2:42 Thessalonians 2:4

The verse describes a self-exalting power called the man of sin who opposes everything called God or worshiped and takes his seat in God's temple presenting himself as God.CET 241.1+2 His revealing comes after a great falling away and before the day of Christ's coming, growing out of corrupting errors already working in the apostolic age.CET 241.1+3 That power is the papal power, energized by Satan and acting as antichrist in God's place.4SP 51.1+3 He exalts himself above God above all by daring to change God's law, setting aside the seventh-day Sabbath that points to the Creator and putting the observance of the first day in its place on church authority alone.4SP 55.1–56.2+4 Where that counterfeit sabbath is honored in preference to the Lord's Sabbath he is exalted above the Creator, and in the end his enforced worship will bring the test between God's seal and his mark until he is destroyed at Christ's coming.Ms 92, 1894, par. 13+4

The man of sin opposes and lifts himself above every being and every object that is called God or that is worshiped, taking his seat in the temple of God and displaying himself as God.CET 241.1+4 His revealing comes after a falling away and before the day of Christ's coming, so the church was not to expect the Lord's return until this power had been revealed and had carried forward its work.GC88 49.1+4 That great apostasy began in the apostolic era, for the mystery of iniquity was already working in Paul's day as corrupting errors crept into the church to prepare the way for its later development into a falling away.CET 241.1+4

His self-exaltation expresses the very principle of sin as transgression of God's law, and it reflects Satan's ambition to raise his throne above God and to be like the Most High, an ambition that ends in downfall amid a controversy growing stronger toward the end of earth's history.Ms 141a, 1897, par. 25–27 In the surrounding verses this power is linked with Satan's deceptive signs and with the beast's demand for worship and its mark.Ms 24, 1891, par. 23–24 This portion of Scripture is one the churches should study.Lt 28, 1897, par. 21 The apostasy connected with it will come to an end: Satan and evil persons may appear to gain the victory, but those who believe a lie will be defeated, and truth and righteousness will triumph.Ms 24, 1891, par. 32

The falling away foretold took shape as a gradual departure after the last apostle died, when some Christians left the simple teaching of Christ and joined in heathen practices, the apostasy developing over time rather than appearing at once.CET 241.1+1 The compromise of paganism with Christianity produced a gigantic system of false religion that displaced God's requirements with human theories and traditions and sought dominion over the earth.4SP 51.2–52.1+2 That system was the masterpiece of Satan's power and a monument of his effort to seat himself upon the throne to rule the earth according to his will.GC88 49.2–50.1

It grew little by little, at first in stealth and silence and then more openly as it increased in strength and gained control of minds, carrying forward a deceptive and blasphemous work by bringing the customs of heathenism almost imperceptibly into the church.GC88 49.2–50.1 The spirit of compromise and conformity was restrained for a time by fierce persecution under paganism.GC88 49.2–50.1 When persecution ceased and Christianity entered the courts and palaces of kings, she laid aside the humble simplicity of Christ and His apostles for the pomp and pride of pagan priests and rulers and substituted human theories and traditions for the requirements of God.GC88 49.2–50.1 The nominal conversion of Constantine in the early part of the fourth century brought the world, cloaked with a form of righteousness, into the church, corruption rapidly progressed, paganism while appearing to be vanquished became the conqueror, its spirit controlled the church, and its doctrines, ceremonies and superstitions were incorporated into the faith and worship of professed followers of Christ.GC88 49.2–50.1

The exaltation was carried out through half-converted pagans, ambitious prelates, world-loving churchmen and great church councils that pressed the Sabbath lower and exalted Sunday until the pagan festival was honored as a divine institution while the Bible Sabbath was pronounced a relic of Judaism and its observers declared accursed.GC88 53.2–3 When the man of sin had come to maturity, he put away the spiritual gifts along with the faith, hope and charity of primitive Christians.SG1 7.3–8.2 During the period of papal supremacy this power suppressed the Scriptures with terrible results, especially upon France.GC88 265.3–266.3

Two rival popes each claimed obedience, enforced demands by terrible anathemas against adversaries and promises of heavenly rewards to supporters, and called the faithful to make war on each other, and each spoke truth in condemning the other as antichrist.GC 86.2–3 God overruled the schism to weaken the papacy and give rest and opportunity for the growth of the Reformation.GC 86.2–3 By its strife, corruption, crimes, scandals and torrents of blood poured out for conflicting claims, the people were enabled to see what the papacy really was and to turn from the contending popes to Jesus, the Prince of Peace.GC 86.2–3 The working of the man of sin and the scenes connected with that working are the last features plainly revealed in this earth's history, to be understood in the order of prophetic history with historical events showing fulfillment down to the end.Ms 31, 1896, par. 1–2+1

The man of sin, the son of perdition, is the papal power — Rome, the papacy, the pope, the Roman Catholic power — occupying the temple of God and claiming God's place.4SP 51.1+4 He opposes and exalts himself above God and above every being or object called God or worshiped, taking God's seat in God's house and presenting himself as God.4SP 51.1+4 His revelation follows a falling away in the Christian church, and errors already entering and creeping into the church in Paul's day prepared the way for his development.4SP 51.1+4 He is the blasphemous power foretold to rise and wage war against God's people before Christ's coming, so the church could not expect the Lord's return until he had been revealed and carried out his work.GC88 49.1+4 His self-exaltation belongs to the mystery of iniquity, and he will be destroyed at Christ's coming.ST May 28, 1894+1

He is antichrist, a power energized by Satan that opposes God, exalts itself above God, claims divine authority and a place belonging to God, and is linked to making God's law void and promoting a false Sabbath for worship with combined human and superhuman power.Ms 104, 1893, par. 15–20+2 The pope's throne is Satan's throne.GC 141.3+1 The pope is not Christ's vicar but the adversary of the Lord and the apostle of the devil.GC 141.3+2 Those who presume to judge others' motives and set themselves up as the standard of character act on antichrist's side, usurping the Son of God's authority to judge. Antichrist's meaning must be understood from the prophecies, with Daniel and John interpreting one another and fulfillment in the last days clarifying truths, since misunderstanding leads people to take its side.ROTS 11.4–12.1

He is the same power as the little horn of Daniel 7, which represents the papacy, and one prophecy is a complement of the other.GC 445.2–446.2+1 Through this power Satan manifests his own character and brings out the principles of his government.ST May 28, 1894+1 Satan works through his vicegerent and delegate, the proud pontiff claiming to be Christ's representative, under pretense of godliness to take the world captive, make God's law void, and claim the worship he failed to gain from Christ.ST May 28, 1894+4 The man of sin is a gigantic system of false religion produced by compromise between paganism and Christianity, a masterpiece of Satan's power and monument of his effort to seat himself upon the throne to rule the earth according to his will.GC88 49.2–50.1

The self-exalting figure is ultimately Satan himself, who works through antichrist appearing as the true Christ.RCNBP 16.1+1 Disguised as an angel of light, Satan is exalted and worshiped as God, and people are deceived into raising him to God's place and deifying him while rebellion against God's law reaches maturity and nations make the law void.RCNBP 16.1+2 He strives to make himself as God, take the place of God's throne, claim divine authority, seek worship, bring people under his dominion, destroy all who oppose his power, and oppose those who resist him.Ms 139, 1898, par. 29–33+2 He confirms his claim to be God by miracle-working power, employing every object in the earth, in the air, and in the water, while nearly the whole world bows before him and wonders after the beast.Ms 93, 1907, par. 15–24+1 Those yielding to his claims surge in warfare against Creator and Redeemer, thinking themselves mighty in countless numbers, while unseen over them hangs a cloud of judicial wrath containing the elements that destroyed Sodom, and God then judges the apostate churches uniting in this exaltation.RCNBP 16.1+2

Sitting in the temple as God means intercepting like a thief the noble and everlasting provision, unfading dowry, eternal crown and scepter that God gave His queen and spouse the church.GC88 237.1 It means claiming to be supreme bishop and lord of lords instead of being servant of servants.GC 237.1–238.2+1 Instead of serving as a shepherd he acts as a tyrant and wolf to the sheep, seeks lordship over others, and brings God's commands into contempt.GC 237.1–238.2+1 His claim to sit as God in God's temple represents his attempt to rule as God to carry out his own schemes.Ms 128, 1897, par. 10–11 This is seen when Catholic authorities set themselves above God, assume God's place and prerogatives, and speak with God's authority and delegated power.Ms 128, 1897, par. 10–11+2

The exaltation above God is daring to change divine law, and the attack centers on the fourth commandment, the only precept that unmistakably points all mankind to the true and living God as Creator of heaven and earth and thereby distinguishes Him from all false gods.4SP 55.1–56.2+2 The seventh day was sanctified as a rest-day for man as a memorial of creation, designed to keep the living God ever before minds as the source of being and the object of reverence and worship.GC 53.3–54.1+1 Satan directs his efforts especially against that commandment because it identifies the Law-giver as Creator, striving to turn men from allegiance to God and obedience to His law by making that Sabbath void and exalting a spurious sabbath in its place.GC 53.3–54.1+2 This displacement of God's memorial sign of His work in creating the world made a breach in the law, which God's people have the specified work to repair by keeping all His commandments and bearing His sign as restorers of paths to dwell in.19MR 243.1–4+1

The change substitutes observance of the first day for the seventh-day Sabbath without divine or scriptural authority, on the authority of the church alone.4SP 279.1–2+1 On his own authority the pope trampled God's sanctified day under foot and put in its place one of the six laboring days, placing a common working day in the very bosom of the Decalogue.EW 55.1+2 By removing the fourth commandment from the Decalogue and substituting a humanly chosen day, the power openly sets church authority above God and makes itself equal with God and even above God.ST Jul 24, 1884+2 Clear and vigorous moral powers would not choose the common in place of the sacred merely because it is more convenient to be in harmony with the world, and general disobedience does not change or detract one particle from the positive command to keep holy the seventh day upon which God placed His sanctity.ST Jul 1, 1880

Wherever the papal Sunday Sabbath is honored in preference to the Sabbath of the Lord, there the man of sin is exalted above the Creator of heaven and earth.Ms 51, 1899, par. 14–17+2 Claiming power to change God's day and to legislate in divine things, and gaining acceptance of the spurious sabbath in place of the day of God's appointment, is the act by which self-exaltation above all that is called God is shown.Ms 51, 1899, par. 14–17 Whoever understandingly keeps the law as thus changed gives supreme honor to the power that made the change, and such obedience to papal laws is a mark of allegiance to the pope in the place of God.4SP 279.1–2+1 That spurious Sunday Sabbath accepted in place of the true Sabbath is the mark of the beast, identified as observing the first day of the week and distinguishing those who acknowledge papal authority from those who acknowledge God's authority, making the distinction between worshipers of God who keep God's commandments and worshipers of the beast who violate them.ST Nov 1, 1899+2

The thought to change times and laws does not change them, for changing God's law belongs to God alone.RH Apr 17, 1900+1 Because the Lord is unchangeable, His precepts of holiness, justice and goodness cannot be changed, and God's own writing of the commandments on stone still stands firm.EW 55.1+1 While God holds the throne the man of sin will not be able to change one jot or tittle of it, despite putting human enactments where God's law should be and exalting Sunday, a day without divine sanctity, in place of the seventh-day Sabbath.19MR 183.1–2+1 His attempted change of the Sabbath is therefore a claim to authority above God, not an actual alteration of God's binding law.Ms 78, 1897, par. 50–51+1

The fourth commandment is a golden link designed to serve as a bond of union uniting man to man and connecting earth to heaven and finite man to the infinite God.Ms 5, 1862, par. 3–5+1 The man of sin has sought to break this golden chain and tore the Sabbath from its place, exalting a common working day in its stead, breaking the Sabbath command and desecrating God's holy day.Ms 5, 1862, par. 3–5+1 Yet the chain is not broken; it still exists and will continue to exist as long as the new heavens and earth remain.Ms 5, 1862, par. 3–5+1 That breach in the law is to be repaired by exalting the true Sabbath to its rightful position as God's rest day, by teaching and example, with loyalty to God rather than following the man of sin or saying it makes no difference which day is kept.Ms 38, 1895, par. 18–20+3

Substituting a human-made day of worship for God's Sabbath also breaks the first commandment, because it is idolatry like worshiping what people have made and following the heathen practice of sun worship.Ms 91, 1894, par. 12–13 The deliberate change likewise includes dropping the second commandment forbidding image worship.GC 445.2–446.2 Setting aside God's law and exalting a human institution above it is itself a deliberate act of placing oneself above God.GC 577.2+2 The papal power framed an institution that opposes God's law and is treated with reverence in place of God's appointed Sabbath, making the man of sin an enemy of God and the source of grave rebellion against His government.RH Sep 16, 1862

Claiming to sit in God's temple and present himself as God appears in the pope's assumption of the title Lord God the pope and in the papacy's aspiration to make its throne like God's throne.Ms 115, 1894, par. 2–3 It appears in claiming to be infallible and demanding obedience, with rival claimants enforcing demands by terrible anathemas against adversaries and promises of heavenly rewards to supporters.GC 86.2–3 It applies to the pope's claim to authority over people who do not recognize Christ as their only Authority, placing himself in the position of God so that the weak and uninformed are kept from knowing their privilege as children of God.Lt 212, 1903, par. 27

The same self-exaltation appears when priests and rulers interpose themselves between Christ and the souls for whom He died, as though invested with the Saviour's attributes and able to pardon sin, though they are themselves only sinful humans.ST Jun 28, 1899 It includes altars, sacrifices, traditions and inventions whereby men hope to earn salvation, and the offering of the mass and masses for the deliverance of souls from purgatory, which are of no value in God's sight.ST Jun 28, 1899 Teaching people to pray to dead apostles, saints and Mary is his word, not Thus saith the Lord, while those dead lie in their graves until the coming of the Son of man and the trump of God, with Mary herself not yet raised, so all prayers offered to her fall to the ground unheard and lead people to offer to the dead the worship that belongs to God alone.Ms 163, 1897, par. 21–23+1 Finite man is not to be placed where God should be, honored as a god or bowed down to, for God has given to no human being power to claim homage or become an object of worship, whether pope, prelate or cardinal, and the pope acting out the character of the man of sin represents in his claims the same power and authority Satan claimed in the heavenly courts.Ms 163, 1897, par. 18–20

His pride and arrogant assumptions of God's prerogatives remain characteristic despite changed outward Christlike appearance.GC 571.1–3+2 Rome's church power proudly claims divine authority and rules with arrogant authority over kings and princes, asserting authority over them, crushing human liberty and acting cruelly and despotically.ST Aug 20, 1885+1 Under this power deceptive doctrines have led to crime of every stripe, including the imprisonment, torture and putting to death of martyrs by men instigated by Satan, every case noted by the recording angel and to be called to account by the Judge of the whole earth.ST Jun 28, 1899 Its outward appearance may change, but its pride and despotic spirit remain, identifying it with the power prophecy said would arise in the latter times and persecute the saints.GC88 570.3–571.1+1

Exalting himself above God includes making God's holy law of none effect and promoting a false sabbath for worship through combined human and superhuman power as antichrist energized by Satan.Ms 104, 1893, par. 15–20+1 At Satan's instigation this power instituted a spurious Sabbath associated with the papacy, trampling the fourth-commandment Sabbath and weaving perilous errors into present theology that exalt the spurious sabbath so that God is dishonored.Ms 27, 1892, par. 4+1 Giving a man-made institution the honor owed to God for the Sabbath memorial of creation, and compelling others to worship it, belongs to this rebellion and leads to worldwide apostasy.19MR 244.1–3 The professed Christian world has accepted Satan's lie and discarded the words of God as Adam and Eve did.Ms 53, 1890, par. 48–59

That spurious Sunday institution is a rival sabbath presented to the world in place of God's Sabbath memorial, called the child of the papacy.STA 39.2+1 The Protestant world has taken this child of the papacy to be regarded as sacred, cradling and nourishing it and thus defying God by removing His memorial, while kings and merchants of the earth have accepted and exalted it above the Sabbath of the Bible.STA 39.2+1 Though all the churches have accepted it and the world gives influence to this spurious invention, numbers and honor from men give it no sanctity and place no seal of heaven upon it, for it bears not heaven's credentials.Lt 83, 1900, par. 8–10 The whole nation following after the beast robs God of His holy time every week, making a breach in God's holy law that the people of God must now repair and build up.EW 55.1

His lost ascendancy is restored when rulers of the land unite with him and take the false sabbath under legislative care and protection, clothing a commandment of men with sacred garments and pronouncing it holy with divine honors.20MR 14.2+3 Opposing and exalting himself above God then means rulers taking position above the great Creator of the world by bringing claims of the first-day false sabbath to the front.20MR 14.2+2 Protestants will work upon the rulers to make laws in his favor, and Roman Catholic principles taken under care and protection of the state in harmony of the world-converted church with the world is national apostasy that will no longer tolerate the protest of Bible truth and will speedily be followed by national ruin.Ms 183, 1897, par. 10–11+1 Accepting and exalting this spurious sabbath turns souls away from obedience and loyalty to God and repeats what was done in Christ's day when men made void the law by teaching for doctrines the commandments of men, and when this exaltation is fully done persecution will break forth upon those who observe the Sabbath God gave in Eden as a memorial of His creative power, making the Sabbath question a test to the whole world.5MR 78.1–3+1

In the land blessed with liberty and religious liberty and made an asylum for the oppressed and home of the oppressed and witness for liberty of conscience and great center of Scriptural light, agitation for and enactment of national Sunday laws and a religious amendment compelling trampling of Jehovah's law, especially the seventh-day memorial, makes void God's law.Ms 20, 1888, par. 36–39+2 This brings national apostasy from republican principles upon which the government has been founded and acceptance of the religion of the Papacy by the rulers.20MR 14.2+1 When that law goes into effect and trampling becomes universal, it brings the nation's ruin when guilt is full and shows Satan has accomplished his purpose to control minds to commit idolatry by putting a working day in place of the Sabbath and trampling principles of liberty for which fathers fought and reformers and martyrs died, requiring direct warning and open protest so Satan does not have victory.Ms 20, 1888, par. 36–39+1

This enforcement claims authority over conscience belonging to God by making Sunday worship compulsory and treating a humanly appointed day as holy, punishing obedience to God's law and claiming authority to institute a sabbath and punish seventh-day keepers, which blasphemes God and presents itself as divine in God's temple.14MR 90.3–91.4+2 It unites the lamb-like power with the dragon, Protestants with papists and Romanism with apostate Protestantism uniting with civil power, to make war on those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus, giving life to the image of the beast so that it speaks and causes dissenters to be killed, imprisoned, fined and persecuted in spiritual tyranny over conscience.ST Feb 22, 1910+1 This repeats Nebuchadnezzar's golden image and the plain of Dura, and God will act on behalf of His faithful people against the power that oppresses them and seeks to weaken commands by changing times and laws and causing laws to enforce the first day against seventh-day keepers.Ms 135, 1902, par. 15–16+1

The Christian and Protestant world accepts this child of the papacy and cradles and nourishes it, thus defying God by removing His memorial and setting up a rival sabbath in place of God's Sabbath memorial.STA 39.2+2 He thought to prove himself not only equal to God but above God by thinking to change times and laws, tearing down God's memorial of creation sanctified at creation and placed in the fourth commandment and setting up Sunday where the seventh should be, and kings and merchants of the earth have accepted and exalted it above the Bible Sabbath, which is called in the Word of God her fornication.Lt 98, 1900, par. 9–17+2 His exaltation comes when Protestantism reaches across the gulf to clasp hands with the papacy and a confederacy is formed to trample the Sabbath of the fourth commandment out of sight by urging Sunday upon all the world and making a law to compel its observance and force conscience, and all that God has said of this future will surely come to pass, though the counterfeit blinds people to God's law and makes Sabbath obedience appear to threaten livelihood and to be disloyalty to national laws, though it has not a word of authority in God's oracles.STA 67.1+2

The man of sin will be disclosed to the world in who he is and what his work has been after one fierce struggle amid increasing deceptions, delusions, impostures and cries of Lo here is Christ and Lo there is Christ.14MR 287.3+1 At that time the Protestant world is becoming tender and affectionate toward him, while mystic Babylon joined to him has not spared the blood of the saints whose blood cries from beneath the altar.14MR 287.3+2 God's people must therefore take their place as bold and valiant soldiers of Jesus Christ to meet the coming issue, with lives hid with Christ in God, wide awake to catch beams of light from the angel who brightens the earth with his glory and to the light that exposes Babylon, repeating the messages of the past fifty years in their true force and bearing and living in harmony with heaven's preparation of a people to stand in the day of the Lord, for the choice now being made will soon discern between him that serves God and him that serves Him not, for the day of God is right upon us.14MR 287.3+2

This self-exalting power through which Satan displays his character and government as part of the mystery of iniquity will be destroyed at Christ's coming, while its deceptive work continues until the second advent with its deadly wound healed and homage received in both Old and New Worlds through Sunday observance.Ms 92, 1894, par. 13+1 Churches that refuse the warnings in the first, second and third angels' messages and reject truth for a lie are part of fallen Babylon, and by accepting its authority in this presumptuous work of claiming authority to amend God's moral code and tampering with Jehovah's precepts the Protestant world has apostatized and all nations have become drunk by partaking of the wine of Babylon.1MR 361.4–362.1+3

Just before the great day of God a message goes out calling people back to loyalty to God's law that this power broke down by changing the Sabbath from seventh to first and trampling the fourth commandment and making a breach and desecrating the Sabbath, to repair the breach and uphold it by teaching and example.LSEGW 96.2+3 The third angel's message represents those who proclaim God's commandments and the faith of Jesus and give that warning.LS 236.2–3+1 His signature is the keeping of Sunday, and those who after hearing truth continue to regard it as holy bear that signature, which will clearly distinguish them when the test comes from those who have the seal of God through sanctification by the Spirit, while upholding Sunday makes commandments of men supreme and labors together with the man of sin, and all who would have the seal of the living God must labor with God against him by making up the breach and raising the foundation of many generations through Sabbath keeping; those bearing Sunday as the beast's mark in forehead or hand will drink God's wrath in the seven last plagues.Lt 12, 1900, par. 13+1

In Satan's last deception when Satan personates Christ, this apostate papal power that presented a rival sabbath to be worshiped and drank saints' blood is united with fallen Protestant churches and spiritualism in corrupt harmony under a corrupt leader, and with them receives the blessing of the false christ pronounced upon worshipers of the beast and his image.Ms 16, 1884, par. 3–4 The Roman Church fulfilled this pattern by claiming to act in heaven's place and as heaven's representative while seeking to exalt itself above God and change His law and overturn His authority, and it accused those faithful to the gospel of serving Satan, which is the same policy Satan used in heaven charging loyal angels with his own work and will use in the final conflict accusing commandment-keepers of breaking law and bringing judgments on the world.GC 591.1+1 Protestant churches follow the apostate example when they seek secular support, and a national act strengthening Rome's corrupt faith marks a national apostasy ending in national ruin.ST Jul 4, 1899 The antichristian power rejected by Protestants at Spires now seeks to regain lost supremacy, and firm adherence to God's word is the only hope of reform.GC 204.2

Such apostasy and the enemy's seductive working will come in earth's closing days among men and women with great light and abundant evidence of truth for this time, bringing grief human power cannot change but must be accepted as the Word of the Lord; some caught in this falling away will have eyes opened, but for many correction will be too late though Christ gave His life for them and prayer continues that blind eyes may receive sight.Lt 266, 1906, par. 2–3 Transgression of God's law in the United States is part of the man of sin's work against God's law as Satan seeks to lead the human family into disloyalty.Ms 17, 1906, par. 25 He changes the signpost God erected to point to obedience as the way to the city of God, turning it to point wrong so men and women think resting on the false spurious sabbath obeys the Creator, leading multitudes opposite to the city of refuge and proving Adam and Eve are not the only ones accepting the wily foe's words.PK 179.3–4+1

Observing the substituted first-day rest acknowledges the observer as subject of the kingdom of rebellion whose mark is borne, for the Sabbath God ordained and founded and sanctified in Eden bears the mark of His government while the spurious first day bears the mark of the man of sin, so it matters whether one bears the mark of God's government or of rebellion, and those carefully studying God's word will see the mistake of accepting the first day as Sabbath.Ms 63, 1899, par. 15–16+1 Exalting Sunday to replace the true genuine Sabbath has been Satan's aim from the first rebellion, and respecting the idol sabbath, even by church resolutions to rest the first day to avoid arrest, exalts the man of sin's decisions and power in contradiction to God's law, puts God's people in wrong relation to His holy law, is disloyal, dishonors God, confuses minds and places them to be deceived by Satan's devices, so they must not be neutral but have God's commandments and faith of Jesus inscribed on banners from conviction of duty.Ms 6, 1889, par. 37–38 Worshiping God means obeying His commandments and keeping the seventh-day Sabbath He sanctified and blessed, choosing naked duty even when singular and suffering loss, inconvenience, opposition and reproach, rather than keeping Sunday in harmony with the world, which transgresses God's law and bows to the man of sin accepting Satan's bribe and temptation, Worship me.Lt 108, 1886, par. 13–17

In the last conflict working through laws of nations he declares men must worship him or lose rights of protection from the world, demanding universal homage like Nebuchadnezzar commanded for his golden image and elevating his laws above God's laws as objects of homage, with the great point at issue the Sabbath of the fourth commandment where the Law-giver identifies Himself as Creator, which he makes void to exalt the spurious child of the papacy, reflecting Satan's effort to claim worship he failed to gain from Christ.19MR 243.1–4+1 Worshiping an idol sabbath in place of Jehovah's Sabbath exalts the man of sin in Jehovah's place, and the day of recompense has come with the Lord's hand stretched out to punish them as monuments of divine displeasure and holy vengeance, fearful to fall into living God's hands for He is a consuming fire.Ms 6, 1889, par. 44 Nothing marks human authority exalted above God so definitely as leading men to accept a common working day as holy while the seventh-day Sabbath God set apart for His honor and glory is trampled for worldly business and self-pleasing, insulting God and leaving the whole world guilty before Him.19MR 265.2

By removing God's memorial and obliterating its memory he brings God's law into contempt and makes the words A sign between me and you throughout your generations serve his sabbath, becoming ruler of earth and prince of the world with the world wholly under dominion.RH Apr 17, 1900 He controls minds under his power so God's Sabbath becomes contempt, makes seventh-day observance a sign of disloyalty to earthly authorities, and moves human laws so stringent that for fear of wanting food and clothing men dare not observe it but join transgression, through Satan as great apostate empowering his delegate vicegerent and leading the Protestant world to receive the false sabbath bearing not heaven's credentials as genuine with sanctity God placed on the seventh.RH Apr 17, 1900 Through the Roman power Satan takes God's place within the professedly Christian world by leading the church to accept political and human laws for God's law, removing God's memorial sign and establishing Sunday, thus becoming the church's effective head against heaven's government, estranging the Protestant world despite no divine authority.Ms 77, 1899, par. 29–30 In the time of the end this opposition is expressed through churches and civil powers uniting, human laws replacing God's law, and Scripture exchanged for human traditions.Ms 166, 1902, par. 1–2

The Sabbath God made for everyone to observe and keep until Christ comes will also be kept in the new earth, while the man of sin set up Sunday in its place putting a humanly instituted day where God's law requires the Sabbath.Ms 192, 1905, par. 11–13 The coming test is between the sabbath he introduced to display his greatness and power by taking authority to change the fourth commandment and the seventh-day Sabbath of the Lord Jehovah, and when exaltation is fully done persecution breaks upon Eden's memorial-keepers and the Sabbath question becomes a worldwide test.Ms 5, 1889, par. 17–19+1 Those under Satan's banner honor him by keeping the false sabbath, while a law compelling its observance tramples God's commandments and makes human authority supreme and joins people to this power that presumes to change times and laws.Lt 30a, 1892, par. 4–7+1 By instituting Sunday as counterfeit he exalts himself in God's place in opposition to God's authority, tied to a confederacy seeking to suppress the fourth-commandment Sabbath, trample it out of sight and force conscience by urging Sunday on the world; all God has said of this future will surely come to pass.STBk 67.1+1 He persistently exalts the false sabbath against Jehovah's Sabbath with no scriptural authority, oppresses God's people and seeks to weaken commands and cause laws enforcing the first day against seventh-day keepers, but God will act for His faithful, and he sets up the first day where God's great memorial should be, arrogating power to set aside the blessed sanctified day for a common working day and compel respect, insulting Jehovah by refusing a Thus saith the Lord, though his thought to change times and laws does not change them and God's writing on stone still stands.RH Apr 23, 1901+3 Raising this counterfeit against God and undermining His law makes the Sabbath claims of God's law the standard to uphold against that opposition.Ms 91, 1891, par. 103–104

To presume to judge the motives of others and to set oneself up as the standard of character is to act on the side of the antichrist, usurping the authority to judge that belongs to the Son of God. The same exalting of self to God's place is seen in a physician who treats his own judgment as perfect like God's and fails to exalt the Lord as the only dependence.1T 614.2–615.2 It is also seen in a man who made himself as God and used his influence to lead women astray, a course proving him unfit for official or leading work as a teacher or counselor.Lt 24, 1898, par. 1–3 Those who remain nearly neutral in influence will lose spiritual ground and begin to reflect the character of the man of sin instead of the character of Christ.Ms 128a, 1903, par. 26

The spirit of taking God's place works when a set of men seek to bring all control into their own power, stopping at nothing until they have it and working either to control or to crush all that cannot be controlled, with deep heart opposition to the truth of the gospel.17MR 179.1+1 This is spiritual wickedness prevailing in high places, carried out under Satan's inspiration as men listen to his suggestions without knowing the source of their wisdom and follow a wisdom from beneath.17MR 179.1+1 Satan thus comes into the very temple of God and manipulates things as he pleases, and when he does so the time of preparation is prolonged.9MR 212.1–213.1 He works inside through men in responsible positions who manifest his attributes, oppose and hate the men sent with a message of blessing, and despise them and the message as Christ was hated and despised at His first advent.9MR 212.1–213.1 Such men seek to rule minds and bring reason and talents under human jurisdiction, bring God's servants under the control of men without the knowledge and wisdom of God and experience under the Holy Spirit, counterwork God and the truth and His chosen messengers, and restrict His work by human beings.9MR 212.1–213.1

The same principle applies when human agents present binding claims as though a person were God, for such claims are a deceptive work of Satan and must be firmly resisted.Lt 172, 1903, par. 6–7 Antichrist is to be given no respect inside God's work, for he brings false principles and false precepts into the sanctuary and smuggles in idols.Ms 29, 1890, par. 7–10 This means mingling worldliness with the religion of Jesus, putting worldly policy in place of true piety and wisdom from above, and turning God's instrumentality such as the publishing house into a mere political, worldly institution.Ms 29, 1890, par. 7–10 That course endangers the true doctrines and principles given by God, leads men farther from God through blinded, unconsecrated men, and causes God to remove His prospering hand and the ark of the covenant from His people.Ms 29, 1890, par. 7–10 Antichrist must be understood from the prophecies, for the prophecies of Daniel and John interpret one another and their fulfillment in the last days will make their truths clear, while misunderstanding antichrist leads people to take its side.ROTS 11.4–12.1

The great apostasy exalts humanity as God, with Satan personifying the human figure people seek, so that many who reject truth are deceived into accepting this counterfeit.STMW9 21.3 In the perils of the last days, when the masses turn from the truth of God to fables, the great rebel opposes God by making war on the remnant who keep the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus.Ms 2, 1868, par. 3–6 Satan employs evil angels and the human agents who can most successfully exert influence to make his attacks effective, to hinder God's chosen people from showing forth His praise, to hide and cover up their light, and to cause distrust and disbelief of it.Ms 2, 1868, par. 3–6 While Jesus is purifying His people unto Himself and redeeming them from all iniquity, Satan employs his forces to hinder the work and prevent the perfection of the saints, securing those walled in by fables and error while stirring his malice against those seeking truth to obey it, leading them into disobedience and then exulting as accuser of the brethren by rehearsing their sins and failures before the angels of God.Ms 2, 1868, par. 3–6

The man of sin exalts himself above God by instituting a rival sabbath, placing himself above Jehovah and seeking to compel its observance in defiance of the fourth commandment which identifies the true and living God.Ms 51, 1906, par. 7+1 His attempt to change God's law is shown in the exaltation of Sunday, a day without divine sanctity, in place of the seventh-day Sabbath, an usurpation that cannot actually change God's law which remains firm.Ms 51, 1906, par. 7+1 To say it makes no difference which day is kept opposes God's command, for the breach concerns the seventh-day Sabbath which God established as a memorial of creation, and loyalty is owed to God rather than to the man of sin by helping restore obedience to the Sabbath commandment.Ms 5, 1891, par. 20–21 Placing a common working day in the very bosom of the Decalogue and thinking to change the law of God is Satan's purpose to belittle God's requirements and make His holy law of none effect.ST Jul 1, 1880 Clear and vigorous moral powers would not choose the common in place of the sacred because it is more convenient to be in harmony with the world, and general disobedience does not change or detract one particle from the positive command to keep holy the seventh day upon which God placed His sanctity.ST Jul 1, 1880

Upholding Sunday observance is laboring together with the man of sin who exalts himself above God and above all written in the word of God and thinks to change times and laws, by making the commandments of men supreme and making human authority and church pretensions as the word of God to which all must bow.13MR 23.1–2 All who would have the seal of the living God must labor together with God against him by making up the breach made in the law of God and raising up the foundation of many generations through Sabbath keeping.13MR 23.1–2 The claim to change the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is an assumption of authority against God opposed by the witness of the Sabbath-keeping church that God's Sabbath remains binding.Ms 67, 1893, par. 6–8

The man of sin exalts himself above God by usurping the Creator's authority over worship and obedience.Lt 38, 1906, par. 14–17 This is fulfilled when priests and rulers set up the first day of the week in place of the seventh-day Sabbath which God sanctified.Lt 38, 1906, par. 14–17 The papal power is what gives the first day its claimed sanctity.Lt 38, 1906, par. 14–17 To set aside the Sabbath in this way and to compel people to obey human laws that conflict with God's law is to exalt human authority as though it were God's.Lt 38, 1906, par. 14–17