Spirit of Prophecy Endorsement of ‘The Daily’

“In the sixth century the papacy had become firmly established. Its seat of power was fixed in the imperial city, and the bishop of Rome was declared to be the head over the entire church. Paganism had given place to the papacy. The dragon had given to the beast “his power, and his seat, and great authority.” Revelation 13:2. And now began the 1260 years of papal oppression foretold in the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation. Daniel 7:25; Revelation 13:5-7.”  {GC 54.2}

Under the symbols of a great red dragon, a leopard-like beast, and a beast with lamblike horns, the earthly governments which would especially engage in trampling upon God’s law and persecuting His people, were presented to John.”  {ST, November 1, 1899 par. 3} 

Through paganism, and then through the Papacy, Satan exerted his power for many centuries in an effort to blot from the earth God’s faithful witnesses. Pagans and papists were actuated by the same dragon spirit. They differed only in that the Papacy, making a pretense of serving God, was the more dangerous and cruel foe. Through the agency of Romanism, Satan took the world captive. The professed church of God was swept into the ranks of this delusion, and for more than a thousand years the people of God suffered under the dragon’s ire. And when the Papacy, robbed of its strength, was forced to desist from persecution, John beheld a new power coming up to echo the dragon’s voice, and carry forward the same cruel and blasphemous work. This power, the last that is to wage war against the church and the law of God, was symbolized by a beast with lamblike horns. The beasts preceding it had risen from the sea, but this came up out of the earth, representing the peaceful rise of the nation which is symbolized. The “two horns like a lamb” well represent the character of the United States Government, as expressed in its two fundamental principles, Republicanism and Protestantism. These principles are the secret of our power and prosperity as a nation. Those who first found an asylum on the shores of America rejoiced that they had reached a country free from the arrogant claims of popery and the tyranny of kingly rule. They determined to establish a government upon the broad foundation of civil and religious liberty. { ST November 1, 1899, par. 4 }

The vast empire of Rome crumbled to pieces, and from its ruins rose that mighty power, the Roman Catholic Church. This church boasts of her infallibility and her hereditary religion. But this religion is a horror to all who are acquainted with the secrets of the mystery of iniquity. The priests of this church maintain their ascendency by keeping the people in ignorance of God’s will, as revealed in the Scriptures.  {YI, September 22, 1903 par. 6}

“In Matthew 24, in answer to the question of His disciples concerning the sign of His coming and of the end of the world, Christ had pointed out some of the most important events in the history of the world and of the church from His first to His second advent; namely, the destruction of Jerusalem, the great tribulation of the church under the pagan and papal persecutions, the darkening of the sun and moon, and the falling of the stars…  {GC 393.2} 

The line of prophecy in which these symbols are found begins with Revelation 12, with the dragon that sought to destroy Christ at His birth. The dragon is said to be Satan (Revelation 12:9); he it was that moved upon Herod to put the Saviour to death. But the chief agent of Satan in making war upon Christ and His people during the first centuries of the Christian Era was the Roman Empire, in which paganism was the prevailing religion. Thus while the dragon, primarily, represents Satan, it is, in a secondary sense, a symbol of pagan Rome.  {GC 438.2}

But there came a time when Paganism in the Roman empire fell before the advancing form of Christianity.

Then as “Paganism had given place to the Papacy. The dragon had given to the beast ‘his power, and his seat, and great authority’” That is, Satan then began to work through the Papacy, just as he had formerly worked through Paganism.

But the Papacy is not represented by the dragon, because it is necessary to introduce another symbol in order to show the change in the form of the opposition to God. Previous to the rise of the Papacy, all opposition to the Law of God had been in the form of Paganism – God had been openly defied; but from that time the opposition was carried on under the guise of professed allegiance to him.

The Papacy, however, was no less the instrument of Satan than was Pagan Rome; for all the power, the seat, and the great authority of the Papacy were given it by the dragon. And so, although the pope professes to be the vicegerent of Christ, he is, in reality, the vicegerent of Satan—he is antichrist.

The beast which is a symbol of the Papacy is introduced in Revelation 13; and following it, in the same line of prophecy, “Another beast” is seen ‘coming up,” (Revelation 13:11-14.) which exercises ‘all the power of the first beast before him,’ that is, in his sight.

This other beast must therefore be a persecuting power also; and this is shown in that ‘it spake as a dragon.’ The Papacy received all its power from Satan, and the Two-horned beast exercises the same power; It also becomes the direct agent of Satan. And its Satanic character is further shown in that it enforces the worship of the image of the beast, by means of false miracles. ‘He doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do.

The first persecuting power is represented by the dragon itself; In heathenism there was open alliance with Satan, and open defiance of God.

In the second persecuting power, the Dragon is masked; but the spirit of Satan actuates it, the dragon supplies the motive power.

In the third persecuting power, all traces of the dragon are absent, and a Lamb-like beast appears; But when it speaks, its dragon voice betrays the Satanic power concealed under a fair exterior, and shows it to be of the same family as the two preceding powers. In all the opposition to Christ and His pure religion, ‘That old serpent, called the devil, and Satan,’ –‘The god of this world,’—is the moving power; Earthly persecuting powers are simply instruments in his hands.

GC88 679.4 – 680.3 Note: This is not a quote from EGW, but the appendix comments by the trustees of the White Estate.