13:14Revelation 13:14

The lamb-like beast coming up out of the earth is the United States, rising peacefully with civil and religious liberty in its two horns of Republicanism and Protestantism, while the wounded beast that lived is the papacy that ruled by church-state union and regained its power.4SP 277.2+3
The image to the beast is apostate Protestantism forming its likeness when American churches unite on common faith and move the state to enforce their decrees, above all by enforcing Sunday observance in honor of papal authority.4SP 277.2+4
The deception is by real supernatural miracles of Satan, not mere trickery, working through Spiritualism with spirit manifestations, healings, hypnotism, and fire from heaven to persuade earth-dwellers to make the image.4SP 502.7+4
The climax comes when Satan appears as an angel of light personating Christ, claiming to be God and Lord of the earth, declaring the Sabbath changed to the first day and blessing worshipers of the beast and his image.Ms 153, 1902, par. 8–10+2
This leaves only two parties, the remnant keeping God's commandments including the seventh-day Sabbath and the faith of Jesus, and those yielding to enforced false worship, and safety is only in testing every miracle by Scripture and standing on God's Word.Ms 16, 1900, par. 5–6+4

The beast with lamb-like horns coming up out of the earth is the United States, peaceful in its rise and mild in its professions.4SP 277.2+4 Its two horns represent civil and ecclesiastical power, Republicanism and Protestantism, the secret of its power and prosperity as an asylum from popery and kingly rule with civil and religious liberty.4SP 502.4–6+2 The contrast between professed religious liberty and past persecution shows its lamb-like and dragon-like phases, with a further change expected when laws are made concerning religion, after which the peaceful beginning gives way to speaking with the voice of a dragon and exercising all the power of the first beast before him.4SP 502.4–6+2 The command saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make the image indicates this popular form of government where the people hold legislative power, and this is presented as evidence that the United States is the nation represented.GC 441.2–443.1+1 The nation's legislative and judicial authorities use civil power to enforce a religious observance that honors the papacy, contradicting its professions of liberty and protections for freedom of religion and representing the growth of intolerance and persecution.GC 441.2–443.1+1

The first or leopard-like beast which had the wound by a sword and did live is the Roman Church or papacy, an ecclesiastical body clothed with civil power with authority to punish dissenters.4SP 277.2+1 It exercised persecuting power for 1,260 years through church-state union and went into captivity at the close of that period.4SP 277.2+1 Its deadly wound was healed as it regains power and receives homage in both the Old and New Worlds, with honor paid to Sunday acknowledging its claim to supremacy and authority to change the law.GC 578.3+2 The lamb-horned beast deceives earth's inhabitants through miracles and directs them to make an image to this healed first beast as part of its effort to cause worship of the first beast.Ms 16, 1900, par. 5–6+1

The image to the beast is another religious body clothed with similar civil power, an image of the papacy and of the Roman hierarchy.4SP 277.2+2 It is namely apostate Protestantism that develops when Protestant churches seek civil power to enforce their religious teachings, like the early church departing from the gospel and seeking secular power to control consciences.GC 445.2–446.2+2 It forms when a religious power controls the United States government so that civil authority is subordinated to ecclesiastical power and used to advance church ends, especially by punishing heresy and dissent from its doctrines.4SP 277.2+2 The forming takes place when that papal power is united with fallen churches and with the deceptions of spiritualism in corrupt harmony under a corrupt leader.Ms 16, 1884, par. 3–4

The miracles by which the second beast deceives them that dwell on the earth are performed in the sight of the first beast to persuade earth-dwellers to make the image to the beast that survived the sword wound.Ms 24, 1891, par. 23–24+2 This work exercises all the power of the first beast whose deadly wound was healed and causes the earth to worship the first beast.Ms 16, 1900, par. 5–6+1 The deception is carried out by great wonders including making fire come down from heaven, persuading those on the earth to make an image to the beast that had the wound by a sword and lived.Ms 143, 1901, par. 70–76+1 The image is then given life to speak and to cause all who will not worship it to be killed, and all small and great, rich and poor, free and bond are caused to receive a mark in the right hand or forehead, without which no one can buy or sell.Ms 24, 1891, par. 23–24+2

The miracle-working power that deceives those who dwell on the earth is real supernatural power from Satan and his agents, not mere human imposture, fraud, trickery, or sleight of hand.RH Sep 11, 1916+4 Those who believe Spiritualism is only imposture will be ensnared when brought face to face with manifestations they cannot deny are supernatural, and will accept them as the great power of God.RH Sep 11, 1916+1 Satan's agents have actual power to do miracles in the sight of men, even causing fire to come down from heaven, and by means of those real miracles they deceive earth's inhabitants and lead them to accept false religious claims.GC 553.1–2+3 His power has limits, so he will also counterfeit by deception what he cannot actually do.5T 698.1

The deception is Satan working through earthly powers, with the second beast exercising the first beast's power and acting as Satan's agent.ST Nov 7, 1900+2 Though lamb-like in appearance, its dragon voice and dragon character reveal the satanic power behind its fair exterior as it opposes those who keep God's commandments and have the testimony of Jesus.GC88 679.3–680.3+2 Earthly powers thus unite with powers from beneath to oppress God's people, advancing enforced worship according to human opinions by laws compelling men to worship.ST Nov 7, 1900+1 This wonder-working confirms Satan's claims and draws widespread wonder after the beast through agents actively promoting the deception.Ms 139, 1903, par. 12–15+1

The wonder-working includes Spiritualism, which arose in the United States, identified as the two-horned beast, and spread to all the world through American mediums.4SP 502.7+1 Its manifestations include rappings, mesmerism, spirit manifestations in religious guise, and impersonation of the dead as if returned from heaven.14MR 161.2–163.1+3 These signs, even calling down fire from heaven, mislead people and draw them away from Scripture, from the Holy Spirit's teaching, and from the truth about Christ's miracles.EW 2.4–3.1+1 The deception draws religious bodies that reject God's warnings into union with civil power to persecute God's commandment-keeping people.14MR 161.2–163.1

The signs include making fire come down from heaven in the sight of men to prove the claim to be as God and Prince of heaven.Ms 143, 1901, par. 70–76+4 They include healings and false healings in which people are made sick and then released, false science, hypnotism, bewitching influences and lying wonders, with signs done in earth, air, and water to sweep the whole world captive.19MR 372.2–3+2 Evil angels work continually upon the hearts of men, and Satan works with everyone not under the control of the Spirit of God, so that the time now just beginning will charm all who give these influences the least countenance to act a part with the devil then.Ms 1, 1890, par. 34–35 Looking for miracles as a sign of divine guidance places a person in grave danger of this deception, since these lying wonders would deceive if possible the very elect.19MR 372.2–3+1

The climax is Satan appearing as an angel of light with great power and heavenly glory, personating Christ at His second coming and claiming to be lord of the whole earth and God.Ms 153, 1902, par. 8–10+2 He comes even as the great medical missionary, and declares that the Sabbath has been changed from the seventh to the first day of the week, presenting this spurious sabbath as lord of the first day as a test of loyalty to him.Ms 153, 1902, par. 8–10+3 He pronounces blessing upon the worshipers of the beast and his image, making glad and honoring those who receive the mark of the beast and the mark of his image in a last desperate effort to overcome the faithful.Ms 16, 1884, par. 3–4 This impersonation and demand for false worship, united with fallen churches and the deceptions of Spiritualism in corrupt harmony under a corrupt leader, is the final fulfillment of the deception and the making of the image to the beast that had the wound by a sword and lived.Ms 153, 1902, par. 8–10+2

The miracles deceive all who dwell on the earth who are not connected with God, causing them to believe fatal lies presented as truth and to wonder after the beast and support it.Ms 100, 1893, par. 8–9+3 These are lying wonders of Satan, including healings and other miracles performed before people, not proof of divine origin, and those who turn from God's commandments and accept false teachings are prepared to believe them.1T 302.1–2 All who carry on this deception will receive the judgment announced by the third angel, drinking the wine of the wrath of God poured out without mixture and being tormented with fire and brimstone with no rest day nor night, while those who heed God's warning are prepared to stand before Him.Ms 163, 1897, par. 2–5+1 The deception succeeds only with those who resist the truth.5T 698.1

The deceptive miracles are compared to the Egyptian magicians' signs that deceived Pharaoh shortly before Israel's deliverance, and will be especially manifest in the final struggle near the beast's end and the seven last plagues before the saints' deliverance, when oppression of the true church reaches its height under the power numbered 666.WLF 8.4 The wonder-working power was yet to appear and appears when men claim sanctification and holiness, lifting themselves up higher and higher, exalting themselves and boasting of themselves and their goodness.Ms 5, 1885, par. 22+1 Through Spiritualism Satan appears as an angel of light whose spirits perform healings and wonders, profess faith in the Bible, and show respect for church institutions, so people mistake the work for divine power and are drawn into a religious union having the form of godliness but lacking its power.GC 588.2–3 The papal power's outward appearance may vary and appear to change while deceiving people, but its underlying character and principles remain unchanged.GC 571.1–3

The image comes into being when the churches of America come together on shared points of belief and move the state to enforce their decrees and uphold their institutions, and when that happens Protestant America has created the image.4SP 277.2+1 That union brings persecution upon the true church just as anciently, because religious favoritism by secular governments is always followed by persecution.4SP 277.2

To make the image is to unite church and state with civil authority made subordinate to ecclesiastical authority so that the state is compelled to enforce church tenets and requirements, a condition that a religious amendment to the Constitution would quickly produce.4SP 503.3–504.1+4 In that arrangement a religious power controls the civil government and directs its authority to advance church ends, above all by punishing heresy and dissent, after the pattern of the papacy which arose when the church departed from the gospel and sought secular power over conscience.GC88 443.2+2 Preliminary movements in that direction appear in efforts to give Christian laws a legal foundation, in political pressure upon officials over religious questions, in governmental declarations of Christian nationhood and of Sunday as Sabbath, and in official dealings with the Vatican.DA 838.4–839.2 The contrast set against this union is keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus including the seventh-day Sabbath, as warned in the message of Revelation 14:9-12.4SP 503.3–504.1

The prophecy reaches fulfillment when the United States enforces Sunday observance, thereby honoring the papal claim that Sunday acknowledges its supremacy and its claimed authority to change the law.GC 578.3+4 That enforcement makes the enforcing churches an image of the beast and enforces worship of the papacy, since knowingly choosing Sunday over the Bible Sabbath in the face of the fourth commandment pays homage to the power claiming power to alter it.GC88 448.3–4 The papacy meanwhile regains power after its deadly wound and receives homage in both Old and New Worlds through honor paid to Sunday.GC 578.3+1

In this work Protestantism walks in the steps of the papacy, echoing the dragon voice and carrying on the same cruel, blasphemous and despotic work of trampling God's law and persecuting His people, leading on to causing all to receive the mark.Ms 51, 1899, par. 4–6+2 Legislators abandon Protestant principles and lend support to Romish apostasy, while the people whom God strengthened to cast off the yoke of popery give vigor to the corrupt faith of Rome.ST Jul 4, 1899 The image is formed when Protestant churches seek secular support as their mother did, whom their ancestors opposed under fierce persecution, and this national apostasy stirs a tyranny only waiting for a touch to break out again into cruelty and despotism and ending at last only in national ruin.ST Jul 4, 1899+2 The mother of harlots stands distinct from her daughters, her day past and her power declining, while the daughters, the Protestant sects, grow and soon exercise the power she once showed in persecuting the saints, even betraying Sabbathkeepers to Catholics over the seventh day versus Sunday, the pope's institution, until Catholics bid Protestants to decree death for refusing the first day and lend their numbers and power to the image.Ms 15, 1850, par. 5–7 Once formed the image shares Rome's spirit against civil and religious liberty and restricts liberty of conscience by alliance with worldly powers, so that the true church is assailed as in ancient times.Ms 51, 1899, par. 20–22

Through religious legislation the image is already virtually formed, while the further prophetic details of what it will do have not yet fully developed.STM2 1.3+3 These events mark the closing scenes of world history, the dragon spirit is already manifest, and the time has come when everything will move with rapidity before unknown.STM2 1.3+1

Papists and Protestants unite to exalt Sunday, a Roman custom claimed as a sign of Rome's authority, and the drive to secure state support for church observances prepares the way for papal power to regain supremacy.ST Aug 20, 1885+2 In that union Rome's persecuting powers join with Protestant powers, the past conflict over the Sabbath and the means used against its defenders are repeated with coercion and persecution toward refusers, serious conditions lie ahead, the work of warning becomes more difficult, and the future is not to be peaceful.ST Aug 20, 1885+1

The same prophecy is applied to last-day coercive combinations in which men bind together in unions, confederacies, monopolies and trades unions that deprive neighbors of freedom of action, rob the poorer classes of just advantages, mark refusers, and permit buying and selling only under prescribed conditions by those having the mark, name or number.2MR 179.1–2+2 Their governing principles may seem innocent, yet they are controlled by Satan's cruel power as one of his last efforts, enforcing their will by threatening loss of livelihood and life.4MR 75.1–76.1 Belonging to these combinations disregards the whole Decalogue and makes it impossible to keep God's commandments or to consecrate the whole being to love God supremely and neighbor as self with heart, soul, strength, mind, body and spirit.3MR 42.6–43.2+1 Their forming is a sign of the last days, a binding in bundles ready to be burned, calling God's people to separate from the world and out of the cities while God cares for those who love Him and keep His commandments.3MR 42.6–43.2

The image-making leads to causing worship of the first beast, with churches and the world united in trampling God's commandments, threatening death to all who obey, forbidding buying or selling to those who refuse to break God's law, and enforcing worship on pain of death.Ms 24, 1891, par. 23–24+4 By miracles done in sight of the beast, including making fire come down from heaven, earth-dwellers are persuaded to make the image of the beast that had the wound by a sword and lived, the image is given life to speak and to cause the killing of non-worshipers, and all small and great, rich and poor, free and bond are caused to receive a mark in right hand or forehead without which none can buy or sell.Ms 24, 1891, par. 23–24+1 The enforced false worship centers on compelling a humanly instituted Sabbath instead of God's seventh-day Sabbath memorial of creation, exalting Sunday as a human institution to displace the Sabbath God blessed as sign between Him and His people, with imprisonment and death threatened for refusal.Ms 7a, 1896, par. 10–12+1 Against this enforced worship stands the third angel's warning not to worship the beast and his image under the decree they form.Lt 183, 1902, par. 8–9

In this setting counterworking against God's people arises through church and state under Satan's working.Lt 179, 1896, par. 29–30

Revelation 13:14 belongs to a connected chain of past, present, and future events that continues through Revelation 14:1-5 and ends with the complete redemption of the 144,000.WLF 10.4 Those 144,000 gain victory over the beast and its image, overcome the beast and his image and his mark and the number of his name, stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion with the Father's name in their foreheads, and stand on the sea of glass singing the song of Moses and the Lamb after refusing worship enforced on pain of death.WLF 10.4+1 It belongs to Revelation 12 to 18, which are being fulfilled as the last message of warning is given to all before the very last call in chapter 18.Ms 75, 1906, par. 16+1 That warning is followed by seizing the beast and the false prophet and casting them into a lake of fire, binding the dragon in the bottomless pit for a thousand years, the resurrection of the wicked, the final destruction of Satan and all the wicked, and the final triumph and reign of Christ on this earth.Ms 75, 1906, par. 16

Its fulfillment stands at the threshold, with prophecies about to be fulfilled in quick succession, past history repeated, old controversies revived, and peril besetting God's people as human powers join Satan's despotism to make void God's law.Ms 143, 1901, par. 70–76 It means a near and final testing of faith in the closing of the controversy between the Prince of light and the prince of darkness, when masterful temptations and delusions cover the earth with darkness and without the enlightenment of the Spirit truth cannot be discerned from error.Ms 143, 1901, par. 31–37 The deception is by great wonders done in the sight of the beast, including making fire come down from heaven, persuading dwellers on earth to make an image to the beast which had the wound by a sword and lived, giving the image life to speak and cause all who will not worship it to be killed, and causing all small and great, rich and poor, free and bond to receive a mark in right hand or forehead without which no one can buy or sell.Ms 143, 1901, par. 70–76 The forming of the image takes place before probation closes and before God's people are sealed, as the great test by which eternal destiny is decided.Lt 11, 1890, par. 10–12+1 Those who prove loyalty by keeping God's law and refusing a spurious Sabbath rank under the Lord's banner and receive the seal of the living God, while those who yield truth of heavenly origin and accept Sunday as the Sabbath receive the mark of the beast, and the warning against the mark belongs to the time when the test is still open, not after all are sealed for the New Jerusalem.Lt 11, 1890, par. 10–12+1

Its setting is the closing strife with the image, when believers face a crisis like Jacob's fear and distress as Esau came to meet him, with a decree to kill those who refuse to worship the image causing fear and distress, though they will not be killed but delivered by God's voice.WLF 9.5–6+1 In the time of trouble God's people weep and pray and plead God's promises in great distress, while earth-dwellers deceived by claimed miracles mock and threaten to destroy them.Lt 6, 1884, par. 2–4+2 The deceivers claim they have the truth because miracles are among them, great power and signs and wonders are performed, angels from heaven talk and walk with them, and the dead said to have gone to heaven speak as heavenly messengers, which are Satan personating the dead as if returned from heaven.Lt 6, 1884, par. 2–4+2 On that ground they declare the whole world converted and in harmony with the Sunday law and that this miracle-working unity is the long-expected temporal millennium, while charging the faithful with taking an independent and wrong position in defiance of the laws of the land and the law of God, ridiculing their feebleness, small numbers, abject poverty and stricken condition, cutting off their resources so they cannot buy or sell, taunting them as dependent on the world, and demanding concession to its customs, practices and laws, expulsion from it, or destruction.Lt 6, 1884, par. 2–4+3 That image is formed when Protestant sects take up the persecuting work once done by their mother, with nominal churches and nominal Adventists betraying Sabbathkeepers to Catholics over keeping the seventh day and disregarding Sunday as the pope's institution, Catholics standing by with large numbers and giving power to the image while bidding Protestants go forward with a decree that all who will not observe the first day instead of the seventh shall be slain, and Protestants then working as their mother worked with the power of the two-horned beast in his head and the decree going out of his dragon mouth.Ms 15, 1850, par. 5–7

The predicted union of church and state in the United States to persecute commandment keepers was dismissed as groundless, but growing agitation to enforce Sunday shows its approach, and as it approaches the third angel's message gains an effect it could not have had before.GC88 605.3 Startling present events show the great crisis connected with the image rapidly approaching, yet a claim about the exact timing of its formation can be premature and should be examined calmly, prayerfully, and from Scripture in unity and love rather than published in conflict, since differing public explanations have confused Sabbathkeepers, weakened faith among those already suffering loss of position and lower wages for the Sabbath, and given occasion to discourage.15MR 298.3–299.1+2 Revelation 13 lays out in clear lines the position of God's people for this time regarding Sunday laws, as one of the communications for people living in the last days linked to the third angel's message and the final conflict between those who keep God's commandments and those who make void His law.Ms 23, 1889, par. 4–6+1 What is meant by the beast, the image to be made, and the mark must be interpreted to understand the solemn warning against worshiping the beast and his image and receiving his mark, in a war carried forward by earthly governments trampling God's law and persecuting His people to the close of time, in which those accepting light on Christ's mediation and the perpetuity of God's law keep the commandments and the faith of Jesus as a greatly outnumbered remnant.4SP 275.2–276.1 All classes except the little flock will unite to exalt Sunday and enforce it upon all by stringent laws, and the beast to which the image is made is the papal power.4SP 501.3–502.1 The prophecies of the beasts were explained alongside Daniel's prophecies and represented with lifelike images.RH Feb 7, 1907

Revelation 13:14 belongs to a chapter that concerns every person, setting before all a choice between worshiping God and worshiping the beast.Ms 7a, 1896, par. 10–12+1 The beast's deceptive power leads earth-dwellers to make an image to it, and the false worship that follows is enforced by compelling observance of a humanly instituted Sabbath instead of God's seventh-day Sabbath, the memorial of creation blessed as a sign between God and His people.Ms 7a, 1896, par. 10–12+1 That image represents a corrupt union that exalts Sunday observance to displace the seventh-day Sabbath, with imprisonment and death threatened against those who refuse, while the two-horned beast makes worship of the first day of the week, a papal institution contradicting the fourth commandment, a test bringing God's wrath upon those who bow to the beast and its image.14MR 90.3–91.4+1

The deception works by destroying the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, sanctified by God as the memorial of creation given in Eden, and instituting a spurious sabbath in its place.19MR 244.1–3+1 This is a worldwide apostasy against God's law in which professed Christians become idolaters, giving to a man-made institution the glory and honor due to God's day and compelling others to worship this idol.19MR 244.1–3 By leading men and women through human methods and inventions to place human tradition above God's commandments and to disregard the fourth commandment, Satan places them on his side of the controversy, for to offend in one point is to be guilty of all, and changing the Sabbath to the first day leads them to distrust God's word and treat His law as unimportant.19MR 244.1–3+1 Those who join this enforced idolatry are not sealed by God and will surely be visited with God's retributive judgments poured out without mixture of mercy upon unrepentant despisers of His law, whose message must reach God's people without human wisdom or tradition mixed into it.19MR 244.1–3+1

The mark of the beast described in this account is received in the forehead or in the hand, the forehead representing the mind and the hand representing power or action, so that the mark concerns either inward allegiance or outward compliance.4SP 505.2–3+1 God's servants receive His seal in the mind and are not compelled by force, for compulsory worship is acceptable to wicked powers but not to God.4SP 505.2–3+1 The beast's mark stands opposed to God's sign, the Sabbath, and is a counterfeit Sabbath kept on Sunday, the day of the sun.4SP 505.2–3+1 Those who refuse the mark keep God's commandments including the fourth, the Sabbath as the sign of the Creator's authority, though they may suffer persecution for it, and when God's wrath falls upon the persecutors they will recognize the Sabbath's importance.4SP 505.2–3+1

The beast and his image form a decree enforcing worship centered on them, and the warning of the third angel is a warning against worshiping the beast and his image under that decree.Lt 183, 1902, par. 8–9+1 The image is formed when Protestant churches enforce Sunday observance through civil power, and enforcing Sunday as a religious duty makes those churches an image of the beast and enforces worship of the papacy.GC88 448.3–4 Choosing Sunday instead of the Bible Sabbath, despite understanding the fourth commandment, pays homage to the power that claims authority to change it.GC88 448.3–4

God meets this deception by calling His people out of Babylon that they may not worship the beast or his image, whose worship is tied to accepting a spurious sabbath that replaces God's Sabbath memorial.Ms 143, 1901, par. 48–52+1 That rival sabbath has not a word of authority in the oracles of God, yet the man of sin exalted himself by claiming to change God's times and laws and exalts the spurious sabbath with marvelous perseverance, while the disloyal Protestant world wonders after the beast and accepts it, even calling obedience to the Sabbath instituted by Jehovah disloyalty to the laws of the nations, and kingdoms confederate to sustain the false institution.Ms 39, 1899, par. 17–20+1 The deception reaches its crisis just before the end after the truth has been proclaimed as a witness to all nations, confusing minds by many voices crying Lo here is Christ and lo He is there and claiming great light and messages from God, seeking to remove the landmarks and tear down the pillars of faith in order to obliterate the knowledge of God by exalting the false Sabbath, the child of the papacy, in place of the day God blessed and sanctified, casting contempt on God Himself, and finally enforcing it by an oppressive law, while the mighty angel that lightens the earth with his glory proclaims the fall of Babylon and calls God's people to forsake her.Ms 143, 1901, par. 48–52+1

Satan deceives the people of the earth through lying wonders, appearing to bring great blessings and divine truth while gaining control over the world.4SP 444.1 He also causes distress and destruction, then blames God's people for calamities and violence, stirring hatred and persecution against them.4SP 444.1+1 His aim is to control consciences and secure worship through compulsion, in support of human creeds and laws that defy God's law.4SP 444.1 In the final crisis this is applied through a union of church and civil power that enforces Sunday observance and persecutes those who keep the seventh-day Sabbath, with Satan's agents blaming Sabbathkeepers for calamities as a reason to compel obedience, and those who refuse facing threats of death and restrictions on buying and selling.4SP 444.1+1

The miracle-working deception divides the whole earth into only two parties, those who stand in obedience under the bloodstained banner of Jesus Christ keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, and those who stand in disobedience under the black banner of rebellion, with the faithful in the last days greatly in the minority as only a remnant.Ms 16, 1900, par. 5–6+1 The lamb-like beast deceiving earth-dwellers by miracles done in sight of the first beast means earthly powers uniting with powers from beneath to oppress God's people, fulfilled when satanic agencies unite with the professed Christian world against God to enforce worship according to human opinions by compelling laws.ST Nov 7, 1900 Withstanding that enforcement requires taking the whole armor of God to stand in the evil day, standing firm on the platform of eternal truth under God's instruction as the great Author of truth, refusing the enemy's influence, and holding fast the evidences confirming truth in the third angel's message and proclaiming them until the close of history.ST Nov 7, 1900+2

The counterfeit will so closely resemble the true that the two cannot be distinguished except by the Holy Scriptures, whose plain utterances expose Satan's devices, which is why he works to keep men from Bible knowledge.RH Jun 7, 1906 By that testimony every statement and every miracle must be tested, for the wonders are Satan's lying wonders including healings and fire brought down from heaven in human sight to prove his claim to be God, not proof of divine origin.RH Jun 7, 1906+4 Safety lies in standing by Bible truths, making the Bible the study with God's law engraved in the heart, and studying and practicing God's word prayerfully as a shield, since those who turn from His commandments to false teachings are prepared to believe the deception when displayed more fully as a coming test.1T 302.1–2+3 Only such will stand when the delusion grows so strong that if possible even the very elect would be deceived, climaxing in Satan personating Jesus Christ and being worshiped as God amid shouts of victory.Ms 16, 1884, par. 5

Without the enlightenment of the Spirit of God truth cannot be discerned from error in the near final testing as masterful temptations cover the earth with darkness in the closing controversy between the Prince of light and the prince of darkness, and souls without it fall under deception.Ms 143, 1901, par. 31–37 That satanic deception worked by signs and wonders, including fire from heaven before devotees to prove authority to those led from the only true foundation, will be met by God's converting power as at Pentecost when the gospel of Jesus crucified preached with the Holy Spirit's power converts many and Christ is glorified in preparing a people to stand the final test.RCOC 121.1–3+1 Those standing firm upon the everlasting Word meet Satan as Christ met him in the wilderness, working no miracle and giving no sign but depending only on God and His Word with It is written, conquering through the Holy Spirit's working which is stronger than miracles and obtains all power from the Word.Lt 11, 1904, par. 44

Looking for miracles as a sign of divine guidance places a person in grave danger of latter-time apparent miracles done in men's sight even to bringing fire from heaven through agents departed from the faith, lying wonders that would deceive if possible the very elect, and the absence of such miracle-working does not prove a work is not from God.19MR 372.2–3 Spurious works of healing claiming to be divine are not proof of divine power, and because of this deception God's servants today cannot work as Christ worked by joining preaching with miraculous healings but are marked a guarded way combining physical healing with the Word through gospel medical missionary work in sanitariums out of the cities with connected workers and intelligent educational work.HMW 8.3–9.2+1 Those who refuse clear light yet demand a miracle as proof will be answered by Satan with numerous miracles confirming in deception all who seek that evidence, leaving those who close their eyes to truth established in deception in a terrible situation.Lt 4, 1889, par. 60–62

The deception will be so strong that if possible even the very elect would be deceived through every conceivable device including false science, hypnotism, false healings where people are made sick then brought out, and fire from heaven claimed as God's power.Ms 191, 1905, par. 27–28 In that unusual peril salvation is found by hiding in Christ Jesus, standing alone with faith fixed not on human words or representations but on God's sure promises, listening to God's Word and knowing it true, clinging to Christ, believing in Him and doing His works, thereby washed white in the blood and cleansed from all sin, and holding firmly the evidence establishing truth in the third angel's message.IRCUP 20.2+3 Minds opened beforehand to receive God's Word through house-to-house Bible work will be prepared to decide rightly when Satan's deceptive miracles bring a crisis of formidable difficulty forcing earth-dwellers to choose, and many then confessing truth as eleventh-hour workers with Christ will receive equal wages with those who wrought through the whole day.Ms 18, 1888, par. 30

Miracle-working powers test God's people by trying to make void precious facts of faith given under the Holy Spirit's power, for which God's educational work prepares them to stand, and no human being is to be believed unless evidently established in the truth of God's word.5MR 351.2 In the last days Satan displays wonderful miracle-working power as an angel of light in an imitative work of darkness counterfeiting God's genuine work, so everyone must go to God personally and pray for divine enlightenment to know certainly what is truth and distinguish the genuine from the imitation.Ms 18, 1888, par. 24 Those accepting his science are among the deceived, and turning from truth leaves no anchor so the deceived lose bearings and drift from delusion to delusion, blown about by vain doctrine.Ms 124, 1905, par. 10–12

In the final scenes amid dense darkness covering the earth while the unfallen universe watches, Satan deceives the ungodly world by miracle-working power in the consummation of evil's long struggle against good, but Christ the atoning sacrifice is refuge to every trusting soul and those hiding in the Rock's cleft are secure from all the wicked one's power and arts.Ms 31, 1890, par. 1 When the nation marvelously worked for and shielded abandons Protestant principles and through its legislature supports Romanism by limiting religious liberty, forming Rome's tyranny against commandment keepers in a most trying position, then when all looks most forbidding God interposes for those who walked in and spread the light, revealing His power for His true people with Christ as refuge.7MR 52.2 The formation of the image is meat in due season and a warning for this time to arouse God's professed people from death-like slumber as startling events show the crisis rapidly approaching, yet its exact timing can be stated prematurely and requires calm prayerful Bible study in unity and love before opposing views are published.Lt 77, 1893, par. 14–20 The enemy's work against the Sabbath presses toward false worship as a test opening the way for the third angel's message to be proclaimed with power, which God's people must uphold openly even at risk to property or liberty.Ms 48, 1891, par. 22–23 These works of apparent healing in which Satan makes people sick then suddenly removes his power so they seem healed will bring Seventh-day Adventists to the test, and many with great light will fail to walk in it because they have not become one with Christ.Lt 57, 1904, par. 5