whoisthatgod - Judgment Hour

"who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?"
Daniel 3:15

About 2,700 years ago, the King of Babylon passed a law forcing God’s people to worship the gods of Babylon at a certain time. This attempt to enforce idolatry in ancient times, has a direct bearing upon the people of God in the last days as they are compelled to “worship the image of the beast” at a certain time. (Rev. 13:15) But the challenge of this heathen king is not merely to God’s people, but to God Himself, to see if the True God is able to deliver His people from the power man to keep them enslaved to idolatry and sin. Said the proud king as his words echoed over the multitudes on the plain of Dura, “who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?” (Daniel 3:15)

Video Transcript (English, PDF)

The Significance of the Sabbath

Throughout the Bible and the writings of Sister White, God has made is unequivocally clear the Sabbath day derives its significance from the fact it is a sign of the worship of the “only True God, and Jesus Christ…” (John 17:3) For thus saith the Lord, “hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.“ (Ezekiel 20:20)

What follows below, are a variety of Bible verses, Ellen White statements and publications from the early Seventh-day Adventist church, demonstrating the importance and significance of the Sabbath as a sign of the worship of the True God and of separation from all idols.

Losing the Significance of the Symbol

“Thus the grand lesson given by God to the heathen, and to all people, was misconstrued and misplaced. That which was designed by God to teach lessons of truth, and to give the world clear, distinct rays of light, Nebuchadnezzar turned from its purpose, making it minister to his pride and vanity. The prophetic illustration was made to serve for the glorification of humanity. The symbol designed to unfold important events was turned into a symbol which would hinder the spread of that knowledge which God designed the kingdoms of the earth should receive. By the height and beauty of his image, by the material of which it was formed, the king sought to make error and false doctrine magnificent and attractive, more powerful, seemingly, than anything God had given.” {ST April 29, 1897, par. 12}

“The churches worship the image of the beast and receive his mark, even as the inhabitants of Babylon worshipped the golden image which Nebuchadnezzar set up in the plain of Dura. The church of God was captive in Babylon, deeply tried, deeply humiliated. The glory had departed from Israel; the sons and daughters of Judah were captive, and the sacred vessels of the sanctuary had become the property of the spoiler. Their beautiful temple was in ruins, and “Ichabod, Ichabod, The glory is departed from Israel,” was heard in songs of lamentation. [See 1 Samuel 4:21.] The outward ordinances had been allowed to take the place of God, ceremonial observances were worshipped while Christ, the foundation of all their ceremonial service, was lost sight of.” {Lt 60, 1898, par. 28}

“The people whom God had called to be the pillar and ground of the truth had become representatives of Satan. They were doing the work that he desired them to do, taking a course to misrepresent the character of God, and cause the world to look upon Him as a tyrant. The very priests who ministered in the temple had lost sight of the significance of the service they performed. They had ceased to look beyond the symbol to the thing signified. In presenting the sacrificial offerings they were as actors in a play. The ordinances which God Himself had appointed were made the means of blinding the mind and hardening the heart. God could do no more for man through these channels. The whole system must be swept away.” {DA 36.2}

“And when the Reality came in the person of Christ they did not recognize in Him the antitype of all their types, the substance of all their shadows. They rejected the antitype, and clung to their types and useless ceremonies. They knew not when type met antitype in the Son of God. The sum was proved, the Son of God had come, but they continued to ask for the proof.” (Ms 50, 1898, par. 18)

“The fourth commandment, which Rome has endeavored to set aside, is the only precept of the decalogue that points to God as the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and thus distinguishes the true God from all false gods. The Sabbath was instituted to commemorate the work of creation, and thus to direct the minds of men to the true and living God.” (4SP 281.1)

“In this warfare the Sabbath of the fourth commandment will be the great point at issue, for in the Sabbath commandment the great Law-giver identifies Himself as the Creator of the heavens and the earth.” (7LtMs, Ms 24, 1891, par. 16-17)

“No other institution which was committed to the Jews tended so fully to distinguish them from surrounding nations as did the Sabbath. God designed that its observance should designate them as His worshipers. It was to be a token of their separation from idolatry, and their connection with the true God. As the Jews departed from God, and failed to make the righteousness of Christ their own by faith, the Sabbath lost its significance to them.” (DA 283.3-4)

Have Seventh-day Adventists also “failed to make the righteousness of Christ their own by faith?” If so, “has the Sabbath lost its significance to them” as a “token of their separation from idolatry, and their connection with the true God?”

“The spirit of resistance that has been exhibited in presenting the righteousness of Christ as our only hope has grieved the Spirit of God; and the result of this opposition has required the delivery of this matter the more earnestly and decidedly, causing deeper searching into the subject and calling out an array of arguments that the messenger himself did not know was so firm, so full, so thorough upon this subject of justification by faith and the righteousness of Christ as our only hope. The subject has been brought before many minds. The sad part of the matter is that some who ought to have stood in the clear light on this subject were working on the enemy’s side of the question…That light they have cast aside as unworthy of their respect.” {Lt 116, 1890, par. 1,4}

“The good works in which God wishes us to walk are already prepared for us. God himself has wrought them for us, and laid them up for us. We find them in Christ. In Him the works of God are manifest, and they are ours by faith. By faith we receive Christ, and receiving Him we have the finished works of God. But when we have the finished works of God, it is evident that we have God’s rest. The true keeping of God’s Sabbath, therefore, instead of being an attempt to get righteousness by works, is the acceptance of righteousness by faith. It means simply trusting in the Lord for everything; letting Him be the One who both wills and works in us.
This is why those who do not have faith in Christ cannot keep the Sabbath. Only by faith do we enter into God’s rest. Without perfect faith there can be no Sabbath keeping, because only by faith do we receive the perfect work of God in Christ.
How plain the Sabbath of the Lord makes the fact that there can he no such thing as a man making himself righteous by his own works. For instance, a man who does not know this fact, is striving to make himself righteous. Righteousness is right doing, and the righteousness that is required is the righteousness of God. Therefore only God’s doing, God’s work, can be counted righteous. So the man is trying to do God’s work. We say to him, “My dear friend, you are working for nothing. How foolish in you to be trying to do a work that is already finished. The works were finished from the foundation of the world; and the proof of it is found in the fact that God rested the seventh day from all His works. Moreover, the work is that which only God could do, and that is why He has finished it. Leave off your own work, accept God’s finished work, and thus be at rest.” In the Sabbath of the Lord we find the fulness of the fact that “to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” Rom. iv. 5. {PTUK December 8, 1898, p. 775.11-13}

“But I think anybody here can see that the third angel’s message is righteousness by faith; for the Sabbath is righteousness by faith; for by it a man comes into God’s works, and those works are perfect.” (GCDB March 8, 1897, page 307, EJ Waggoner)

Remember:

“As the Jews departed from God, and failed to make the righteousness of Christ their own by faith, the Sabbath lost its significance to them.” (DA 283.4)

“He [Kellogg] then stated that his former views regarding the trinity had stood in his way of making a clear and absolutely correct statement but that within a short time he had come to believe in the trinity and could now see pretty clearly where all the difficulty was and believed that he could clear up the matter satisfactorily… He told me that he now believed in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost and his view was that it was God the Holy Ghost and not God the Father that filled all space and every living thing. He said that if he had believed this before writing the book, he could have expressed his views without giving the wrong impression the book now gives.” (Letter by A. G. Daniells to W. C. White on October 29, 1903)” (Letter, A. G. Daniells to W. C. White Oct 29th 1903)

“…his [Dr. Kellogg’s] mind is being worked by the very one who seduced the angels of God in the heavenly courts.” The efforts that Dr. Kellogg makes to call the youth to Battle Creek, notwithstanding the plain testimonies that have been given, show that he is working under the advice of the one who talked with Eve. Through this subtle reasoning the future of the cause is imperiled. I shall now have to be far more explicit than I have been in the past. I shall be compelled to make statements that I have not wanted to make, but I must be more explicit in order save the flock of God from deceptive influences.” (13MR 378.3)

“During the past few months, I have had so much writing to do in regard to the personality of God, and other matters of grave importance, that I have worked very steadily, early and late. I have endeavored to warn our people against the delusions of the last days.” Lt27-1904.2

“Those who try to bring in theories that would remove the pillars of our faith concerning the sanctuary, or concerning the personality of God or of Christ, are working as blind men. They are seeking to bring in uncertainties and to set the people of God adrift, without an anchor.” (Ms62-1905.14)

A Similar Fate for Seventh-day Adventists?

“The enemy of souls has sought to bring in the supposition that a great reformation was to take place among Seventh-day Adventists, and that this reformation would consist in giving up the doctrines which stand as the pillars of our faith, and engaging in a process of reorganization. Were this reformation to take place, what would result? The principles of truth that God in His wisdom has given to the remnant church, would be discarded. Our religion would be changed. The fundamental principles that have sustained the work for the last fifty years would be accounted as error. A new organization would be established. Books of a new order would be written. A system of intellectual philosophy would be introduced. The founders of this system would go into the cities, and do a wonderful work. The Sabbath of course, would be lightly regarded, as also the God who created it. Nothing would be allowed to stand in the way of the new movement. The leaders would teach that virtue is better than vice, but God being removed, they would place their dependence on human power, which, without God, is worthless. Their foundation would be built on the sand, and storm and tempest would sweep away the structure.“
Who has authority to begin such a movement? We have our Bibles. We have our experience, attested to by the miraculous working of the Holy Spirit. We have a truth that admits of no compromise. Shall we not repudiate everything that is not in harmony with this truth?” {1SM 204.2-205.1}

Remember the Jews:

“They had ceased to look beyond the symbol to the thing signified. In presenting the sacrificial offerings they were as actors in a play. The ordinances which God Himself had appointed were made the means of blinding the mind and hardening the heart. God could do no more for man through these channels. The whole system must be swept away.” {DA 36.2}

Denying Our Past History

Q. Did Seventh-day Adventists Believe Jesus was a created being?

“You are mistaken in supposing that S. D. Adventists teach that Christ was ever created. They believe, on the contrary, that he was “begotten” of the Father, and that he can properly be called God and worshiped as such. They believe, also, that the worlds, and everything which is, was created by Christ in conjunction with the Father. They believe, however, that somewhere in the eternal ages of the past there was a point at which Christ came into existence. They think that it is necessary that God should have antedated Christ in his being, in order that Christ could have been begotten of him, and sustain to him the relation of son. They hold to the distinct personality of the Father and Son, rejecting as absurd that feature of Trinitarianism which insists that God, and Christ, and the Holy Spirit are three persons, and yet but one person. S. D. Adventists hold that God and Christ are one in the sense that Christ prayed that his disciples might be one; i.e., one in spirit, purpose, and labor.” (W. H. Littlejohn, Review & Herald, April 17, 1883)

“While both are of the same nature, the Father is first in point of time. He is also greater in that He had no beginning, while Christ’s personality had a beginning.” – E. J. Waggoner, October 1,1889

“Central to the concerns of Martin were four points that were widely held concerning Adventist beliefs: “(1) that the atonement of Christ was not completed upon the cross; (2) that salvation is the result of grace plus the works of the law; (3) that the Lord Jesus Christ was a created being, not from all eternity;* (4) and that He partook of man’s sinful fallen nature at the incarnation.”18 There were other issues, but those four were crucial since the evangelicals could not consider Adventists to be true Christians unless they were orthodox on them.” (QUESTIONS ON DOCTRINE: SYMBOL OF ADVENTIST THEOLOGICAL TENSION by George R. Knight, p7 — Download PDF)

“The Scriptures nowhere speak of Christ as a created being, but on the contrary plainly state that he was begotten of the Father. (See remarks on Rev. 3:14, where it is shown that Christ is not a created being.) But while as the Son he does not possess a co-eternity of past existence with the Father, the beginning of his existence, as the begotten of the Father, antedates the entire work of creation, in relation to which he stands as joint creator with God. John 1:3; Heb. 1:2” (Uriah Smith, 1882, Daniel and the Revelation, p. 430)

“God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son,”—not a son by creation, as were the angels, nor a son by adoption, as is the forgiven sinner, but a Son begotten in the express image of the Father’s person…” (ST May 30, 1895, par. 3)

* While trinitarians understand the phrase “from all eternity” or “from everlasting” to mean having existed throughout eternity past and without beginning, this is not the teaching of the Bible. Proverbs 8:22-26 and Psalms 90:2 clearly define the phrase “from everlasting” to mean “before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world.” (Psalms 90:2) That Christ was “from all eternity” does not mean that Christ was without beginning, but means that He was “brought forth: While as yet he had not made the earth…” (Proverbs 8:25-26) As Uriah Smith correctly wrote, “the beginning of his existence, as the begotten of the Father, antedates the entire work of creation…” (Uriah Smith, 1882, Daniel and the Revelation, p. 430)

“The Eternal Father, the unchangeable one, gave his only begotten Son, tore from his bosom Him who was made in the express image of his person, and sent him down to earth to reveal how greatly he loved mankind.” (RH July 9, 1895, par. 13)

“Though sin had produced a gulf between man and his God, divine benevolence provided a plan to bridge that gulf. And what material did He use? A part of Himself.” (Lt36a-1890.11)

“Messages of every order and kind have been urged upon Seventh-day Adventists to take the place of the truth which, point by point, has been sought out by prayerful study and testified to by the miracle-working power of the Lord. But the waymarks which have made us what we are are to be preserved, and they will be preserved as God has signified through His Word and through the testimony of His Spirit. He calls upon us to hold firmly, with the grip of faith, to the fundamental principles that are based upon unquestionable authority.” {Ms 44, 1905, par. 21}

“One thing it is certain is soon to be realized—the great apostasy, which is developing and increasing and waxing stronger and will continue to do so until the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout. We are to hold fast the first principles of our denominated faith and go forward from strength to increased faith. Ever we are to keep the faith that has been substantiated by the Holy Spirit of God from the earlier events of our experience until the present time. We need now larger breadth and deeper, more earnest, unwavering faith in the leadings of the Holy Spirit. If we needed the manifest proof of the Holy Spirit’s power to confirm truth in the beginning, after the passing of the time, we need today all the evidence in the confirmation of the truth, when souls are departing from the faith and giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. There must not be any languishing of soul now. If ever there was a period of time when we needed the Holy Spirit’s power in our discourses, in our prayers, in every action proposed, it is now. We are not to stop at the first experience, but while we bear the same message to the people, this message is to be strengthened and enlarged. We are to see and realize the importance of the message made certain by its divine origin. We are to follow on to know the Lord, that we may know that His going forth is prepared as the morning. Our souls need the quickening from the Source of all power. We may be strengthened and confirmed in the past experience that holds us to the essential points of truth which have made us what we are—Seventh-day Adventists.” (Letter 326-1905.2)

God Defined in 1889

The Fundamental Principles of 1889

I – That there is one God, a personal, spiritual being, the creator of all things, omnipotent, omniscient, and eternal; infinite in wisdom, holiness, justice, goodness, truth, and mercy; unchangeable, and everywhere present by his representative, the Holy Spirit. OT: Exodus 20:2-3; Deuteronomy 6:4; Deuteronomy 4:35; Psalm 83:18; Isaiah 42:8; Isaiah 43:10-11; Isaiah 45:5-6; Malachi 2:10; Psalm 139:7. NT: John 17:3; Acts 3:13, 26; John 4:22-23; 1 Corinthians 8:4-7; 1 Corinthians 11:3; Galatians 3:20; Ephesians 4:6; 1 Timothy 2:5; James 2:19.

II – That there is one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Eternal Father, the one by whom he created all things, and by whom they do consist; that he took on him the nature of the seed of Abraham for the redemption of our fallen race; that he dwelt among men, full of grace and truth, lived our example, died our sacrifice, was raised for our justification, ascended on high to be our only mediator in the sanctuary in heaven, where, through the merits of his shed blood, he secures the pardon and forgiveness of the sins of all those who penitently come to him; and as the closing portion of his work as priest, before he takes his throne as king, he will make the great atonement for the sins of all such, and their sins will then be blotted out (Acts 3:19) and borne away from the sanctuary, as shown in the service of the Levitical priesthood, which foreshadowed and prefigured the ministry of our Lord in heaven. See Leviticus 16; Hebrews 8:4, 5; 9:6, 7; 2 John 1:3.

Remember:

“Those who passed through these experiences are to be as firm as a rock to the principles that have made us Seventh-day Adventists. They are to be workers together with God, binding up the testimony and sealing the law among His disciples. Those who took part in the establishment of our work upon the foundation of Bible truth; those who know the waymarks that have pointed out the right path are to be regarded as workers of the highest value. They can speak from personal experience, regarding the truths entrusted to them. These men are not to permit their faith to be changed to infidelity; they are not to permit the banner of the third angel to be taken from their hands. They are to hold the beginning of their confidence firm unto the end. The Lord has declared that the history of the past shall be rehearsed as we enter upon the closing work. Every truth that He has given for these last days is to be proclaimed to the world. Every pillar that He has established is to be strengthened. We cannot now step off the foundation that God has established. We cannot now enter into any new organization; for this would mean apostasy from the truth.” {Ms 129, 1905, par. 6}

VS

God Re-Defined in 1980

The Fundamental Beliefs of 1980 to Present Day

2. There is one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a unity of three coeternal Persons. God is immortal, all-powerful, all-knowing, above all, and ever present. He is infinite and beyond human comprehension, yet known through His self-revelation. God, who is love, is forever worthy of worship, adoration, and service by the whole creation. (Gen.1:26; Deut. 6:4; Isa. 6:8; Matt. 28:19; John 3:16 2 Cor. 1:21, 22; 13:14; Eph. 4:4-6; 1 Peter 1:2.)

3. God the eternal Father is the Creator, Source, Sustainer, and Sovereign of all creation. He is just and holy, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. The qualities and powers exhibited in the Son and the Holy Spirit are also those of the Father. (Gen. 1:1; Deut. 4:35; Ps. 110:1, 4; John 3:16; 14:9; 1 Cor. 15:28; 1 Tim. 1:17; 1 John 4:8; Rev. 4:11.)

4. God the eternal Son became incarnate in Jesus Christ. Through Him all things were created, the character of God is revealed, the salvation of humanity is accomplished, and the world is judged. Forever truly God, He became also truly human, Jesus the Christ. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived and experienced temptation as a human being, but perfectly exemplified the righteousness and love of God. By His miracles He manifested God’s power and was attested as God’s promised Messiah. He suffered and died voluntarily on the cross for our sins and in our place, was raised from the dead, and ascended to heaven to minister in the heavenly sanctuary in our behalf. He will come again in glory for the final deliverance of His people and the restoration of all things. (Isa. 53:4-6; Dan. 9:25-27; Luke 1:35; John 1:1-3, 14; 5:22; 10:30; 14:1-3, 9, 13; Rom. 6:23; 1 Cor. 15:3, 4; 2 Cor. 3:18; 5:17-19; Phil. 2:5-11; Col. 1:15-19; Heb. 2:9-18; 8:1, 2.)

5. God the eternal Spirit was active with the Father and the Son in Creation, incarnation, and redemption. He is as much a person as are the Father and the Son. He inspired the writers of Scripture. He filled Christ’s life with power. He draws and convicts human beings; and those who respond He renews and transforms into the image of God. Sent by the Father and the Son to be always with His children, He extends spiritual gifts to the church, empowers it to bear witness to Christ, and in harmony with the Scriptures leads it into all truth. (Gen. 1:1, 2; 2 Sam. 23:2; Ps. 51:11; Isa. 61:1; Luke 1:35; 4:18; John 14:16-18, 26; 15:26; 16:7-13; Acts 1:8; 5:3; 10:38; Rom. 5:5; 1 Cor. 12:7-11; 2 Cor. 3:18; 2 Peter 1:21.)

“In reviewing our past history, having travelled over every step of advance to our present standing, I can say, Praise God! As I see what the Lord has wrought, I am filled with astonishment and with confidence in Christ our leader. We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history.” (Lt 32, 1892, par. 38)

“On the other side of Adventism’s theological dynamic during the 1940s were the Froomled forces that were seeking to demonstrate that Seventh-day Adventists were truly in the mainstream of orthodox evangelicalism. Their emphasis led to the revising of certain current Adventist books to remove anti-trinitarian ideas and statements about Christ having a sinful human nature and to demonstrate that Adventism was a part of mainline Christianity through such works as Froom’s Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers and F. D. Nichol’s Midnight Cry.” (P5-6)

“All this has made it desirable and necessary for us to declare our position anew upon the great fundamental teachings of the Christian faith, and to deny every statement or implication that Christ, the second person of the Godhead, was not one with the Father from all eternity, and that His death on the cross was not a full and complete sacrificial atonement. The belief of Seventh-day Adventists on these great truths is clear and emphatic. And we feel that we should not be identified with, or stigmatized for, certain limited and faulty concepts held by some, particularly in our formative years.” (Questions on Doctrine p32 by George Knight)

I should like to say that we are delighted to do justice to a much-maligned group of sincere believers, and in our minds and hearts take them out of the group of utter heretics like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, and Christian Scientists, to acknowledge them as redeemed brethren and members of the Body of Christ.” – Donald Barnhouse, Are Seventh-day Adventists Christians? (P11)

“This false sabbath is to be enforced by an oppressive law. Satan and his angels are wide awake and intensely active, working with energy and perseverance through human instrumentalities to bring about his purpose of obliterating the knowledge of God.“ (2SM 406.3)

An Attempt to Enforce Idolatry

“For refusing to worship the great golden image which Nebuchadnezzar had set up, the three Hebrews were cast into the fiery furnace. But God preserved His servants in the midst of the flames, and the attempt to enforce idolatry resulted in bringing the knowledge of the true God before the assembled princes and great men of the vast kingdom of Babylon.” (2TT 153.2)

“Question: What is Sunday, or the Lord’s Day in general? Answer: It is a day dedicated by the Apostles TO THE HONOUR OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY, and in memory that Christ our Lord arose from the dead upon Sunday, sent down the holy Ghost on a Sunday, &c. and therefore is called the Lord’s Day. It is also called Sunday from the old Roman denomination of Dies Solis, the day of the sun, to which it was sacred.” — (The Douay Catechism of 1649, p. 143)

“In changing the fourth precept of God’s law, the papal power has thought itself able to exalt itself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped. This was the very work that the prophecy foretold would be done by this power. In trampling upon the fourth commandment, the first commandment is broken. Their idolatry is similar to that of Israel’s when she substituted a god which her own hands had made, for the living and true God, and followed after the example of Egypt; for when the Catholics substitute a sabbath of their own making for that which God commanded, they too worship that which their own hands have made, and follow the example of the heathen who worshiped the sun on the first day of the week.” ST November 19, 1894, par. 1

Note: If, “in trampling upon the fourth commandment, the first commandment is broken,” then trampling upon the first commandment, must mean the fourth commandment is broken also. The Sabbath and the worship of the God of the Sabbath are linked together. The enforcement of Sunday as the Mark of the Beast then, will likewise be an “attempt to enforce idolatry.” The result of this attempt on the plains of Dura “resulted in bringing the knowledge of the true God before the assembled princes and great men of the vast kingdom of Babylon,” so then, this same attempt to enforce idolatry at the end of time will have the same result; and will bring “the knowledge of the true God before the assembled princes and great men” of the Earth. At the root of the controversy over the day of worship, is the God being worshipped.

“It will also be noticed that this ‘league’ has other plans besides the intention to prosecute those who will not bow to their man-made Sabbath. Perhaps they will prosecute those who do not believe in the Trinity. Their, spiritual ancestors, the Puritans, considered the arrest and punishment of those who rejected this church dogma as something pleasing to the Deity. Our Unitarian friends should be on the alert. The doctrine of the Trinity and the sacredness of Sunday are both orthodox plums of marvelous sweetness to the ministerial tooth. If all may be compelled to receive one, there is no good reason why all may not be required to accept the other.” (Review and Herald, Nov.20, 1894, Vol.71, No.46, p.730, Author Unknown)

“How did Nebuchadnezzar know that the form of the fourth was like the Son of God? He had heard of the Son of God from the Hebrew captives that were in his kingdom. They had brought the knowledge of the living God who ruleth all things. Then Nebuchadnezzar called forth the servants of God, and they had not so much as the smell of fire upon them. If you are called to go through the fiery furnace for Christ’s sake, Jesus will be at your side. “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walketh through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” {RH May 3, 1892, par. 10}

Remember:

“The doctrine of the Trinity and the sacredness of Sunday are both orthodox plums of marvelous sweetness to the ministerial tooth. If all may be compelled to receive one, there is no good reason why all may not be required to accept the other.” (Review and Herald, Nov.20, 1894, Vol.71, No.46, p.730)

“The appointed day came, and a vast concourse from all “people, nations, and languages,” assembled on the plain of Dura. In harmony with the king’s command, when the sound of music was heard, the whole company “fell down and worshipped the golden image.” On that eventful day the powers of darkness seemed to be gaining a signal triumph; the worship of the golden image bade fair to become connected permanently with the established forms of idolatry recognized as the state religion of the land. Satan hoped thereby to defeat God’s purpose of making the presence of captive Israel in Babylon a means of blessing to all the nations of heathendom.” {PK 506.1}

“The spirit of persecution manifested by paganism and the papacy is again to be revealed. Prophecy declares that this power will say “to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast.” [Revelation 13:14.] The image is made to the first or leopard-like beast, which is the one brought to view in the third angel’s message. By this first beast is represented the Roman Church, an ecclesiastical body clothed with civil power, having authority to punish all dissenters. The image to the beast represents another religious body clothed with similar power. The formation of this image is the work of that beast whose peaceful rise and mild professions render it so striking a symbol of the United States. Here is to be found an image of the papacy. When the churches of our land, uniting upon such points of faith as are held by them in common, shall influence the State to enforce their decrees and sustain their institutions, then will Protestant America have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy. Then the true church will be assailed by persecution, as were God’s ancient people. Almost every century furnishes examples of what bigotry and malice can do under a plea of serving God by protecting the rights of Church and State. Protestant churches that have followed in the steps of Rome by forming alliance with worldly powers have manifested a similar desire to restrict liberty of conscience. In the seventeenth century thousands of non-conformist ministers suffered under the rule of the Church of England. Persecution always follows religious favoritism on the part of secular governments.” – The Great Controversy, Vol IV, p27.2 {4SP 277.2}

“Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.”
(Dan 3:26-28)

“Thus these youth, imbued with the Holy Spirit, declared to the whole nation their faith, that He whom they worshiped was the only true and living God. This demonstration of their own faith was the most eloquent presentation of their principles. In order to impress idolaters with the power and greatness of the living God, his servants must reveal their own reverence for God. They must make it manifest that he is the only object of their honor and worship, and that no consideration, not even the preservation of life itself, can induce them to make the least concession to idolatry.”
{SpTEd 210.1}

"who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?" Daniel 3:15