END OF TIME SERIES 

THE FALSE LATTER RAIN  

About 4350 years ago, the wicked confederated together to build the tower of Babel and impose their rule on the world. If permitted to fully carry out their purposes, they would have blotted the people of God from the earth, and Satan's triumph would have been complete.

But now, in the near future, a similar objective will be in mind. In the name of Christianity, men will unify to require -first a nation and then a world -to break the fourth of God's ten moral laws.

As they coerce U.S. governmental leaders to enact a national Sunday law, the excitement in the fallen churches will intensify into a false latter rain. Because men are willing to more daringly defy God's laws, Satan will be permitted to work wonders. A counterfeit revival will precede the genuine. That counterfeit revival, discussed in the first video in this series, brings on the national Sunday law. But that counterfeit revival will continue on afterward. For purposes of clarification, we will call its extension past the national Sunday law, the "false latter rain." (You will find both names mentioned in the Spirit of Prophecy, and she treats them as synonyms, not making the time distinction that we here do.)

After the national Sunday law is passed, the latter rain begins, and both the true and false rain will continue on concurrently together thereafter.

Satan will work miracles through his agents, and he will personate (appear as) Christ to the masses, work apparent miracles, endorse Sunday, and denounce Sabbathkeepers.                   

These spiritual manifestations by Satan and his agents are extremely important in the rapid working out of final events in the Sunday law crisis prior to the general close of probation. Without them, the intense zeal for strictest national -and later universal -Sunday law enforcement could never take place. Yet it will be Sunday enactment in the United States which will have empowered Satan to begin demonstrating such wonders.

Those final events, once begun, will follow one another rapidly.

Just below we will list a suggested order of early events in the Sunday law enactment. You will note that, along with hatred of Sabbathkeepers, the religious excitement/false latter rain fervor is the engine driving forward the fierce passions of the Sunday-law advocates, both before and after the national Sunday law is enacted. Let us briefly overview some of the early events in the national Sunday law crisis:

A powerful RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT, or counterfeit revival, starts In the churches, which energizes Protestants, Catholics, and spiritists to work together, yet without disturbing any denominational organizational leadership controls, which are already in place.

A tentative THREEFOLD UNION of influential Protestants, Catholics, and Spiritists begins to take shape. Hatred of Sabbathkeepers impells the churches to search for ways by which to push the U.S. government into enacting sweeping Sunday enforcements.

This threefold union quickly forms. Catholicism brings to the union the doctrine of Sunday sacredness enforced by civil power, and provides its full backing. Protestantism brings to it the driving leadership that coerces the government to legislate and enforce it. For its part, Spiritism provides the hypnotic and miracle-working power needed to carry the movement through to success.

The NATlONAL SUNDAY LAW is enacted by the United States government. Initial passage of the law is done for political reasons, in order to win favor with the churches. At this point, the full power and extent of the Sundaylaw movement is yet future.

The FALSE LATTER RAIN begins. By their heaven-daring willingness to try and enact laws to overthrow those which God has given, Satan is permitted by Heaven to more directly empower the efforts of the threefold union to win the favor of all sides to the endeavor.

SPIRITS OF DEMONS bring CONVERSIONS TO THE MOVEMENT throughout the world as devils, working with men, promote the bold, new solution to world problems. America, first, and Europe, second, will take the lead, and the rest of the world will follow. It is the amazing power underlying this movement that rivets the attention of the other nations, and finally converts them to the Sunday-law bandwagon.

Enactment of the national Sunday law In America has opened the way for SATANIC MIRACLES, HEALINGS, AND APPEARANCES on a wonder-working scale never before witnessed by human eyes. The power of the false latter rain swells immensely.

These miracles change politicians, churchmen, and laymen INTO RELIGIOUS ZEALOTS, determined to enforce Sundaykeeping by whatever penalties are required, even if they include imprisonment and death. Nearly all are swept into the ranks; although, before the loud cry begins, the great majority do not yet understand the issues involved.

Before passage of the law, there was only a religious excitement in the churches stirring them to a threefold union. At their behest, the law was enacted by politicians merely as a political favor. But, after the law is enacted, the marvelous working of Satan is unleashed to an astounding degree. Deceived minds now see the law in a new light; it has become the basis of a great, new world order, ushering in a millennium of peace and prosperity. Strictest enforcement of Sunday sacredness surely must be all that is needed to bring universal peace and prosperity and the approval of God. That, apparently, is the only real sacrifice He asks of them; the gluttony, worldliness, and selfishness can continue as usual. The theologians declare that Heaven accepts the people just as they are, and they need not put away their sins.

Enactment of the law places the nation in the hands of Satan, and he is permitted to work more openly. The wonders which follow galvanize, first America, and then, the entire world. The final crisis has come.

Let us now view the effect this false latter rain will have on, first, America, and then on the rest of the world:

[1] WHEN THE FALSE LATTER RAIN WILL OCCUR

1 - Sequence: According to Patriarchs and Prophets, 686, this special working of Satan will occur prior to the Second Advent.

"Paul, in his second letter to the Thessalonians, points to the special working of Satan in spiritualism as an event to take place immediately before the second advent of Christ. Speaking of Christ's second coming, he declares that it is 'after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.' 2 Thessalonians 2:9."-Patriarchs and Prophets, 686:1.

2 - Sequence: According to Early Writings,261, Satan will begin by raising an excitement in the fallen churches before the loud cry begins. (In a later study, we will learn that the loud cry begins just after the law is enacted.)

"I saw that God has honest children among the nominal Adventists and the fallen churches, and before the plagues shall be poured out, ministers and people will be called out from these churches and will gladly receive the truth. Satan knows this; and before the loud cry of the third angel is given, he raises an excitement in these religious bodies, that those who have rejected the truth may think that God is with them. He hopes to deceive the honest and lead them to think that God is still working for the churches." Early Writings. 261:1.

As we earlier learned, this excitement, or counterfeit revival, will lead both to the threefold union and coercion of Congress into enacting the national Sunday law. It will be this strange excitement which will produce both the threefold union, and, through it, powerfully coerce Congress into passing the national Sunday law.

But the excitement will not cease with enactment of the law -it will intensify! Passage of that law will permit Satan to exhibit devilish wonders which are astounding.

So Satan will be working both before and after the law, but especially so after it is passed. We must give a name to this: First, his heightened activity, which leads to the threefold union and the national Sunday law, -we will call the "Satanic excitement" or "counterfeit revival." Second, the continuation -and mammoth deepening of that excitement into a full blown working of wonders after enactment of the law -we will call it "Satanic wonders" "the false latter rain," or "the counterfeit latter rain. "

This present study is about this false latter rain, and the Satanic wonders which will intensify after enactment of the national Sunday law.

3 - Sequence: According to 5 Testimonies, 451, first will come the threefold union, then the enactment of the national Sunday law, then the marvelous working of Satan.

"By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near." -5 Testimonies, 451:1.

In the above quotation we are given a promised sign ("the end is near") warning us to begin moving to more retired places; cf. GC 30:2-31:0.

According to EW 261:1 Satan will raise an excitement before the national Sunday law.

According to 5T 451:1, the national Sunday law will open the door for marvelous workings by Satan. Although a Satanically-inspired excitement in the churches will bring passage of the national Sunday law, yet-once that law is enacted -a fantastic miracle-working power by Satan will be unleashed. That immense post-Sunday law miracle working power is the subject of this chapter.

4 Sequence - As we have earlier learned, according to Great Controversy, 464, Satan's counterfeit revival will precede the latter rain upon God's people. The faithful who understand the issues, who have not earlier done so, will separate from the fallen churches when the true latter rain begins falling.

"Before the final visitation of God's judgments upon the earth, there will be, among the people of the Lord, such a revival of primitive godliness as has not been witnessed since apostolic times. The Spirit and power of God will be poured out upon His children. At that time many will separate themselves from those churches in which the love of this world has supplanted love for God and His word. Many, both of ministers and people, will gladly accept those great truths which God has caused to be proclaimed at this time, to prepare a people for the Lord's second coming. The enemy of souls desires to hinder this work; and before the time for such a movement shall come, he will endeavor to prevent it, by introducing a counterfeit. In those churches which he can bring under his deceptive power, he will make it appear that God's special blessing is poured out; there will be manifest what is thought to be great religious interest. Multitudes will exult that God is working marvelously for them, when the work is that of another spirit. Under a religious guise, Satan will seek to extend his influence over the Christian world." -Great Controversy,464:1.

[2] HOW SATAN AND HIS DEVILS WILL WORK TO CAPTURE AND DESTROY

SATAN WANTS TO OVERCOME EVERYONE

1 - Satan's objective is to lead and control every Christian in the world.

"We are approaching the end of this earth's history, and Satan is working as never before. He is striving to act as director of the Christian world. With an intensity that is marvelous he is working with his lying wonders. Satan is represented as walking about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He desires to embrace the whole world in his confederacy. "-8 Manuscript Releases, 346:1 (1901).

2 - He wants to deceive and overpower all the faithful.

"The Word of God declares that when it suits the enemy's purpose, he will through his agencies manifest so great a power under a pretense of Christianity that, 'If It were possible, they shall deceive the very elect' [Matthew 24:24]."Manuscript, 125, 1901.

"As the spirits will profess faith in the Bible and manifest respect for the Institutions of the church, their work will be accepted as a manifestation of divine power. "-Great Controversy I 588:2.

3 - There will be an emotional excitement, a mingling of the true with the false -which will captivate all but those grounded in Scripture.

"In many of the revivals which have occurred during the last half century, the same influences have been at work, to a greater or less degree, that will be manifest in the more extensive movements of the future. There is an emotional excitement, 8 mingling of the true with the false, that is well adapted to mislead. Yet none need be deceived. In the light of God's word it is not difficult to determine the nature of these movements. Wherever men neglect the testimony of the Bible, turning away from those plain, soul-testing truths which require self-denial and renunciation of the world, there we may be sure that God's blessing is not bestowed. And by the rule which Christ Himself has given, 'Ye shall know them by their fruits,' it is evident that these movements are not the work of the Spirit of God." Great Controversy, 464:2-465:0.

4 - Pray that you will be able to distinguish Satan's miracle-working power from divine power.

"Go to God for yourselves, pray for divine enlightenment, that you may know that you do know what is truth, that when the wonderful miracle-working power shall be displayed, and the enemy shall come as an angel of light, you may distinguish between the genuine work of God and the imitative work of the powers of darkness." -3 Selected Messages, 389:4.

FALSE TEACHINGS WILL BE TAUGHT

1 - Spirits of devils will declare the Sabbath to have been changed.

"The saints must get a thorough understanding of present truth, which they will be obliged to maintain from the Scriptures. They must understand the state of the dead, for the spirits of devils will yet appear to them, professing to be beloved friends and relatives, who will declare to them that the Sabbath has been changed, also other unscriptural doctrines. "-Early Writings, 87.'2.

2 - The lying spirits will contradict Scripture.

"The apostles, as personated by these lying spirits, are made to contradict what they wrote at the dictation of the Holy Spirit when on earth. They deny the divine origin of the Bible." Great Controversy, 557.'1.

3 - Satan will use two special doctrinal errors to capture the people.

"Through the two great errors, the immortality of the soul and Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under his deceptions. While the former lays the foundation of spiritualism, the latter creates a bond of sympathy with Rome." Great Controversy, 588:1.

THE SPIRITS WILL DEMAND SUNDAYKEEPING

1 - The spirits will speak for Sunday sacredness, against the Sabbath and Sabbathkeepers, and declare that the laws of the land should be obeyed.

"The miracle-working power manifested through Spiritualism will exert its influence against those who choose to obey God rather than men. Communications from the spirits will declare that God has sent them to convince the rejecters of Sunday of their error, affirming that the laws of the land should be obeyed as the law of God.

They will lament the great wickedness in the world, and second the testimony of religious teachers, that the degraded state of morals is caused by the desecration of Sunday. Great will be the indignation excited against all who refuse to accept their testimony. "-Great Controversy, 590:2-591:0.

 SATAN WILL CALL GOD'S PEOPLE LAWBREAKERS

1 - God's people will be called lawbreakers.

"While Satan seeks to destroy those who honor God's law, he will cause them to be accused as lawbreakers, as men who are dishonoring God, and bringing judgments upon the world." Great Controversy, 591:1.

2 - They will be accused as anarchists (against government rule), traitors, and opposed to law and morality.

"Those who honor the Bible Sabbath will be denounced as enemies of law and order, as breaking down the moral restraints of society, causing anarchy and corruption, and calling down the judgments of God upon the earth. Their conscientious scruples will be pronounced obstinacy, stubbornness, and contempt of authority. They will be accused of disaffection toward the government. Ministers who deny the obligation of the divine law will present from the pulpit the duty of yielding obedience to the civil authorities as ordained of God. In legislative halls and courts of justice, commandment keepers will be misrepresented and condemned. A false coloring will be given to their words; the worst construction will be put upon their motives." -Great Controversy, 592:1. 

FANATICISM WILL OCCUR

1 - There will be shouting, drums, music, and dancing.

"The things you have described as taking place in Indiana, the Lord has shown me would take place just before the close of probation. Every uncouth thing will be demonstrated. There will be shouting, with drums, music, and dancing. The senses of rational beings will become so confused that they cannot be trusted to make right decisions. .

"A bedlam of noise shocks the senses and perverts that which if conducted aright might be a blessing. The powers of satanic agencies blend with the din and noise to have a carnival, and this is termed the Holy Spirit's working. . Those things which have been in the past will be in the future. Satan will make music a snare by the way in which it is conducted." -2 Selected Messages, 37:2-3, 38:1.

2 - Men will engage in strange activities, and call them the work of God.

"Let us give no place to strange exercisings, which really take the mind away from the deep movings of the Holy Spirit. God's work is ever characterized by calmness and dignity. "-2 Selected Messages, 1,.2:1,..

3 - Fanaticism, tongues, and noise will be termed special gifts of God.

"Fanaticism, false excitement, false talking In tongues, and noisy exercises have been considered gifts which God has placed in the church. Some have been deceived here. The fruits of all this have not been good, 'Ye shall know them by their fruits: Fanaticism and noise have been considered special evidences of faith. Some are not satisfied with a meeting unless they have a powerful and happy time, They work for this and get up an excitement of feeling. But the influence of such meetings is not beneficial. When the happy flight of feeling is gone they sink lower than before the meeting because their happiness did not come from the right source,"-1 Testimonies, 1,.12:1. 

MIRACLES WILL BE SEEN

1 - Through deception, Satan will produce apparent miracles. They are appearances, which have no reality in fact.

"Satan can, through a species of deceptions, perform wonders that will appear to be genuine miracles. It was this he hoped to make a test question with the Israelites at the time of their deliverance from Egypt." -2 Selected Messages, 52:4.

2 - Satan will use miracles to demonstrate his power.

"The way in which Christ worked was to preach the Word, and to relieve suffering by miraculous works of healing. But I am instructed that we cannot now work in this way, for Satan will exercise his power by working miracles. God's servants today could not work by means of miracles, because spurious works of healing, claiming to be divine, will be wrought. -2 Selected Messages, 54:2.

3 - Satan will be able to counterfeit those miracles done by God's people. A counterfeit is not the reality, but it appears so.

"God's people will not find their safety in working miracles, for Satan will counterfeit the miracles that will be wrought. -9 Testimonies, 16:1.

4 - Miracle-working power by the disobedient - only proves their connection to Satan. We can know this, because God's true followers are obedient to his laws.

"If those through whom cures are performed are disposed, on account of these manifestations, to excuse their neglect of the law of God and continue in disobedience, though they have power to any and every extent, It does not follow that they have the great power of God. On the contrary, it is the miracle-working power of the great deceiver. "-2 Selected Messages, 50:4.-51:0,

5 - The truths of the Bible are of greater importance than miracles performed in your sight. Never forget that.

"The Bible will never be superseded by miraculous manifestations. The truth must be studied; it must be searched for as hidden treasure. Wonderful illuminations will not be given aside from the Word or to take the place of it. Cling to the Word, receive the engrafted Word which will make men wise unto salvation."-2 Selected Messages, 48:2.

6 - Only by Scripture will we be able to correctly identify the counterfeit when it appears.

"The last great delusion is soon to open before us. Antichrist is to perform his marvelous works in our sight. So closely will the counterfeit resemble the true that it will be impossible to distinguish between them except by the Holy Scriptures. By their testimony every statement and every miracle must be tested." -Great Controversy, 593:1.

7 - The people of God will not be misled when the time comes for the wondrous delusions of Satan to be manifest.

"Persons will arise pretending to be Christ Himself, and claiming the title and worship which belong to the world's Redeemer. They will perform wonderful miracles of healing, and will profess to have revelations from heaven contradicting the testimony of the Scriptures. . .

"But the people of God will not be misled. The teachings of this false christ are not in accordance with the Scriptures. His blessing is pronounced upon the worshipers of the beast and his image, the very class upon whom the Bible declares that God's unmingled wrath shall be poured out."-Great Controversy, 624:1, 625:1. 

DEMONS WILL APPEAR AS MEN

1 - Miracles and healings will occur, and Satan will appear as an angel. The spirits will respect the institutions of the churches.

Because the devils are not concerned about corruption in organizational leaders, structures, committees, and their activities, they will be welcomed for the power they bring, where otherwise they might have been feared and shunned by church, business, and political leaders.

"As Spiritualism more closely imitates the nominal Christianity of the day, it has greater power to deceive and ensnare. Satan himself is converted, after the modern order of things. He will appear in the character of an angel of light. Through the agency of Spiritualism, miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and many undeniable wonders will be performed. And as the spirits will profess faith in the Bible, and manifest respect for the Institutions of the church, their work will be accepted as a manifestation of divine power." -Great Controversy, 588:2.

2 - Healings and miracles will be performed in the presence of God's people in order to counteract their message before others and, hopefully, to overcome them.

"The sick will be healed before us. Miracles will be performed in our sight. Are we prepared for the trial which awaits us when the lying wonders of Satan shall be more fully exhibited?" -1 Testimonies, 302:2.

3 - Agents of Satan will "by casting a spell" bring sickness upon people, and then work an apparent miracle by removing it.

"Men under the Influence of evil spirits will work miracles. They will make people sick by casting their spell upon them, and will then remove the spell, leading others to say that those who were sick have been miraculously healed. This Satan has done again and again."-2 Selected Messages, 53:2.

"Wonderful scenes, with which Satan will be closely connected, will soon take place. God's Word declares that Satan will work miracles. He will make people sick, and then will suddenly remove from them his satanic power. They will then be regarded as healed. These works of apparent healing will bring Seventh-day Adventists to the test."-2 Selected Messages, 53:3.

4 - Devils will appear in human form and appear to be living people.

"Satan will use every opportunity to seduce men from their allegiance to God. He and the angels who fell with him will appear on the earth as men, seeking to deceive. God's angels also will appear as men, and will use every means in their power to defeat the purposes of the enemy." -8 Manuscript Releases, 399 (1903).

5 - These demons will converse with God's people, and will try to convince others that God's people have a wrong message and a wrong faith.

"Evil angels in the form of men will talk with those who know the truth. They will misinterpret and misconstrue the statements of the messengers of God . . Have Seventh-day Adventists forgotten the warning given in the sixth chapter of Ephesians? We are engaged in a warfare against the hosts of darkness. Unless we follow our Leader closely, Satan will obtain the victory over us."-3 Selected Messages, 411:1-2.

6 - Devils in human form will even become workers in our denomination, and will speak in our meetings. We will be able to identify those who might be such spirits, because they will urge our people to disbelief of our historic message. (The following statement indicates that is a present-not a future-event!)

"Evil angels in the form of believers will work in our ranks to bring in a strong spirit of unbelief. Let not even this discourage you, but bring a true heart to the help of the Lord against the powers of satanic agencies. These powers of evil will assemble in our meetings, not to receive a blessing, but to counterwork the influences of the Spirit of God."-2 Mind, Character, and Personality, 504:3 -505:0.

7 - Satan will use all conceivable methods to ruin God's people -for he already controls so many others in the world.

"There is now need of earnest, working men and women who will seek for the salvation of souls, for Satan as a powerful general has taken the field, and in this last remnant of time he Is working through all conceivable methods to close the door against light that God would have come to His people. He is sweeping the whole world into his ranks, and the few who are faithful to God's requirements are the only ones who can ever withstand him, and even these he is trying to overcome." -3 Selected Messages, 389:3. .

8 - Spirits of devils, and their human agents, will work to convert leaders and people throughout the world to the grand new movement. They will perform healing miracles and say they have divine revelations.

"Fearful sights of a supernatural character will soon be revealed in the heavens, in token of the power of miracle-working demons. The spirits of devils will go forth to the kings of the earth and to the whole world, to fasten them in deception, and urge them on to unite with Satan in his last struggle against the government of heaven. By these agencies, rulers and subjects will be alike deceived. Persons will arise pretending to be Christ Himself, and claiming the title and worship which belong to the world's Redeemer.

They will perform wonderful miracles of healing, and will profess to have revelations from heaven contradicting the testimony of the Scriptures." - Great Controversy, 624:1.

9 - Spirits of devils will teach heresies and work miracles.

"Many will be confronted by the spirits of devils personating beloved relatives or friends, and declaring the most dangerous heresies. These visitants will appeal to our tenderest sympathies, and will work miracles to sustain their pretensions. We must be prepared to withstand them with the Bible truth that the dead know not anything, and that they who thus appear are the spirits of devils."-Great Controversy, 560:1.

10 - The world is already teetering on the brink of wholesale perversion and apostasy. By accepting spiritism and spiritist teachings, the world will have its morality destroyed.

"As the teachings of spiritualism are accepted by the churches, the restraint imposed upon the carnal heart is removed, and the profession of religion will become a cloak to conceal the basest Iniquity. A belief in spiritual manifestations opens the door to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils and thus the influence of evil angels will be felt in the churches." -Great Controversy, 603:2-604:0.

11 - The churches will not be able to withstand the inroads of spiritism. (This would be because of their acceptance of innate, unconditional immortality.)

"The popular ministry cannot successfully resist spiritualism. They have nothing wherewith to shield their flocks from its baleful influence. Much of the sad result of spiritualism will rest upon ministers of this age; for they have trampled the truth under their feet, and in its stead have preferred fables."- 1 Testimonies, 344:1.

 THE DEAD WILL APPARENTLY APPEAR

1 - Devils will personate departed saints and sinners, so that they will appear to have returned from the dead.

"It is not difficult for the evil angels to represent both saints and sinners who have died, and make these representations visible to human eyes. These manifestations will be more frequent, and developments of a more startling character will appear as we near the close of time." Evangelism, 604:3.

"It is Satan's most successful and fascinating delusion - one calculated to take hold of the sympathies of those who have laid their loved ones in the grave. Evil angels come in the form of those loved ones and relate incidents connected with their lives, and perform acts which they performed while living. In this way they lead persons to believe that their dead friends are angels, hovering over them and communicating with them. These evil angels, who assume to be the deceased friends, are regarded with a certain idolatry, and with many their word has greater weight than the Word of God." -Last Day Events, 161:3.

2 - Devils will come in the form of departed loved ones - in order to deceive people. Satan has power to bring before men the appearance of their departed friends. The counterfeit is perfect; the familiar look, the words, the tone, are reproduced with marvelous distinctness.

"Many will be confronted by the spirits of devils personating beloved relatives or friends and declaring the most dangerous heresies. These visitants will appeal to our tenderest sympathies and will work miracles to sustain their pretensions."-Story of Redemption, 398:1.

3 - Through these appearances, Satan will captivate and paralyze the thinking of many religious, professional, and political leaders. He will then use them to deceive still others.

"The forms of the dead will appear, through the cunning device of Satan, and many will link up with the one who loveth and maketh a lie. I warn our people that right among us some will turn away from the faith and give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils and by them the truth will be evil spoken of.

"A marvelous work shall take place. Ministers, lawyers, doctors, who have permitted these falsehoods to overmaster their spirit of discernment, will be themselves deceivers, united with the deceived. A spiritual drunkenness will take possession of them." - Upward Look, 317:5. 

HEATHEN DEITIES WILL APPEAR AS INCARNATE

1 - Well-known heathen deities (Buddha, Mohammed, Tao, local devil gods, etc.) will appear to have returned to our world. They will exhibit great power.

(We can be sure that such appearances will be used to advocate Sundaykeeping, and will powerfully open the non-Christian nations to the counterfeit latter rain that is spreading across the world.)

"As we near the close of time, there will be greater and still greater external parade of heathen power; heathen deities will manifest their signal power, and will exhibit themselves before the cities of the world; and this delineation has already begun to be fulfilled. "-Testimonies to Ministers, 117:5-118:0. 

SATAN PROMISES A MILLENNIUM OF HAPPINESS

1 - As the excitement heightens to fever pitch, it will be declared that the entire world is about to be converted, and the long-promised millennium of happiness is about to begin.

"Papists, Protestants, and wordings will alike accept the form of godliness without the power, and they will see in this union a grand movement for the conversion of the world, and the ushering in of the long-expected millennium. "-Great Controversy 588:3-589:0. 

SATAN WILL BRING TERRIBLE DISASTERS

1 - Through Spiritism, Satan will appear as a healer with a better system of religion; while at the same time he Is destroying lives through intemperance, and warfare; as well as through natural disasters which he has power to cause.

"Through Spiritualism Satan appears as a benefactor of the race, healing the diseases of the people, and professing to present a new and more exalted system of religious faith; but at the same time he works as a destroyer. His temptations are leading multitudes to ruin. Intemperance dethrones reason; sensual Indulgence, strife, and bloodshed follow. Satan delights in war; for it excites the worst passions of the soul, and then sweeps into eternity its victims steeped in vice and blood. It is his object to incite the nations to war against one another; for he can thus divert the minds of the people from the work of preparation to stand in the day of God.

"Satan works through the elements also to garner his harvest of unprepared souls. He has studied the secrets of the laboratories of nature, and he uses all his power to control the elements as far as God allows. When he was suffered to afflict Job, how quickly flocks and herds, servants, houses, children, were swept away, one trouble succeeding another as in a moment. It is God that shields His creatures, and hedges them in from the power of the destroyer. But the Christian world have shown contempt for the law of Jehovah; and the Lord will do just what He has declared that He would, -He will withdraw His blessings from the earth, and remove His protecting care from those who are rebelling against His law and teaching and forcing others to do the same. Satan has control of all whom God does not especially guard. He will favor and prosper some, in order to further his own designs; and he will bring trouble upon others, and lead men to believe that it is God who is afflicting them." Great Controversy, 589:1-2.

2 - At the same time that Satan is appearing among men as a great healer, he is bringing terrible disasters -so serious that large cities are being destroyed.

"While appearing to the children of men as a great physician who can heal all their maladies, he will bring disease and disaster, until populous cities are reduced to ruin and desolation." -Great Controversy, 589:3.

3 - In all of this, Satan's objective is to blame the commandment-keeping people of God as the cause of the disasters.

"And then the great deceiver will persuade men that those who serve God are causing these evils. The class that have provoked the displeasure of Heaven will charge all their troubles upon  those whose obedience to God's commandments is a perpetual reproof to transgressors. It will be declared that men are offending God by the violation of the Sunday-sabbath; that this sin has brought calamities which will not cease until Sunday observance shall be strictly enforced; and that those who present the claims of the fourth commandment, thus destroying reverence for Sunday, are troublers of the people, preventing their restoration to divine favor and temporal prosperity."-Great Controversy, 590:1.

[3] SATAN WILL PERSONATE CHRIST

There are two mentions in Great Controversy of Satan's appearance as a counterfeit Christ. It is significant that each mention of these appearances speaks of Satan's appeals to the people to hallow Sunday. Such appeals would more fittingly be given before probation closes, while men and women are still making their decision. However, in Great Controversy, it would appear that his personations are mentioned both before and after the general close of probation (GC 561-562 and 624-625) Thus it seems certain that some of these almost overmastering appearances will occur BEFORE probation ends -during the time of the marking, sealing, and loud cry. (Later in this study, we will analyze the second passage [GC 624-625] in greater detail.)

The quotations indicate that the appearance of Satan occurs after the U.S. national Sunday law, and before all the rest of the world has enacted it. It appears that Satan's personal appearances will help convince the non-Christian nations to unite in the fevered Sunday-law excitement that first gripped America, and then Europe. The sequence would be as follows: (1) The threefold union begins forming; (2) the national Sunday law is enacted; (3) the marvelous working of Satan begins, culminating in the appearance of Satan as an angel of light who claims to be Christ. (4) Astonished at these occurrences (including the appearance of pagan non-Christian deities), other nations pass national Sunday laws.

Satan's personation as Christ, along with satanic miracle working by his agents, will raise the enthusiasm about the Sunday law to a frenzy, -and carry that emotional high pitch into all other nations of earth, leading them to enact their own national Sunday laws.

The following quotations in addition, reveal that, when Satan personates, he will appear as a glorious angel claiming to be Christ -not as a mere man claiming to be Christ.

1 - Sequence: According to 5 Testimonies, 451, first will come the threefold union, then the national Sunday law, and then the marvelous working of Satan.

"By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvellous working of Satan and that the end is near." -5 Testimonies,451:1.

2 - Sequence: According to Testimonies to Ministers, 62, first is the appearance of Satan, and then the law of God will be made void throughout all nations.

"In this age antichrist will appear as the true Christ, and then the law of God will be fully made void in the nations of our world. Rebellion against God's holy law will be fully ripe. But the true leader of all this rebellion is Satan clothed as an angel of light. Men will be deceived and will exalt him to the place of God, and deify him. But Omnipotence will interpose, and to the apostate churches that unite in the exaltation of Satan, the sentence will go forth, 'Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her' [Revelation 18:8]."-Testimonies to Ministers, 62:1.

3 - Satan will appear to the Christian world and to those who have not yet decided for Sundaykeeping as the returned Christ. He will also appear to Sabbathkeepers and pretend to be the returned Christ.

The next quotation indicates that Satan will appear to be Christ near the latter part of the loud cry period as "one last desperate effort" to deceive the entire world. In this crisis their only safety will be in obedience to the Word of God-for Satan's message will always be one of disobedience to that Word.

"Satan sees that he is about to lose