Atheism and Islam each hold a prominent position within the Adventist interpretation of Daniel 11:31-45.  Depending on the specific interpretation, one or the other is usually assigned to the king of the south in verse 40.  In this article we are going to take a closer look at the role of Atheism and Islam to see if either one of them can actually fulfill the role of the king of the south.

These two entities are usually considered from the perspective that the king of the south fights against the king of the north, and then the king of the north responds with overwhelming force.  According to the leading Adventist interpretations, the Papacy moves from being the king of verse 36, and then assumes the position of the king of the north; and this is where the role of either Atheism or Islam comes into play, as one or the other must then become the king of the south.  This becomes the focal point of their interpretations.

Either way, for now, if the king of the south is pushing against the king of verse 36, which is identified as the Papacy, or is pushing against the king of the north, which by popular interpretation has become the Papacy, it is safe to say that the target of the king of the south is the Papacy. 

It is in this context that we are going to examine the role of Atheism and Islam.

The Three Great Persecuting Powers

There are two overriding principles to consider when assessing the role of Atheism and Islam.  First, they must be considered in the greater context of Paganism, Papalism, and Apostate Protestantism.  Both Daniel and Revelation clearly lay out the role of these three powers; their ability to persecute God’s people, and how these powers accomplish their work in our personal lives.  It must also be remembered that Pagan Rome, Papal Rome, and the USA/Apostate Protestantism are the fourth, fifth, and sixth kingdoms of Revelation 17:10.

In the realm of evil, all systems are subordinate to Paganism, Papalism, and Protestantism/Spiritualism.  These are the same as, and identical with, the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet.  These are the powers that Satan personally superintends, and has invested them with his own power, seat, and great authority.

It is in this sense that Atheism and Islam must be viewed, as they are simply a sub category of these three great persecuting powers.

Speaking of Atheism during the French revolution, in the book The Great Controversy, pp. 268-269, Mrs White lets us know that many of the nations of Europe had been controlled through the medium of the Papacy, “but here is brought to view a new manifestation of satanic power.”  In other words, it is different from any of the preceding satanic powers.

Daniel 11:38 tells us that the Papacy will honor a god ‘whom his fathers knew not.’  That is, his pagan fathers did not know Atheism, as this was a new manifestation of satanic power.  This verse is dealing with the lineage of his pagan fathers—Babylon, Medio Persia, Greece, and Pagan Rome, while the preceding verse deals with the lineage of his Christian fathers; remembering again that the Papacy is a marriage of both.

Atheism is distinct from Paganism; in that Paganism admits of a god—whether the sun god, rain god, or fertility god, etc.  Paganism also teaches that there is an afterlife. Atheism, on the other hand, admits of no god and no afterlife—period: all science, reason, and logic—no supernatural.  

Because of this, Atheism is the strange god of verse 39.  It is a ‘strange god’ because of its claim that God, or any form of a god, cannot exist, yet it becomes a god itself.  This is manifested in the atheistic theory of evolution, which removes God as the Creator, and sets itself up as the creator of all things.  1 Samuel 28:13 helps us to better understand this concept in the account of the response to king Saul by the witch of Endor—‘I saw gods ascending out of the earth.’  Atheism ascends from the bottomless pit—the spiritually wicked realm of the earth, as a strange god.

Understanding this, the verse (Dan. 11:39) goes on to tell us that the Papacy acknowledges this power of Atheism, increases it with glory, and then divides the land for gain; that is, gain to the Papacy.  This verse applies to both the time period when Atheism arose, and also beyond, to the end of time.  Instead of fighting against the Papacy, Atheism is used by the Papacy to reach a class of people that she herself cannot.

This is accomplished through the medium of education, of which there are only two kinds—the true and the false.  Each system of education produces its own system of thought, which in turn produces the necessary mindset required for allegiance.  

This is how the Papal policy enters, overflows, and passes over the countries in Daniel 11:40.  It is why it is described as a flood in Rev. 12:15-16.  It is why even the land of Egypt (the unbelieving world) will not escape.  In other words, through the Greek/Papal system of education that underlies all false education, even the unbelieving world will be brought in line to worship on Sunday when the decree goes forth.  Atheism is the tool used by the Papacy to accomplish its end in the unbelieving world. It is recognized and acknowledged by the Papacy as a rival system, but it is the Papacy that controls Atheism, and not the other way around.

The Papacy seeks to set itself up as God by claiming to change the law, and Atheism seeks to set itself up as God by claiming to be our creator.  Both are a direct attack on the law of God, and specifically the fourth commandment.  These two things will provide the common ground necessary for those who yield to the upcoming Sunday law.

A House Divided Cannot Stand

The second overriding principle to consider is that each of these entities—Atheism and Islam, in concert with Paganism, Papalism, Apostate Protestantism/Spiritualism, are each at war, in their own distinct way, with God and the Bible.  Christ gives us an important principle when considering this in Matthew 12:25-26:

“And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself: how shall then his kingdom stand?”

When we compare this Scripture with others, we see that Satan is not at war with himself, but is actively and aggressively engaged in a war against God.

Revelation 12:17—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 13:6-7—And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.  And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations;

Revelation 13:15—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.

Daniel 7:25—And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High…

Revelation 11:7—And when they (the Old and New Testaments) shall have finished their testimony, the beast (Athiesm) that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

The prevailing point to make concerning the role of Atheism and Islam in their relation to the Papacy—is to recognize that they are each in a common war against God, His Word, and His people.  They are each satanic in nature.  While there may be competing factions and rivalries within the government of evil, they are all engaged in a desperate war against God, and are united in singleness of purpose under the leadership of Satan. We are told that Satan is a ‘wise general.’ {RH, February 28, 1888 par. 7}

We are clearly informed that the Papacy and Atheism were both engaged directly in a war against the Bible.  Atheism in particular, ‘was to arise to make open, avowed war upon the word of God.’ (GC 269.1) It should be noted here that she does not say that Atheism was to arise to make open, avowed war against the Papacy.  And again—“The Atheistical power that ruled in France during the Revolution and the Reign of Terror, did wage such a war against God and His holy word as the world had never witnessed.” (GC 273.2) It was these two powers working in combination that brought on the ruin of France—‘It was popery that had begun the work which atheism was completing.  The policy of Rome had wrought out those conditions, social, political, and religious, that were hurrying France on to ruin.’  (GC 276.4)

In 1793, Louis XVI the king of France was removed and executed.  In 1798 Pope Pious VI was removed.  It must be remembered that the reason France was ruined was due to the fact that clear back in 1535, “by a solemn and public ceremony, she had committed herself to the destruction of Protestantism.”  The Papal policy was to withhold the Bible from the people, whereas “the Reformation had presented to the world an open Bible.”“When France rejected the gift of heaven, she sowed the seeds of anarchy and ruin; and the inevitable outworking of cause and effect resulted in the Revolution and the Reign of Terror.”(GC 227-230)

She goes on to let us know that France had made the fatal mistake of calling evil good, and good evil, with the result that they thought they were doing God service in persecuting and killing His people.

The prophetic role of the nation of France was twofold: to allow for the rise of Atheism, and to terminate the 1260-year time period of Papal supremacy. (GC 439.2) These two things resulted in the removal of the Papacy as the fifth kingdom, and set the stage for the rise of the sixth kingdom, that of the United States of America.  Though France is the power that actually and literally terminated the temporal power of the Papacy in 1798, Atheism was the operative ideology. The fact that Atheism is portrayed as a beast requires that it be attached in some form to an earthly government; in this case, it was the government of France.

It is interesting to note however, that it is God who ultimately sets the boundaries for a nation:

“In the annals of human history, the growth of nations, the rise and fall of empires, appear as if dependent on the will and prowess of man; the shaping of events seems, to a great degree, to be determined by his power, ambition, or caprice.  But in the word of God the curtain is drawn aside, and we behold, above, behind, and through all the play and counterplay of human interest and power and passions, the agencies of the All-merciful One, silently, patiently working out the counsels of His own will.”  {PK 499.4}  …and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation…” Acts 17:24-27.  {PK 500.1} 

The one power, the Papal power, produced the other power, that of Atheism, and both of them together engaged in a war against God and the Bible, and in the process France was brought to ruin.  These two powers, working in tandem, will always achieve the same result—the absolute ruin of a nation.

In other words, France was only the recipient of an ideology that it neither produced or consciously asked for, but when implemented, this very ideology resulted in her own ruin, and in turn, the giving of the deadly wound to the Papacy.  It is unknown if Satan, with his massive intellect, was unable to foresee this consequence of the Papal policy, or was willing to take the risk in the context of his war against the Bible.  It is clear however, that he learned from it.

This is one of the keys to understand the role of Atheism—that it came into history as a direct result of the Papal policy. (See GC 265-269) Because of the Papal policy of the suppression of the Scriptures from the people in general, and the tormenting of the people by the gross misuse of the Scriptures, the conditions were ripe for the rise of Atheism, along with the necessary infrastructure to support it. {GC 276.4} This infrastructure was produced by the educational principles that were set in place by the Papacy.  The one principle is the cause, and the second is the effect.

Speaking of this time period in France, “All this was as Satan would have it. This was what for ages he had been working to secure…  When error in one garb has been detected, Satan only masks it in a different disguise, and multitudes receive it as eagerly as at the first. When the people found Romanism to be a deception, and he could not through this agency lead them to transgression of God’s law, he urged them to regard all religion as a cheat, and the Bible as a fable; and, casting aside the divine statutes, they gave themselves up to unbridled iniquity.”  {GC 284.2 – 285.1}

The single consuming objective of Atheism is to overthrow the Scriptures in any form. Whether the Scriptures suffered corruption by the Papal misinterpretations, or were given in their purity by Protestantism, mattered not to Atheism.  The Bible is the only real threat to its existence, and the same holds true for the Papacy and Islam, and they each understand this.  This is the other key that allows us to see the true role of Atheism—its absolute and unrelenting war against the Scriptures.  That is its sole purpose of existence.  Any entity on earth that holds to the Bible in any form, whether correctly or incorrectly interpreted, will meet the influence of the power of Atheism.

Atheism did not and could not remove the system of the Papacy, but stood as a catalyst along with France, for the removal of the Papacy as the fifth kingdom.

But to hold, in the larger context, that Atheism or Islam are in a war against the Papacy, or that the Papacy is at war with them, would be to deny this principle of a divided house laid out by Christ Himself.  Atheism or Islam as a system, from the perspective of Paganism, Papalism, or Apostate Protestantism, can only ever be an accessory, and are always under the control of one of these powers.  There is no question that God can and does use evil entities to check evil, and to remove and set up kingdoms, and that nation will rise up against nation; but in the overall context, Satan is not at war with himself.

With this principle in mind, we should not be looking for a satanic power to push against another satanic power, or to come back against itself as a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships.

This word ‘push,’ in Dan. 11:40, is the key to understand the nature of the battle of the king of the south against the Papacy.  In the King James Bible, the word ‘push’ is always used in conjunction with horns, and horns are specific to a particular kingdom or nation.

When considering the timing of the introduction of the king of the south and north, within the context of the ‘time of the end, it is important to realize that there were three entities in particular that became active.’  Atheism, the United States of America, and the Seventh-day Adventist church.  The Papacy and Islam were both on the decline: the Papacy went down in 1798, and Islam in the form of the Ottoman empire went down on August 11, 1840. (GC 334.4)                        

Just as the new view of the Daily confuses the issue by ascribing godly characteristics to a satanic element, so the reverse is true in our identification of the king of the south and north of verse 40.  Without exception in our Adventist interpretations, these kings are identified as satanic, thereby pitting one satanic entity against another satanic entity.  If this were the case, then Satan’s kingdom could not stand.  It is the same principle as was that of France when they called evil good, and good evil.

The lineage of Atheism and Islam is shown to be from the bottomless pit, of which Satan, in the primary sense, is king.  One is a god to the godless, the other a god to the descendants of Ishmael.  Of the descendants of Ishmael, it is noted in the Scriptures that they ‘will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him.’  (Gen. 16:12)  They are identified as the four angels let loose in Rev. 9:15, and a strong case can be made that Islam is the primary entity of the ‘angry horse seeking to break loose and rush over the face of the whole earth, bearing destruction and death in its path.’  {20MR 216.6}.

Revelation 9:2—“And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.”

Atheism is portrayed as a beast, as opposed to Islam, which is portrayed as smoke.  Smoke and incense denote the prayers of a people. (Rev. 8:4) Atheism does not send up any prayers to any god, but Islam sends up its prayers into the heavens to Allah, portrayed as smoke, obscuring from its people the worship of the true God.

The Quran is not compatible with the Holy Bible, as it denies that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.  This is the source of the smoke from the bottomless pit and is directed against God’s Word.

Islam is on the same side of the war as is the Papacy and Atheism.  When we stop to consider the role of each of these powers, we can see clearly that they are each, in their own distinct way, engaged in a war that is directed especially against the Scriptures.  It should be noted that each of these persecuting powers—Paganism, Papalism, Apostate Protestantism, Atheism, and Islam, respectively; are neutralizing, negating, or changing the Scriptures to make them of none effect.  Their war is against the Scriptures, and not against themselves.  This singular point of attack forms the basis for unity throughout the range of these persecuting powers.

“And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!” (Rev. 8:13) The children of Ishmael overrun the face of the earth in the form of the three woes—as a scourge; first as Mohammedism, then as the Ottoman empire, and finally as the third woe in our time—that of Islam.  They will be against every nation, and every nation will be against them.

Conclusion

Here in the USA, it is the power of Atheism that is striving for control, and although by all outward appearances it seems that its triumph is certain, it will yet be seen that it cannot compete with Apostate Protestantism.  Atheism is being used by the Papacy to swing the pendulum far to the left, knowing all the while that the resulting swing back to the right will bring in the Sunday law to our country.  These two powers, the Papacy and Atheism, are once again working in tandem to bring a nation to ruin.

Apostate Protestantism has been invested with the same power, seat, and great authority as Paganism and Papalism, and is now almost fully matured into Spiritualism. Both Atheism and Islam will yield to this power in the upcoming Sunday law time period.

The main purpose of this article is to show the larger context of Satan’s war against God and His Word.  Satan is at war with God, and not with himself.  These three great persecuting powers are the highlight of the prophecy of Daniel 11, and are the direct counterfeit to the Three Angels’ messages of Revelation 14.  Correctly understood, they reveal to us the strategy of Satan in this war.  Not only are they a direct counterfeit to the Three Angels’ messages, but the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet are also a counterfeit to the Godhead itself.

To understand the prophecy of Daniel 11:31-45 is to correctly determine the spiritual nature of each player—whether it is a godly element or a satanic element.  There are three places where it is possible to confuse this distinction: verse 31, verse 40, and verse 41.  The failure of the leading Adventist interpretations to accurately make this distinction in verse 31, regarding the Daily, is directly responsible for their failure to make the correct distinction regarding the kings of the south and north in verse 40.  As a result, this also holds true with Edom, Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon in verse 41.

In order to correctly identify the king of the south and the king of the north, it is necessary to take a closer look at the relation between the king of verse 36 and the king of the north.  As we have seen, the leading Adventist interpretations take the Papacy from his rightful place as the king of verse 36, and then repositions him as the king of the north.  But is this correct?  As with all of the prophecy, it is critical to get this piece right.  In our next article we will see clearly that this cannot be so.

Until then,

God bless!