism.
- The article draws parallels between Aaron’s golden calf in the Old Testament and a counterfeit 1863 chart, both symbolizing rebellion.
- The “seven times” of Leviticus twenty-six is mentioned as a key prophecy that was set aside in 1863.
- The article references historical events involving the Millerites and their rejection of certain teachings.
- It mentions a prophecy from Isaiah chapter seven and connects it to events in 1863, suggesting a civil war-like conflict within spiritual Judah.

The four abominations of Ezekiel chapter eight, lead to the leadership of God’s last day Laodicean church bowing down to the sun, and thus receiving the mark of the beast. The next chapter, which is the same vision, illustrates those in God’s last day church who receive the seal of God. Sister White informs us the sealing of Ezekiel chapter nine, is the same as the sealing represented in Revelation chapter seven. God judges a nation in its third and fourth generation, and the four abominations of Ezekiel identify the four generations of rebellion that began in 1863, when Laodicean Adventism introduced a counterfeit of the two tables of Habakkuk which had been given as a symbol of the covenant relationship between God and His people, just as the two tables of the Ten Commandments had been given at the beginning of ancient Israel.

Aaron’s golden calf, was a counterfeit image, the symbol of rebellion that was manifested just as God was producing the two tables that represent a genuine image of jealousy. Aaron’s golden calf typified the counterfeit 1863 chart, which had removed the “seven times,” of Leviticus twenty-six from the message along with other time-prophecies. Thus, Laodicean Adventism set up an image of jealousy in the very beginning of its history, as Aaron had done in the beginning history of ancient Israel, and as Jeroboam had done in the beginning history of the northern kingdom of Ephraim.

The “seven times,” of Leviticus twenty-six was the first prophecy of time which Miller was led to understand, and it was the first jewel of prophetic time set aside in the rebellion of 1863. 1863 marked the beginning of the covering up of the jewels of Miller’s dream and the introduction of counterfeit jewels and coins. The “seven times,” was the cornerstone that the builders rejected. In 1863 it was those who had been the builders of the Millerite temple that set aside the cornerstone of the “seven times,” but in the last days that stone is now the head of the corner. That stone represented the Rock of Ages, and it also was represented by the day which the Lord had made, for it was a symbol of the sabbath rest for the land. In 1844, Millerite Adventism rebuked Jeroboam’s false system of worship, and separated from “the assembly of mockers” who had “rejoiced” over the first disappointment.

The builders were instructed to never return to “the assembly of mockers,” as the Judean prophet had been instructed to return to Jerusalem by a different path than what had led him to 1844. The path that had led him to 1844, was the path he had come out of, which was Protestantism, and in that history Protestantism had become apostate Protestantism. The builders were commanded to never return to “the assembly of mockers,” and they were instructed to not eat their food or drink their water. The builders had eaten the little book that was in the angel’s hand in 1840, and that food was sweet in their mouths.

The eating and drinking of prophecy represents the methodology used to study the Bible. The Millerites were given a specific way to study God’s Word, and those rules produced a totally different biblical message than the theologians of apostate Protestantism and Catholicism produced with their corrupted methodology. The builders, who are also the Judean prophet, were not to return and eat or drink of the methodology of either apostate Protestantism or Catholicism. The Judean prophet did that very thing, thus identifying that Laodicean Adventism would do that very thing in 1863, for in 1863, they employed the theological arguments of apostate Protestantism to reject Miller’s application of the “seven times,” and thus set up Aaron’s and Jeroboam’s images of jealousy. The first generation of Laodicean Adventism had then begun.

After the prophet from Judea interacted with Jeroboam he started on his journey back to Judea, but he never made it. The prophet represents Laodicean Adventism, which, according to inspiration, arrived into the Millerite movement in 1856. Sister White never backed away from identifying Adventism as Laodicea, and there is no biblical evidence that Laodicea ever changes. There are individuals that leave their own personal Laodicean experience, but as a church Laodicea is to be spewed out of the mouth of the Lord, for Laodicea means “a people judged.” Adventism uses the definition to claim it represents the church that exists during the period of the judgment in the heavenly sanctuary. In their blindness they acknowledge the Investigative Judgment element of the meaning of Laodicea, but cannot see the Executive Judgment that is clearly represented in their name.

> And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. Revelation 3:14–17.

The Judean prophet ends up buried with the false prophet who deceived him into eating his food and drinking his drink. They both end up in the same grave, and the lying prophet of Bethel (the counterfeit church), calls him brother when he dies.

> Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel: the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father. And their father said unto them, What way went he? For his sons had seen what way the man of God went, which came from Judah. And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass: and he rode thereon, And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak: and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I am. Then he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread. And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place: For it was said to me by the word of the Lord, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest. He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him. So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water. And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came unto the prophet that brought him back: And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee, But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the Lord did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers. 1 Kings 13:11–22.

The second angel’s message in the summer of 1844, consisted of identifying that the Protestant churches had fallen and become the daughters of Catholicism. Millerite Adventism had called men and women to leave those denominations for to stay in them meant spiritual and eternal death. The lying prophet of Bethel represents the religious system instituted in Bethel by Jeroboam. It was a system that set up an image to the beast, and the beast that was copied is the beast of Catholicism. The Protestants continued to identify themselves as Protestants, but they also continued to observe the day of the sun as the day of worship which is the mark of Catholicism’s authority.

The Protestants claim to be Protestants, though the only definition of Protestant is to protest Rome, and in so doing their profession is an image of the Roman church, for she professes to be a Christian institution, though she has no biblical justification for the claim. Her claim is based upon the empty authority of tradition and custom, which is the same false authority Protestantism employs as they claim to be Protestants. It is the same logic that had blinded Seventh-day Adventists to believe that as Laodiceans, they are still in a secure covenant relationship. It is the same false authority that ancient Israel proclaimed when they stated, “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we.”

> “The warning was not heeded by the Jewish people. They forgot God, and lost sight of their high privilege as His representatives. The blessings they had received brought no blessing to the world. All their advantages were appropriated for their own glorification. They robbed God of the service He required of them, and they robbed their fellow men of religious guidance and a holy example. Like the inhabitants of the antediluvian world, they followed out every imagination of their evil hearts. Thus they made sacred things appear a farce, saying, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are these’ (Jeremiah 7:4), while at the same time they were misrepresenting God’s character, dishonoring His name, and polluting His sanctuary.

> “The husbandmen who had been placed in charge of the Lord’s vineyard were untrue to their trust. The priests and teachers were not faithful instructors of the people. They did not keep before them the goodness and mercy of God and His claim to their love and service. These husbandmen sought their own glory. They desired to appropriate the fruits of the vineyard. It was their study to attract attention and homage to themselves.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 292.

In 1863 the movement of the Millerites ended, but it had ceased to be a movement of Philadelphians in 1856. The rejection of the message of Moses (the “seven times”), that was presented by Elijah (William Miller) was rejected, and the rejection was based upon the methodology of the lying prophet of Bethel. 1863 was the end of sixty-five years that had began in 1798, and was the end of the prophecy of Isaiah chapter seven.

> And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it. And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim. And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind. Then said the Lord unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shearjashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller’s field; And say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah. Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against thee, saying, Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal: Thus saith the Lord God, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass. For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people. And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established. Isaiah 7:1–9.

The sixty-five-year prophecy of verse eight, identifies that “within” the period of sixty-five years the northern kingdom of the ten tribes would be taken into captivity. The vision was recorded in the year 742 BC, and nineteen years later in 723 BC, Ephraim was scattered and taken into captivity by the Assyrians. In 677 BC, at the end of the sixty-five years king Manasseh was captured and carried into Babylon. The starting point in 742 BC, marks a civil war between the northern kingdom and the southern kingdoms of Israel, just as 1863, marks the very center of the Civil War in the United States between the North and South. The prophecy was proclaimed by Isaiah in the literal glorious land (Judah), and the prophecy of 1863 was fulfilled in the spiritual glorious land (the United States).

There are three waymarks within the sixty-five-year prophecy. The civil war of 742 BC, is followed in nineteen years by the scattering of the northern kingdom, in 723 BC. At the end of the sixty-five years the southern kingdom was scattered. The prophecy, including its beginning and ending, represents both “indignations” of God against the northern and southern kingdoms, and those two indignations are preceded by nineteen years at their starting points, and then followed by another nineteen years that follow their fulfillments.

The entire chiastic structure identifies a period of civil war between north and south that marks the beginning and ending. In the midst of the beginning and ending the two antagonists of the civil war were both carried into slavery, and in the sixty-five years that they are gathered out of their mutually scattered condition of slavery into one nation, they arrive at 1863, which is the date of the Emancipation Proclamation that freed the slaves. The prophecy of a civil war in literal Judah concludes at the civil war in spiritual Judah, for Jesus always illustrates the end of a thing, with the beginning of a thing, for He is Alpha and Omega.

The history of 1863 was represented by the history of 742 BC, when the prophet Isaiah, along with his son, delivered a message to the wicked king of Judah (Ahaz). 742 BC in the passage is represented by the testimony of king Ahaz, who was king of Judah and who had shut down God’s sanctuary service and had his high priest erect a model of a Syrian temple in the very precincts of God’s earthly sanctuary.

In the history of wicked king Ahaz (marked as 742 BC by the prophecy of Isaiah), the leader of Jerusalem introduced the worship of paganism (Catholicism) into God’s church, just as Laodicean Adventism returned to the methodology of apostate Protestantism to discard the message of Moses that had been delivered by Elijah. In 742 BC, Isaiah confronted the wicked king of Judah at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, by the fuller’s field, and he brought his son with him when he did. His son’s name was a sign, and when the prophet from Judah confronted king Jeroboam, he also gave him a sign.

> Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion. Isaiah 8:18.

The name of Isaiah’s son “Shearjashub,” means “a remnant shall return.” Those that “return” who make up the remnant, are those who wait for the Lord during the tarrying time.

> And I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion. Isaiah 8:17, 18.

When Isaiah interacts with wicked king Ahaz in 742 BC, he represents those who have “waited,” for all the prophets are speaking of the last days, and those who “wait” in the last days are those who have suffered the first disappointment. Jeremiah thought God had lied, and withheld the rain, and Isaiah thinks God has hidden “his face from the house of Jacob,” but Isaiah determines that he will wait, and look for the Lord, which represents the “wise” during the tarrying time of the vision. Those that did return and separate the precious from the vile, who were to become God’s mouthpiece were sealed, and therefore contrasted with those who receive the mark of the beast.

> And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken. Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. And I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion. And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. Isaiah 8:16–20.

We will continue this study in the next article.

> “These are not the words of Sister White, but the words of the Lord, and His messenger has given them to me to give to you. God calls upon you to no longer work at cross purposes with Him. Much instruction was given in regard to men claiming to be Christian when they are revealing the attributes of Satan, counteracting in spirit, word, and action the advancement of truth, and are surely following the path where Satan is leading them. In their hardness of heart they have grasped authority which in no way belongs to them, and which they should not exercise. Saith the great Teacher, ‘I will overturn, overturn, overturn.’ Men say in Battle Creek, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we’ but they are using common fire. Their hearts are not softened and subdued by the grace of God.” Manuscript Releases, volume 13, 222.

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