13:16Revelation 13:16

He causes all ranks without exception to accept an enforced sign of loyalty in mind or in action, under laws that restrict buying and selling and punish refusal with persecution and death.4SP 502.4–6+3 The forehead means the intellect and the hand means power and conduct, so the sign is taken by mentally acknowledging Sunday as holy or by refraining from work on that day in obedience to human law instead of keeping the seventh-day Sabbath of the fourth commandment.Ms 7a, 1896, par. 10–12+3 The sign is the observance of the first day as a counterfeit Sabbath set up against the Creator, bearing the authority of the papacy that attempted to change God's law, and it is enforced when the United States and apostate churches unite church and state to form an image to the first beast.GC 578.3+4 No one has yet received it, for it is received only knowingly when the true Sabbath has been made plain and law compels the false, leaving every person to choose deliberately between God's commandments and men's commands.4SP 279.1–2+4 Those who worship and take the sign face God's unmixed wrath and the seven last plagues, while those who refuse stand opposite with the seal of God and the Father's name in their foreheads and gain final victory and deliverance.4SP 279.1–2+4

The one who causes the receiving is the two-horned beast coming up out of the earth, a union of civil and ecclesiastical power whose gentle lamb-like appearance gives way to dragon fierceness.4SP 502.4–6+1 It represents the United States, rising peacefully, with its two lamb-like horns representing Republicanism and Protestantism and civil and religious liberty in America.4SP 502.4–6+1 It speaks as a dragon and exercises all the power of the first beast before him, enforcing worship of that power.Ms 16, 1900, par. 5–6+2 That first beast is the papacy, with its 1,260 years of church-state persecution and cruel, blasphemous trampling of God's law, whose steps apostate Protestantism follows.Ms 51, 1899, par. 4–6+1 This coercive religious work belongs to a future phase when Congress makes laws concerning religion.4SP 502.4–6+1

He causes all without exception, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, people of every rank and condition, to receive the mark.GC 578.3+4 No class is exempt, whether great or small, rich or poor, free or enslaved.ST Nov 7, 1900+2 This universal pressure divides the earth into only two parties, those standing under the bloodstained banner of Jesus Christ and those standing under the black banner of rebellion, the obedient and the disobedient.Ms 16, 1900, par. 5–6+1 The command will be fulfilled when the United States enforces Sunday observance as Rome's claimed sign of papal supremacy, so that honoring Sunday gives homage to the papacy in both the Old and New Worlds.GC 578.3+2

The coercion centers on making an image to the beast that had the wound by a sword and did live, and on worshiping that image and the first beast.18MR 29.1–30.2+2 The wonder-working power gives life to the image so that it speaks, and causes all who will not worship the image to be killed.18MR 29.1–30.2+2 It also restricts buying and selling so that no one may buy or sell without the mark, the name of the beast, or the number of his name.Ms 24, 1891, par. 23–24+4 All of this is accomplished through deception by signs and wonders, including great wonders and making fire come down from heaven, by which Satanic agencies uniting with the professed Christian world compel worship according to human opinions.Ms 24, 1891, par. 23–24+3 That persecuting power is fallen Babylon, professing the character of a lamb and alliance with heaven while revealing by action the heart of a dragon, instigated by and united with satanic power.ST Nov 7, 1900+1

The forehead stands for the intellect or mind and the hand stands for power, so to receive the mark in either place is to give allegiance in belief or in action.4SP 505.2–3+1 The mark is the counterpart to God's seal, for God's Sabbath is the sign of His authority and the seal of His law, while the mark is a counterfeit Sabbath, the day of the sun, set directly against it.4SP 505.2–3+1 Wicked powers accept worship enforced by compulsion through the hand, but God's servants are sealed only in their foreheads, in the mind, and never by force.4SP 505.2–3+1 Those who refuse the beast's mark keep God's commandments including the Sabbath though they face persecution, and the importance of the Sabbath becomes fully clear when God's wrath falls on those who enforce the mark.GC88 690.1–691.3

To receive the mark in the hand is to refrain from work on Sunday, and to receive it in the forehead is to acknowledge Sunday mentally as the Sabbath and freely profess it.Ms 1, 1897, par. 17+2 The mark is Sunday observance as the opposite of God's sign, the seventh-day Sabbath, distinguishing those who acknowledge papal authority and its claimed supremacy from those who acknowledge God's authority.Ms 1, 1897, par. 16 Compulsion toward it advances through state prosecutions for Sunday labor, judicial decisions, pressure from religious groups, the national government's closing of the World's Fair on Sunday, and a growing church-state union enforcing Sunday observance by law.DA 839.5 People will be compelled to honor the first day by doing no business and refraining from business, and this coercion turns men in positions of trust against God's commandment-keeping people.Lt 168, 1909, par. 14–15+1 Merely refraining from work on Sunday when authorities require businesses to close is not by itself receiving the mark, because there is then no conflict between the person and God; the mark is received when human law commands keeping Sunday as holy and forbids observing Saturday, and the person takes the position of keeping Sunday.Ms 163, 1898, par. 20–22

The same prophecy foretells the modern condition of unions, confederacies, combinations, gigantic monopolies and trades unions that deprive neighbors of freedom of action and rob the poorer classes of advantages justly belonging to them by controlling buying and selling and permitting it only under certain conditions and demands.2MR 179.1–2+2 Belonging to these combinations pledges service to their interests and disregards the entire Decalogue, making it impossible to keep God's commandments, because it violates man's whole duty to consecrate the entire being to God and to love his neighbor as himself.3MR 42.6–43.2+1 Their forming is one of Satan's last efforts and one of the signs of the last days, binding men in bundles ready to be burned, with obedience to God's law as the test for the whole world.3MR 42.6–43.2+2 God's people must therefore come out from the world, get out of the cities, and trust God to care for those who love Him and keep His commandments.3MR 42.6–43.2+1 Those who refuse to join and support such arrangements will be marked men, made to feel cruel satanic power through economic pressure reaching every class, small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, even to the penalty of loss of life.Lt 26, 1903, par. 4–7+2

The mark is the keeping of the first day of the week as the Sabbath in place of the seventh-day Sabbath instituted in Eden and commanded in the fourth commandment as the memorial of creation and sign between God and His people.Ms 7a, 1896, par. 10–12+4 It is a spurious, counterfeit, idol sabbath, the day of the sun, set up against Christ and without one syllable of Scriptural authority, enforced as a humanly instituted Sabbath upon every person and every rank and condition.Ms 7a, 1896, par. 10–12+4 The verse presents a forced choice between loyalty to God shown by keeping the seventh-day Sabbath and submission to the beast's false worship, with coercion reaching all without exception and punishing refusal with loss of liberty of conscience, imprisonment, civil penalties, economic exclusion, and ultimately a decree of death.Ms 7a, 1896, par. 10–12+4 Those who remain loyal to God's law and refuse the false Sabbath receive God's seal, while those who accept Sunday as the Sabbath receive the beast's mark, and when the conflict is clearly understood choosing a human enactment over God's law by observing the false sabbath is receiving the mark and decides eternal destiny.15MR 15.1–3+1 Leading men and women to disregard the fourth commandment and to give to a man-made institution the glory and honor God requires for His Sabbath day places them on Satan's side of the controversy, makes them idolaters among professed Christians who are not sealed by God, and as unrepentant despisers of God's law they will be visited with God's retributive judgments poured out without mixture of mercy.19MR 244.1–3

The mark is a sign of allegiance to the authority and kingdom acknowledged, set in the final worldwide conflict against the seal of the living God.4SP 505.2–3+4 God's Sabbath bears the mark of His government and creative power and of its divine Author, expressing loyalty to His law, while the spurious sabbath exalted by Satan bears the mark of rebellion, of Satan, and of the man of sin.4SP 505.2–3+3 People who bear either mark acknowledge themselves as subjects of that kingdom, so that observance of the first day distinguishes those who acknowledge papal authority from those who acknowledge God's authority.8T 117.4+1 Honoring the papal Sabbath therefore exalts that power above the Creator and acknowledges Rome's claimed authority to legislate in divine things, with the Sabbath question as the issue that brings the choice of allegiance to God's truth and law into focus.ST Mar 22, 1910+2 The forehead represents the intellect or mind and the hand represents power, so receiving the mark in either place signifies allegiance expressed in belief or in action, a counterfeit Sabbath opposed to God's Sabbath which is the sign and seal of His law and authority.4SP 505.2–3+1 Wicked powers accept worship enforced by compulsion, unlike God whose servants are sealed only in their foreheads in the mind and not by force, while those who refuse the beast's mark keep God's commandments including the Sabbath though they face persecution.4SP 505.2–3+1

The mark consists in obedience to papal law in place of God's law, by which the papacy, the first beast and man of sin, exalts itself above God.4SP 279.1–2+2 Whoever understandingly keeps the law as changed by the papacy gives supreme honor to that changing power and marks allegiance to the pope in place of God.4SP 279.1–2+1 The attempted change foretold in prophecy is the dropping of the second commandment forbidding image worship and the changing of the fourth commandment to authorize observance of the first day instead of the seventh day as the Sabbath, claimed on the authority of the church alone, by which the papal power openly sets itself above God and sits in the temple of God showing himself that he is God.4SP 279.1–2+1 That change of the Sabbath from the seventh day to Sunday is presented as the sign or mark of the authority of the Romish Church, and accepting Sunday observance acknowledges that authority and pays homage to that power.4SP 281.2+2 The mark is the keeping of the counterfeit Sabbath and of Sunday as holy, and those who after hearing the truth still regard Sunday as holy when the test comes and it is made plain bear the signature of the man of sin who attempted to change times and laws.4SP 281.2+2 Only a remnant who keep the word of Christ's patience and refuse to worship the beast, identified as papal Rome that drank the blood of the saints, or his image, identified as apostate Protestantism with two horns like a lamb but speaking as a dragon united with fallen churches and spiritualism, escape the mark.Ms 16, 1884, par. 3–4

Church and state unite to compel all to receive the mark, and the United States in enforcing Sunday observance gives homage to papal supremacy and its claimed sign of authority.GC 578.3+1 That enforcement is fulfilled when America abandons Protestant principles, when legislators give countenance to Romanism, and when Protestant churches seek secular power and join with papists and the civil power to form an image to the beast and exalt Sunday.GC 578.3+3 The union exercises spiritual tyranny over conscience, tearing down the Creator's memorial to exalt Rome's institution while God's people honor the fourth commandment and refuse the mark.9T 16.2–17.1+2 This national apostasy ends in national ruin, and religious legislation already enacted shows the image virtually formed with the dragon spirit manifest.GC 449.2–450.1+2

No one may buy or sell without the mark, the name of the beast, or the number of his name, and those without them are barred from trade while those who refuse to worship the image face death.Ms 24, 1891, par. 23–24+2 The faithful who refuse are cut off from resources and left in abject poverty, distress, weeping and prayer, as Satanic agencies unite with the professed Christian world to oppose God and compel worship according to human opinions.ST Nov 7, 1900+2 They are mocked for feebleness and small numbers, taunted as dependent yet independent, and charged with claiming to be the only ones right.ST Nov 7, 1900+2 Pressure through fear of wanting food and clothing is used to draw them to join the world in transgression, tying the mark to worship of the beast and its image and to the enforced counterfeit Sabbath.Ms 24, 1891, par. 23–24+2

Refusal brings civil penalties, trial before councils, fines, imprisonment, loss of rights, and ultimately a decree of death for not worshiping the image.ST Nov 7, 1900+3 The coercion is an attack on liberty of conscience extending to imprisonment and even death, repeating the first persecution in the hostility of Cain against Abel.Ms 24, 1891, par. 23–24+2 Oppression extends even to whipping, imprisonment and killing, especially in the Southern field where the spirit of slavery remains.Ms 143, 1901, par. 70–76+2 When the conflict is clearly understood, choosing a human enactment over God's law by observing the false sabbath is receiving the mark as a sign of allegiance to the authority chosen instead of God.GC 445.2–446.2+2

The enforcement is prepared by deception through signs and wonders, including great wonders and fire from heaven by which the wonder-working power deceives all who dwell on the earth who are not connected with God.18MR 29.1–30.2+2 Spiritualism personates the dead, and Satan appears as an angel of light claiming to be Lord and changing the Sabbath, and in person impersonates Christ to bless those who worship the mark.18MR 29.1–30.2+2 God's people are accused of causing convulsions of nature and bloodshed, while good is promised to those who receive the mark and harm to its opposers.ST Nov 7, 1900+2 The enforcing power always favors human creeds and laws against God's law, usurping the prerogatives of Jehovah with the man of sin sitting in the seat of God, for God never forces will or conscience and does not bring people in by persecution.Ms 24, 1891, par. 23–24+2

The causing of all to receive the mark belongs to a future, last-days phase of the two-horned beast when civil and ecclesiastical power are joined and Congress makes laws concerning religion.4SP 502.4–6+2 Its fulfillment stands on the threshold of great and solemn events to be fulfilled in quick succession, when past history is repeated and human power joins satanic despotism to make void the law of God.18MR 29.1–30.2+1 The prophecies of Revelation 12 to 18 are being fulfilled, with the very last call of chapter 18 now to be given, just before the beast and the false prophet are taken and cast into the lake of fire, the dragon is bound a thousand years, the wicked are resurrected, Satan and all the wicked are finally destroyed, and Christ triumphs and reigns on this earth.Ms 75, 1906, par. 16 Everything around this fulfillment now moves with before-unknown rapidity, with increasing parade of heathen power and false religion already begun, dividing the world into only two parties.18MR 29.1–30.2+1 The chapter's events are certain to take place as a coming worldwide conflict compelling every social standing to receive the mark in connection with worship of the beast and its image and restriction of buying and selling.18MR 29.1–30.2+1

The marking 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 Receiving the mark means yielding truth of heavenly origin and accepting Sunday as Sabbath, in contrast to proving loyalty by observing God's law, refusing a spurious Sabbath, ranking under the banner of the Lord God Jehovah, and receiving the seal of the living God.Lt 11, 1890, par. 10–12+1 After truth has been proclaimed as a witness to all nations, a more decided effort will be made to exalt the false Sabbath and cast contempt upon God by supplanting the day He blessed and sanctified.Ms 143, 1901, par. 48–52 This threat comes in the final time of trouble, when every case has been decided and the impenitent can no longer receive mercy, while God's sealed people, unable to defend themselves against earthly powers, must rely on God for protection.5T 212.5

No one has yet received the mark because the testing time has not yet come.Ms 118, 1899, par. 2–3+1 Sunday observance is not the mark until the decree goes forth causing men to worship the idol Sabbath, and Sunday work or Sunday keeping before that decree and before Sabbath truth is known does not give a person the mark.Ms 118, 1899, par. 2–3+2 The mark will be received when the decree enforces the counterfeit Sabbath and the loud cry of the third angel warns against worship of the beast and his image, and the line is clearly drawn between the false and the true; then those who still continue in transgression will receive it.Ms 51, 1899, par. 18–19 That period is rapidly approaching, when Protestant churches unite with the secular power to sustain a false religion and the papal Sabbath is enforced by combined church and State authority, a national apostasy ending only in national ruin.Ms 51, 1899, par. 18–19 Until the final issue comes, refraining from work on Sunday out of prudence to keep minds open, avoid needless defiance and premature crisis, and devote the day to missionary visiting and Scripture opening is not receiving the mark, and believers should be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves.Ms 22a, 1895 [Copy 1], par. 21–23+2 Proclaiming Sunday as the mark before the right time stirs violent religious prejudice, leads lawmakers, priests, rulers and secret societies to enforce Sunday by whipping, imprisonment and destruction, and closes the missionary field.Lt 73, 1895, par. 9–14

The verse belongs to a connected sequence of past, present and future events continuing through the first five verses of Revelation 14 and ending with the complete redemption of the 144,000, who gain victory over the beast and its image.WLF 10.4+1 It must be studied with the whole of Revelation 14, for Revelation 14:9-11 gives the special warning against this worship and receiving the mark, and Revelation 14:12 shows that warning is to be given by those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.19MR 282.1–2+1 Together with John 14 and John 15 and with Revelation 14:8-10 and Revelation 12:17, it brings down to the closing scenes of earth's history and the great last warfare between those who keep the commandments and those who make void the law, defining the standard of truth to be lifted up while teachers proclaim fables to counteract the last message of mercy.Ms 55, 1895, par. 14–16 It belongs to the closing strife with the image beast when believers and unbelievers are clearly distinguished, its deception, wonders, miracles and oppression manifested in the final struggle around the seven last plagues, with the saints' victory over beast, image, mark and number on the sea of glass singing the song of Moses and the Lamb.WLF 9.5–6+1

The power described causes all without exception, small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, of every rank and condition, to receive the mark, and this universal compulsion divides the earth and all Christendom into only two parties and two distinctly stamped classes.Ms 16, 1900, par. 5–6+4 On one side stand those who keep the commandments of God and have the faith and testimony of Jesus, who refuse the mark and stand under the blood-stained banner of Jesus Christ.Ms 16, 1900, par. 5–6+4 On the other side stand those who worship the beast and his image and receive his mark, who war against God's holy law, bind themselves in confederacies and secret societies and persecute God's people, standing under the black banner of rebellion.Ms 16, 1900, par. 5–6+4 It is a choice of Barabbas rather than Christ, a deliberate crucifying of the Lord, in the great final conflict between the obedient and the disobedient.Ms 16, 1900, par. 5–6+1

Against this worship the third angel follows with a loud voice giving solemn warning that to receive the mark in forehead or in hand is to worship the beast and his image.Ms 100, 1893, par. 8–9+3 All who so worship and receive the mark will drink the wine of the wrath of God without mixture, face torment with fire and brimstone, meet the seven last plagues, and perish with the man of sin.4SP 279.1–2+4 Which mark is borne is thus a question of life or death demanding urgent proclamation to a sleeping religious world.19MR 282.1–2+1 God's people who refuse the mark keep God's commandments and the faith of Jesus, gain victory over the beast and his image and his mark and number, are delivered as Noah was, come through great tribulation in white robes, are honored, and break forth in victorious song.GC 449.2–450.1+3

The mark stands directly opposite the seal of the living God and the Father's name written in the foreheads.14MR 161.2–163.1+4 That seal is the seventh-day Sabbath of the fourth commandment, the sign of His government and creative power identifying God as Creator and Lawgiver, guarding against idolatry and atheism and unbelief, while the mark is observance of the first day of the week, the counterfeit Sabbath and day of the sun acknowledging papal authority in place of God.15MR 15.1–3+3 The forehead represents the intellect or mind and the hand represents power, so receiving the mark in either place signifies allegiance expressed in belief or in action, whereas God's servants are sealed only in their foreheads without force, for wicked powers accept worship enforced by compulsion.4SP 505.2–3+1 Preparation for the seal comes through humility before God and obedience to truth, while preparation for the mark comes through uniting with the world and taking its mold.CET 191.1 The marking is the decisive test before God's people are sealed and before probation closes, determining eternal destiny, and when the decree goes forth and the stamp is impressed character remains fixed forever, pure and spotless for eternity for the sealed.14MR 161.2–163.1+2

The mark is received only by knowing and deliberate choice, when the claims of the fourth commandment are understood and Sunday observance is enforced by law, so that the issue is plainly set before the people as a choice between the commandments of God and the commandments of men and those who continue in transgression take the side of human authority against divine authority.4SP 281.2+4 It consists in obedience to papal law in place of God's law, by honoring the changed law that drops the second commandment against image worship and authorizes the first day instead of the seventh as the Sabbath on the authority of the church alone, thereby giving supreme honor to that changing power and avowing allegiance to a power opposed to God.4SP 279.1–2+2 Christians of past generations who observed the first day supposing it was the Bible Sabbath have not received it, and many today, including true Christians in every church not excepting the Roman Catholic communion, who honestly believe Sunday is of divine appointment have not received it.4SP 281.2+2 Grace is not withdrawn until they are convicted by enlightenment concerning the obligation of the true Sabbath and then trample the evidence, for keeping the true Sabbath in obedience to God's law shows allegiance to the Creator and brings the seal of God rather than the beast's mark.4SP 281.2+1

Merely refraining from work on Sunday does not by itself put the mark upon a person, when it is done to keep the peace, avoid giving offense as lawbreakers, keep minds open to truth, and devote the day to missionary work of the highest importance such as visiting people and opening the Scriptures to them.9T 232.3+3 Wisdom calls for being as wise as serpents and harmless as doves, not going out of the way to work on Sunday or to act defiantly while prejudice remains, not flashing all truth suddenly upon minds lest it become darkness to them, and not bringing on the prosecution and crisis before the time when the final issue over the Sabbath has not yet come.Ms 22a, 1895 [Copy 1], par. 12–16+2 Where resting on Sunday advances the cause it should be done, spending the day in visiting homes, reading the Bible, and doing missionary work that no law can condemn, and if arrest leads toward the chain gang where Sabbath labor is forced under penalty of death, sanctified common sense requires avoiding that danger and moving to another place.Lt 132, 1902, par. 3–5+1 But ceasing labor on Sunday and bowing to the idol Sabbath because of trials, inconveniences, persecution, and fear of trial is cowardly, halfhearted service that fails the test and yields to the mark, and in fields where the test is not present and open defiance would fill opposers with hatred, provoke secret organizations and violent opposition, and lead newly taught people to defy oppressors, workers must labor quietly and carefully until people learn the truth and ask about it.Ms 22a, 1895 [Copy 1], par. 12–16+1

The mark will be presented in some shape to every institution and every individual, with the Sabbath joined to it as the test question, and how a person treats it places that person either on God's side or on Satan's side.3MR 189.2+2 Refusing the mark and the beast's image when a decree is issued to regard the beast's institution requires a firm decision made now, before that decree, to say nay, we will not regard that institution.EW 57.2+1 That preparation is connected with dying more fully to the world, denying self, being baptized into Christ's sufferings, bearing trials with patience and joy, stepping fast because time is almost finished, and with what others have had years to learn step by step being learned in a few months by unlearning much and learning again and gaining strength for each next step in order to inherit glory.EW 54.2+1 It calls for urgent readiness among those who have recently embraced the third angel's message, that understanding of Scripture by which truth is distinguished from error.EW 57.2+1

The coming test will press the mark upon every soul as a conflict between obeying God's commandments and obeying human commands, and those accustomed to yielding to worldly demands and customs will find it easier to submit to earthly powers than to endure ridicule, insult, imprisonment, or death.5T 81.1+1 True servants must obey God rather than consult their own temporal interests, because no one can serve God and mammon, and must remain steadfast in the truth even when life is at stake, because their only hope of eternal life is to stand firm.5T 81.1+2 Believers now living in comparatively peaceful days must be sustained by faith and be gathering strength and courage now so they will be upheld in that solemn period not far off which is the time of trouble when the decree goes forth against all who will not worship the image and receive his mark in foreheads or hands.ST Nov 17, 1881+1 Those who refuse keep the final and eternal salvation of their souls constantly before them, with judgment and eternity in view and eyes fixed by faith on Jesus and the throne, restrained from indulgence of sin, ripening for heaven, cultivating spiritual mindedness and striving to copy Christ until without spot or wrinkle, transformed into His image by beholding His character and purity, brought into close harmony with Him, guarded by angels, given discernment against disguise, and inheriting all things and immortal life for enduring to the end.Ms 16, 1884, par. 8

They meet the rival Sabbath like Daniel's companions met Nebuchadnezzar's golden image in Dura, entering no controversy, taking God's Word as guide, keeping His Sabbaths, fixing faith on Jesus, remaining subject to higher powers without defiance, and trusting God's protection, mercy and angelic guard through accusation, distress and martyrdom, refusing homage now even at cost of property, liberty and life.5T 81.1+4

Christ gave this vision to John on Patmos for the present time as an important message for God's people about a power prominent in the last days and the wickedness then existing.18MR 33.2–34.1+2 The chapter belongs to the solemn threefold warning now to be proclaimed to the world, combining the first and second messages and binding them with the third, bringing history down to the closing warfare between commandment keepers and those who make void God's law.Ms 55, 1895, par. 14–16+1 Together with John 14, John 15, Revelation 14:8-10 and Revelation 12:17 it defines the standard of truth and the true marks of love to God while teachers proclaim fables to counteract the last message of mercy.Ms 55, 1895, par. 14–16+1 The warning against worshiping the beast and his image and receiving his mark in forehead or hand, with its judgment of drinking unmixed wrath and torment with fire and brimstone, must not only be read and understood but proclaimed with no uncertain sound, without mixture of human wisdom or tradition, by Scripture compared with Scripture and lifelike illustration.18MR 33.2–34.1+2 Those with light and knowledge must rise with the loyal, guard the outposts as vigilant soldiers, warn legislators and all ranks, stir the people whom ordinary preaching will not move, and carry mercy even to the worst sinners, while Satan tries to entangle the message with side issues and the masses turn to fables and refuse sound doctrine.19MR 40.4–41.2+2

The identification of Sunday observance with the mark must not be raised prematurely among the oppressed people of the South and similar prejudiced fields where the spirit of slavery remains.STMW6 51.1+2 There the test is not yet present, though the time will come when enforced Sunday becomes the test and slavery is revived in connection with it, bringing Sunday-law bondage that closes the way to keeping the true Sabbath given at Sinai.Ms 22a, 1895 [Copy 1], par. 12–16+1 Open presentation now would be misunderstood, create false impressions, fill white church members with hatred, leaven the colored people, provoke secret organizations and violent opposition, and bring whipping, imprisonment and killing, repeating history and closing the missionary field.SPBC 224.1+2 Workers must therefore labor quietly and carefully as with children, conforming where there is no conflict with God's law, not making working on Sunday a prominent issue or taking as firm a stand against Sunday as elsewhere, using Sunday for missionary schools and lessons from Christ's life, until people learn truth and ask about it.SW 102.1–103.1+2 This caution concerns work for outsiders in that field, lest newly taught people defy oppressors under supposed sanction and lest encouragement to work on Sunday provoke cruel opposition to efforts toward self-support.STMW6 51.1+2

Practical readiness also requires separation from popular education whose teachings and methods impart principles identified with the papacy and prepare youth to give life to the image and share its religious and civil darkness.HCSSP 37.2 Means must be used now because a time soon comes when none can buy or sell without the mark, the end is near, opportunity will close forever, and hoarded houses, lands and money will be useless for trade.Lt 72, 1902, par. 6–9 Those with means should therefore invest less in worldly enterprises, give alms, release buried talent, and create increased facilities for giving the third angel's message.Lt 72, 1902, par. 6–9 Since Satan works secretly and underhandedly through minds in high governmental and parliamentary positions to enforce idol Sunday worship, make God's law of none effect, and persuade rulers that Sabbath keepers disregard civil law in order to make life hard for dissenters, God's people must avoid unnecessary publicity, controversy, disrespect to ministers and rulers, and full disclosure of purposes and plans, lest opposition be roused before the people are ready.Ms 22c, 1895 [Copy 3], par. 28–29+1

The coercion repeats ancient patterns, for false religionists take charge of conscience until the close of time, measure religion in courts, betray and persecute the chosen, remove God's memorial to control minds, exalt the child of the papacy nourished by the Christian world, and call Sabbath obedience disloyalty.Ms 32, 1898, par. 11–12+2 It follows Cain's hostility to the obedient, Nebuchadnezzar's exaltation of the golden image on the plain of Dura, and the betrayal of Christ, now carried into effect as the mystery of iniquity by the man of sin claiming God's prerogatives and seeking to subject mind and conscience to human authority.Ms 32, 1898, par. 11–12+3 Men claiming to be Christians call the world to worship the image they have made and to observe the rival spurious Sabbath instituted by Rome and accepted by apostate Protestantism, trampling the Sabbath sign between God and His people and placing oppressive laws and bans on buying and selling upon all who refuse.Ms 32, 1898, par. 11–12+1 As the old serpent Satan stamps all he can, while conflicting explanations of the image confuse and discourage sufferers, God's people meet the test by entering into no controversy, taking God's Word as guide, keeping His Sabbaths, maintaining allegiance, and following Christ personally even to a martyr's record.Ms 110, 1904, par. 58–61+1

The chapter thus lays bare the perils before God's people in the last days, showing a deceived people working counter to God.17MR 18.2–4+1 It presents a life-and-death question of loyalty to God's only standard of righteousness and the true marks of love to Him.Ms 55, 1895, par. 14–16+1