So, we have a word of prayer. Amen. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the Sabbath day. We ask for your Holy Spirit as we study these things. We look at what's going on in the world, and we can tell that time is short, that a crisis is just in front of us, and we want to be prepared. And we know it's from a correct understanding of your word that we are prepared. So we ask a blessing upon our study, and thank you for all these things, in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. On Thursday, Brother Colin up in Canada and I had a conversation, and we're both comfortable with discussing our disagreement on who modern Rome is publicly. I didn't want to do it—once I realized we had a disagreement a few Sabbaths ago, I didn't want to do it—and be providing a platform for discussions that go on that might cause some of the people around the world that are following this Zoom meeting and the articles to stumble. But I think that Brother Colin and I have worked through to a point where we can both go through this subject in depth without coming off as being adversarial. We never were. I had confidence in Brother Colin right from the beginning. I thought the Lord chose him to be at a different understanding of modern Rome than I, because I think this is a subject that the Lord has allowed to come in among us, because there's too many of us that aren't truly diving into the prophetic Word and studying it as we should, and if we don't do that, we're going to be lost in the very near future. So I also received an email from someone that had listened or read the May 6th Zoom meeting, and he challenged me on something that I said, and I said it there because in our dialogue on May 6th, it was introduced that when we were talking about the menorah that is used to celebrate Hanukkah, I had assumed that it was seven-branch, and I was told in that conversation that it was an eight-branch candlestick, and as loose a cannon as I am sometimes, I naturally right then and there latched on to that, because I understand this Hanukkah celebration prophetically is identifying this transition for Trump to be the eighth of the seventh president, and that Hanukkah typifying that when I understood that there was eight branches on the Hanukkah menorah as opposed to seven branches on the menorah that's in God's sanctuary, I could see this eighth is of the seven, and I of course waxed eloquent, and then I got the email saying, you know, the menorah for Hanukkah was nine branches, so I did my due diligence, which I hadn't did in that meeting, and I looked, and it's nine branches. I suppose the way it's described, the branch in the center on the Hanukkah menorah has a different name because it's used to light the other eight, but for me, I'm just going to drop that. My apologies for putting that out in the public arena. I'm not going to make any application on a nine-branch candlestick unless someone has clear light beyond what I could dig out this week, and I didn't spend a whole lot of time. So that's a look at it. I've seen the email, and then I checked it out the best I could and said, yeah, it seems like there was nine. Another thing that in my conversation with Colin, one of the things that seemed to bring him a little bit of pause on his position was I told him about the passage that he was familiar with where Sister White says the United States is going to do homage to the papacy at the Sunday Law. The thing about that is that Brother Colin has understood his application partially from the idea that in 321, pagan Rome passed the Sunday Law, and in 538, papal Rome passed the Sunday Law, and the coming Sunday Law in the United States, which has been typified by the fact that pagan Rome was the abomination of desolation and papal Rome was the abomination of desolation, and that those two abominations of desolation typify the third abomination of desolation, which is the United States. Based upon that line of thought, he came to understand that pagan Rome followed by papal Rome on those Sunday Laws identify that at this Sunday Law in the United States, that that's marking modern Rome. And there's a quote or two where Sister White says that the Sunday Law, the United States will pay homage to Rome, so I reminded him what I had understood for years, and then when I looked at it, I'm a little bit off, but it's still valid, I asked him what he thought the word homage meant, and I think he said honor or reverence, something kind of casual in terms of what I understand that to be, and my understanding of homage was it was from the time period of the feudal system, and it represented where a peasant, I don't know if that's the right word, would bow before a king, and I had learned way back when, and I know who I learned it from, I'm not going to mention name because it's a name from way back when, over two decades ago, that I should have did my due diligence back then and checked it out, but the way that person presented it is that the peasant would bow before the king, he would lift his two hands above his head, and then the king would place his two hands over the two hands of the peasant as he was bowed before him, and that's pretty much what homage, where the term homage comes from, but what I had been told way back when, and I have repeated through the years, is that peasant was first stripped naked, and as after Colin and I had our discussion, I figured I'm going to go in and look at that, and that's not accurate, there's no stripping naked, although it is still, my point was, is that when the United States pays homage to Rome, that Rome has taken control, it's now the ruling power, and therefore the papal power taking control of the United States at the Sunday Law, kind of in my mind, overrules the idea that the United States is the third and modern Rome, because it's clearly at that point at the Sunday Law in the United States in subjection to Rome, so I have in the notes, if you look at your notes, some of the expressions that are associated with homage, it says kneeling, the vassal, that's what it was, the vassal knelt before the Lord to demonstrate humility and submission, hands, the vassal placed his hands between the Lord's hands, symbolizing the personal and binding nature of their agreement, and oath of fealty, the vassal swore an oath of loyalty and fidelity to the Lord, and so I have some passages from the Spirit of Prophecy in your notes that show that at the Sunday Law, those that accept the Mark of the Beast are going to be kneeling, from Review and Herald, March 9, 1911, all who will not bow to the decree of national councils and obey the national laws to exalt the Sabbath instituted by the man of sin, to disregard God's holy day, will feel not the oppressive power of popery alone, but of the Protestant world, the image of the beast. That quote there, if you've read the recent article, I take some time to address the passage from the Great Controversy that Colin has used, where both the Old World and the New World, and the New World is in the passage in Great Controversy, is identified as apostate Protestantism, and the Old World is identified as Romanism. Romanism in the Old World and apostate Protestantism in the New World will pursue a course similar to the persecutions in the past, something like that. And if I'm understanding Colin correctly, he's using the expression Romanism in the Old World to identify past tense and Protestantism in the New World, future tense. But here in this quote we just read, in agreement with, I think, the correct grammatical understanding of the passage from Great Controversy that Colin uses, it says, not the oppressive power of popery alone, but of the Protestant world. Both popery and the Protestants are going to lead out in persecution, and in the passage from Great Controversy that you'll see in the article, it takes place in the theater of Christendom, okay? So you can't—I don't think you have the grammatical justification for taking Sister White's expression Old World and putting it in the past tense. She clearly defines it as Europe. The only—there's only one—I tried to look up every quote I could on the Old World. There's only one place in the writings of Ellen White where she uses the expression Old World as a symbol of past tense, and it's when she's referring to the world before the flood. She calls that the Old World. And, of course, she doesn't say nothing about the New World, but that was the old world that was swept away by a flood. Okay, so when you're paying homage, the three things you're going to do is you're going to kneel, you're going to place your hands in the king's hands, and you're going to swear an oath. So when the United States pays homage to the papacy at the Sunday Law, hands is one of the things, and we're familiar with this. This is common not only in the spirit of prophecy that at the United States, that at the Sunday Law, the United States joins hands with the papacy, but also in the premier verse of this story, Daniel 1141, you can see that there's a group of people that escape the hand of the papacy, and therefore the people that don't escape the hand of the papacy have joined hands with the papacy. And this agrees with passages such as this one from Testimony, Volume 5, that the United States joins hands with the papacy at the Sunday Law. And I'm saying, because Sister White is saying that in other places that the United States pays homage to Rome at the Sunday Law, that the joining of the hands is that the United States is on its knees, its hands together above its head, and the papacy takes its hands, showing that the United States is in subjection to the papacy. By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hands across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power. When she shall reach over the abyss to clasp the hand of spiritualism. When under the influence of this threefold union our country shall repudiate every principle of its constitution as a Protestant and Republican government and shall make provision for propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan, that the end is near. So they bow down, they place their hands above their heads, and they swear an oath of fealty, and fealty refers to a formal pledge of allegiance, loyalty, and service typically made by a vassal to a lord in the context of the feudal system during the medieval times. It involves the vassal promising to serve and support the lord often in exchange for protection and the granting of land or other benefits. The term encompasses the following elements. Loyalty, a commitment to remain loyal to the lord, not betraying or acting against him. Service, a pledge to provide military and other forms of service to the lord as needed. Allegiance, a declaration of allegiance acknowledging the lord's authority and supremacy. The word homage is the act of swearing fealty. The act of swearing fealty was a solemn and formal ceremony often involving the oath of fealty where the vassal would kneel before the lord and swear to uphold these commitments. And this is one of the places where Sister White talks about the United States paying homage, Great Controversy 448-449. Enforcement of Sunday keeping on the part of the Protestant churches is an enforcement of the worship of the papacy of the beast. Those who understanding the claims of the fourth commandment choose to observe the false instead of the true are thereby paying homage to that power by which alone it is commanded. So my point is that the Sunday law, I can't accept the premise that the United States becomes modern Rome, because when pagan Rome is identified in prophecy, it's identified as ruling the world supremely for a period of time. And when papal Rome comes into history, it rules the world supremely for a period of time. So when modern Rome comes into history, I don't see it being the United States, because if you're aligning that with the Sunday law, at that point, the United States is not. ruling, it's ruled over. It's a submission and subjection to the papal power. And you can see a few more quotes in there on that subject, and I'm going to drop over those. You can look at those at your leisure. I think there's many others that would uphold what I'm saying. The United States is, on several lines of prophecy, it comes to a conclusion at the Sunday Law. And the next power is the threefold union, which is modern Rome. So what we're dealing with, in my understanding, is—and if I was going to try to argue that what I'm saying about modern Rome right now is not something that I've just invented here recently—I would say that if you read the articles, particularly, I don't know, the last 25 articles, from say 175 to 200 of the articles on Daniel that we've had on the website, you'll find that even if I'm wrong in my understanding, you'll find that I'm understanding that we are in the very end of the sealing time of the 144,000, and that that period of time where the seal is actually going to be enforced upon, or how does she say, imprinted, impressed, she says, upon the 144,000, is a time of purification. It's a purification process that we're in, and that the purification process is accomplished through the prophetic understanding that we either arrive at or discard, that we either accept it or we don't. It's a prophetic test, and it's in agreement with that, I'm understanding that this discussion about modern Rome is purposeful by the Lord because those of us that are listening to these Zoom meetings and those of us that are reading the articles around the world are not doing our due diligence to be taking these articles, reading them, and testing them, and making them our own, because it's that message and that methodology that has to be implanted in us to seal us, and also to give us the prophetic aptitudes that we need when all the powers of earth turn against us and come after us. So I'm saying that it is not just an accident that the discussion is over Daniel 11, 14, because if you were reading the articles and even listening to the Zoom meetings, you'll see that I've been making the argument, how I understand it, that the first 15 verses of Daniel 11 is the beginning of that vision, and it illustrates the end of that vision, which is Daniel 11, 40-45, and Jesus always illustrates the end with the beginning, and the beginning and the end are always the same—Alpha and Omega are both Christ—and that in order to understand the events connected with the close of probation, which is those last six verses of Daniel 11, we have to come to the correct understanding of the prophetic message and the very history where this testing, sealing process is actually taking place, began in the time period of 2000—well, it began at 9-11, but it begins in earnest when the Ukrainian war began in 2014, and the rich king that stirs up the globalists announces he's going to run for president in 2015. That's when this history began. So I was speaking to a brother here within the last week that's following these things, and he was telling me that he'll listen to an article on the way to work and on the way back home from work, and then when he gets home, he'll read it again. And then I was speaking to another brother who says the way he does it is he'll read through an article, and then he'll go back through and he'll read it slowly and more carefully, and all those two readings do is prepare him to go through it the third time, where he's focusing on it in detail. And the brother that listened to it on the way to work and studied it on the way back home, he told me that his goal was to get familiar with the sequence of events in those first 15 verses to where you could discuss them and automatically know the implications of what the history that's in those verses is representing, and in your mind be comparing and applying these things. And that's where we need to get. Whereas on these Zoom meetings, I've heard one person here, when we're having discussions at the end, actually say that they don't do verses, okay? Brothers and sisters, if you don't do verses, I guarantee I can put together a study that shows that if you're not studying the Word of God to the extent that you know the verses and the relation of the verse with that verse and this verse, you're going to be lost. This time period, there is no excuse for God's people not to be digging into the message that has been opened up, and it's the sealing message. And it's contained in those first 15 verses, but the reality of it is verses 13 through 15, from my understanding, are the real punchline of the sealing message for God's people. That's where all the dynamics take place of what's going on in the United States, and it comes just before verse 16, which is the Sunday Law. Therefore, I went through all that to make this point. Therefore, from my understanding, we need to understand verse 13 through 15 of Daniel 11 just fully, as fully as we possibly can through the power of the Holy Spirit. And it's verse 14 where we're told that the robbers of thy people are the power that establishes that vision. Now, in the first article, I spent time to talk about private interpretation. Perhaps Colin's right, perhaps I'm right, perhaps we're both wrong, but private interpretation—there's only one truth, and it's God's truth, and if a human being has another truth other than God's truth, then it's a private interpretation. So I spent some time in that first article trying to explain what the private interpretation is, and in the next article I'm trying to explain that this vision of prophecy is also identified as the increase of knowledge that is unsealed at the time of the end. And, of course, we know that those people that don't understand the increase of knowledge they're rejected, and in Hosea 4-6 they're not just rejected, they're rejected because they rejected the knowledge, and the way that we reject the knowledge, among other things, is not to study it, not to speed upon those words like it's life or death, the bread of heaven. So, in agreement with what I understand, I want to show you, which to me is one of the things that convinces me about truth more often than not, is line upon line. I'd like to show you that this argument or controversy, however you want to express it, about who modern Rome is in Daniel 11-14, here at the end of the world, this specific argument has been identified repeatedly in the history of God's people. So that's where we're—this is where our study begins today. And you'll see the title, Philadelphian Millerite Adventists, and what I'm saying there is in the time of the Millerites, they had an argument about Daniel 11-14, who the robbers of thy people are, who they represent. And so, I remember years ago, I came into public ministry by being employed at a self-supporting ministry, and after the message of Daniel 11-45 was going around the world a little bit, I had made some friends, associates, in the self-supporting work, and one of those brothers decided what we need to do is we need to have a meeting where we bring the general conference guys together with the self-supporting guys and just work through Daniel 11-40-45. So he had an invitation-only meeting in Oklahoma, where half the people that were invited were general conference employees, pastors, educators from the universities, and then he had the other half with self-supporting guys from various self-supporting ministries around the world. And they selected a brother that worked at the general conference that did his master thesis on the last six verses of Daniel 11, and myself as the speakers. And this general conference brother would present, I think, for 45 minutes, and then he would answer questions for 30 minutes, then I would get up and speak for 45 minutes and then answer questions from the entire audience for 30 minutes, and we did that for a few days as we worked through both of our understanding of the last six verses of Daniel 11. And I'd never really worried or read or whatever, I don't remember, I don't think I'd ever read what William Miller said about Daniel 11-14 until just before that meeting, and I wasn't purposeful. For some reason, just a few days before that meeting started, I read what William Miller said about Daniel 11-14, and when I got to the meeting, this general conference guy that was doing his presentation, he included in his argument, on his flawed view of Daniel 11-40-45, the teaching that the robbers of thy people in Daniel 11-14 was Antiochus Epiphanes, and I realized right then and there that the Lord had led me to William Miller's article, because I really didn't have a grasp on Daniel 11-14 before that time, but it was fresh in my mind what William Miller had said about Daniel 11-14, and so I got a snippet of William Miller here. This is how he approaches verse 14. Need I then tell my hearers that the history of Alexander Conquered, tell us that Alexander Conquered the then-known world in about six years, and that he died in 323 years B.C. at Babylon, that his kingdom was divided among his greatest generals, from which division arose four great kingdoms, Egypt in the south, Persia in the east, Syria in the north, and Macedonia in the west, which kingdoms lasted until conquered by the Romans. Between the years 190 and 30 B.C., nearly all these kingdoms became Roman provinces. From Daniel 11-5-13, inclusive, we have a prophecy of two principal kingdoms out of these four, Egypt and Syria, and anyone who may have the curiosity to see the exact agreement between the prophecy and history can read Rawlins' Ancient History, for he has not only given us the history, but applied this prophecy. And as I see no reason to disagree from him in his application of these texts, I shall therefore, for brevity's sake, pass over these texts and examine the text Daniel 11-14. And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south, also the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish division, but they shall fall. The king of the south in this verse, without any doubt, means Egypt, the king of Egypt. But what the robbers of thy people means remains yet a doubt, perhaps, to some, that it cannot mean Antiochus or any king of Syria. It is plain, for the angel had been talking about the nation for a number of verses previous, and now says, also the robbers of thy people. I never understood the dynamics of these historical powers until I read this, and what Miller is saying is that leading up to verse 14, Syria has been the subject of the verses, so when Daniel says also, that one word, also the robbers of thy people, it has to be a new power. It can't be Syria, and Antiochus' Epiphanes was one of the last Syrian kings, so that's what Miller is saying. It can't be Syria, and it can't be Antiochus' Epiphanes, and that's what the Protestants of William Miller's day and age taught. So Miller was taking a different position on Daniel 11-14 than the religious world of his day and age, and it continues on. Miller continues on, he says, evidently implying some other nation. I will admit that Antiochus did perhaps rob the Jews, but how could this establish the vision? As Antiochus is not spoken of, anywhere in the vision is performing any act of that kind, for he belonged to what is called the Grecian kingdom of the vision. Again, to establish the vision must mean to make sure, complete, or fulfill the same. William Miller, Miller's Works, Lecture 6, page 89. The point that I'm wanting you to see here is not to simply Miller's understanding, but that Miller was in contradiction with the Protestant world. It was a controversy, and as he said there, Antiochus is not spoken of anywhere in the vision. Other than the fact that Antiochus was one of the Syrian kings, there is no specific verse in Daniel 11 that specifically identifies Antiochus, it's just part of the history if you go read about it. And my point is this, the argument between Miller and the Protestants over Daniel 11 verse 14 in the Millerite history was strong enough that, as Miller said, Antiochus isn't mentioned in the prophecies, but the argument of his day and age over verse 14 was strong enough that it made its way onto the 1843 chart, which we're told was directed by the hand of the Lord and should not be altered. It's the only thing on the 1843 chart that wasn't directly taken from some verse or passage in the Bible. The argument is expressed on the chart, these are the words that you'll find, and it's almost sarcastic, but I won't claim it's sarcastic. It has the year 164 on the chart, and then it says this, "...death of Antiochus Epiphanes, who of course did not stand up against the prince of princes as he had been dead 164 years before the birth of the prince of princes." The reason they're saying that is that as you begin in verse 14 and you watch the narrative of Rome go down through the verses, Rome ends up crucifying Christ. They stand up against the prince of princes, and they're poking fun at the Protestants who claim that Antiochus Epiphanes, the Syrian king, actually stood up against Christ even though he died 164 years before Christ was born, if we're accepting their application of the year that Christ was born. It might be off by a year or two, but you get my point. My point is this, is that in the Millerite history, there was a controversy over Daniel 11, verse 14, "...who the robbers of thy people are." And then in your notes, you'll see the subtitle, Laodicean Adventists, because the Millerites, they were Philadelphian Millerite Adventists, but we understand that from 1856 to 1863, Adventism became Laodiceans, no longer Philadelphians, so the subtitle Laodicean Adventism refers to a history after 1863, and I didn't dig in to get all the quotes from this discussion, but many of us that have followed these messages through the years are familiar with the argument that took place between James White and Uriah Smith, and the argument reached the level that Sister White rebuked James White for publicly disagreeing with Uriah Smith. She didn't rebuke James White saying that he was wrong, but she rebuked him for taking their differences public, and their difference was this, that Uriah Smith had introduced a new understanding of who the King of the North in Daniel 11 was that comes to his end and none shall howl, and the classic statement by James White in that argument goes something like this, this is a paraphrase, if it's Rome at the end of Daniel 2, and it's Rome at the end of Daniel 7, and it's Rome at the end of Daniel 8, then in Daniel 11, it's Rome that comes to its end and none shall howl. So what I'm wanting you to see, if you will see it line upon line, is that in the Philadelphian Millerite history, there was an argument over Daniel 11 verse 14. Once Adventism began wandering in the wilderness of Laodicea, there's another prominent argument between James White and Uriah Smith over who the King of the North is, and James White stood on the position that it was Rome, so you have another argument about prophetic symbols, whether they're Rome or not. So in our history, post-1989, or thereafter, I came to understand that the story of the last six verses of Daniel 11 was the story of the final rise and fall of the King of the North. The book that we wrote, that was the title of it, and I understood that in 1798, the papacy received a deadly wound, and that those six verses of Daniel 11 are describing how the deadly wound is healed and returned to power, and ultimately comes to its end just before probation closes when Michael stands up in Daniel 12.1. So I had that conviction cemented into my mind, because in Revelation 13 verse 3, in agreement with Daniel 11, 40 to 45, being the story about the final rise and fall of the papal power, Revelation 13.3 is talking about the deadly wound of the papacy being healed. So I came to understand that the story of Daniel 11, 40 to 45 in Revelation 13, and also Revelation 17, in the 8th head that is of the 7, was three witnesses. One, Daniel 11, 40 to 45, from the perspective of the King of the North, the papal power. The other, Revelation 13, is from the perspective of the United States, the false prophet. And Revelation 17, same story, from the perspective of the dragon, the ten kings. They're all telling about how the deadly wound of the papacy was healed. So I came to understand, in agreement with what I understood James White to teach and William Miller to uphold, that it is Rome, the subject of Rome, that establishes the vision. And the period from 1989 to 2001 is a period that leads to 2001, September 11, 2001, when the message was empowered. And after 2001, there was a group of ministries that had been working with us for a couple of years, I suppose. Now, I have to check my facts on that. But we got separated from those ministries over the book of Joel. And you'll see the first six verses of the book of Joel, under the subtitle, post-September 11, 2001. The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel, hear this, ye old men, and give ear all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your father? Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. That which the palmerworm, even now, the people that left our movement at that point in time, these other ministries, one of their arguments is that when the old men are addressed, that we're supposed to tell their children, who were to tell their children, and they were to tell another generation, somehow they had it worked out that that was five generations. And I had it worked out that it was four generations. And I had it worked out that it's the four generations of Adventism. And when we get to the end of these verses, you're going to see that it's directed at the drunkards of Ephraim, who's the Seventh-day Adventist church. And the Seventh-day Adventist church goes through four generations before they reach the end of the road. So with that first expression of ye old men, children, their children, another generation, I saw the four generations of Adventism that had been attacked by the papal power. And then the verses continue and give a second witness, I believe, to that. It says, that which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten, and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten, and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten. A progressive destruction over four generations in Adventism, represented by the old men, the children, their children, another generation, the progressive destruction is represented by four worms that attack them. And in that argument, because the triple application of Islam had been such a powerful witness after 9-11, that 9-11 was dealing with the third woe of Islam, those other ministries insisted that this wasn't identifying how the papal influence had destroyed Adventism over four generations. They claimed it was Islam. And the verse goes on and says, Awake ye drunkards, and weep and howl, all you drinkers of wine, because of the new wine, for it is cut off from your mouth. For a nation has come upon my land, strong and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion and half the cheek teeth of a great lion. So what I'm wanting you to see here is that in Millerite history, when they were still Philadelphians, they had a controversy with the Protestants over Daniel 11-14, whether it's Rome that establishes the vision or Antiochus Epiphanes. After Adventism moved into its Laodicean experience, another prominent controversy took place between Uriah Smith and James White. And once again, it was about whether Rome was the king of the north, whether Rome was the subject, or was it Uriah Smith's teachings of who the king of the north were. And then once the time of the end came in 1989, based upon the understanding of those last six verses, I came to the conclusion that the king of the north in those verses was papal Rome, and the story was about how the papacy's deadly wound gets healed. And I found that Revelation 13 and Revelation 17 provided two witnesses to that concept, and that it wasn't an accident that Daniel 11-40-45 was telling the story from the perspective of the beast, and Revelation 13 was telling the same story from the perspective of the false prophet, and Revelation 17 was telling the same story from the perspective of the dragon, because those three powers are which lead the whole world to Armageddon, where Michael stands up and human probation closes. So when our message of 1989 that was unsealed is empowered at 9-11, September 11, 2001, thereafter—and by the way, there was definitely an argument between 1989 and 2001 as to whether or not what Pippinger was teaching about the king of the north in Daniel 11-40-45 was accurate. So there was an argument there that took place against this from the self-supporting side of Adventism and from the general conference, and we held our ground. The king of the north in those last six verses is Rome. Rome is the subject. So in that history as well, I'm trying to show you a line up online, there's a prophetic argument about who Rome is. So when we get to around 2004-2005, I don't really remember the exact year, a group of ministries separate from us over Joel, which is one of the premier books in the Bible identifying the latter rain time period. The latter rain began to sprinkle on September 11, 2001. So once we're in the latter rain time period, you have a group separate over the controversy, and it was a controversy. Before they separated, three or four of their ministry leaders came back here to our property, and we spent a couple days going through these things, and their arguments kind of fell apart because each of them had—they weren't in agreement with themselves, okay? And they were arguing that Islam was the subject of Joel, verses 1-6 of chapter 1, and I was arguing that it was Rome. I was arguing that the destruction that came into Adventism beginning in 1863 was accomplished through the influence of Roman methodology that apostate Protestantism firmly accepted when they rejected William Miller's message. And when Adventism from 1856 to 1863 also rejected William Miller's message, they returned to the Roman methodology, and from that point on, Adventism went through their four-generation cycle and just become more and more destroyed by these four worms until they reached the time period where we're at now, when the wake-up call of the latter rain is about to take place in the parable of the ten virgins. So, Miller's history… Advent history, the history of the unsealing of 1989 to 2001, and then post-2001, there has arisen four controversies, prophetic controversies, and they're all over Rome. Miller said it was Rome. James White said it was Rome. I said it was Rome. And after 9-11, I stood on Rome, and these people that left said Islam. So what I'm saying is we've got four lines of prophecy, and all these lines of prophecy get overlaid in the history of July 2023 until the soon-coming Sunday Law. And in this history, there has to be—it doesn't have to be, but there is, and it's totally within the prophetic narrative—an argument about Daniel 11-14, whether Rome establishes the vision or not. So post-2023, is it Rome or is it the United States that is modern Rome? By Rome, I mean paper Rome. Sister White says this, in history and prophecy, the Word of God portrays the long-continued conflict between truth and error. The conflict is yet in progress. Those things which have been will be repeated. Old controversies will be revived. I have just, I hope, showed you four old controversies from Millerite history, from the history of James White, from the history of post-1989, and the history of post-2001, where there was a prophetic controversy, and the first mention of it in Millerite history was such an important controversy that it is the only thing that makes its way to the 1843 chart that was directed by the hand of the Lord and should not be altered. And of course, Jesus illustrates the end of a thing with the beginning of the thing, so when these lines come together, there will be an argument about who establishes the vision, and I contend it's going to be based upon Daniel 11-14, the robbers of thy people, and here we are. In history and prophecy, the Word of God portrays the long-continued conflict between truth and error. That conflict is yet in progress. Those things which have been will be repeated. Old controversies will be revived, and new theories will be continually arising. But God's people, who in their belief and fulfillment of prophecy have acted a part in the proclamation of the first, second, and third angels' messages, know where they stand. They have an experience that is more precious than fine gold. They are to stand firm as a rock, holding the beginning of their confidence steadfast to the end. So old controversies are going to be revived, and the safety is in holding the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end, which is an expression that Paul uses two or three times, and Sister White deals with it, and the beginning of our confidence is our foundational truths in the history of the Millerites. It's also our foundational truths that were founded from 1989 to 2001. Those are both foundational times, but we'll just stick with the Millerite history. Sister White says this from Testimonies, Volume 5, page 708. The enemy is seeking to divert the minds of our brethren and sisters from the work of preparing a people to stand in these last days. This passage is so full of stuff. Brothers and sisters, when do God's people stand? Well, they stand when they have a message from the four winds, because they've been dead dry bones in Ezekiel 37, and they stand up a mighty army when they get this message post after July 2023. His sophistries are designed to lead minds away from the perils and duties of the hour. They estimate as nothing the light that Christ came from heaven to give to John for his people. They teach that the scenes just before us are not of sufficient importance to receive special attention. They make no effect the truth of heavenly origin and rob the people of God of their past experience, giving them instead a false science. Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths. There is the good way and walk therein, Jeremiah 6, 16. Let none seek to tear away the foundations of our faith, the foundations that were laid at the beginning of our work by prayerful study of the word and by revelation. Upon these foundations we've been building for the last 50 years. Men may suppose that they found a new way and that they can lay a stronger foundation than that which has been laid, but this is great deception. Other foundation can no man lay than that which has been laid. In the past, many have undertaken the building of a new faith, the establishment of new principles, but how long did their building stand? It soon fell, for it was not founded upon the rock. Did not the first disciples have to meet the sayings of men? Did they not have to listen to false theories, and then, having done all to stand firm, saying, other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, 1 Corinthians 3, 11? So we're to hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. Words of power that have been sent by God and by Christ to his people, bringing them out from the world, point by point, into the clear light of present truth. With this touched with holy fire, God's servants have proclaimed the message. The divine utterance has set its seal to the genuineness of the truth proclaimed. So our safety is holding to the foundational truth, which is the beginning of our confidence, and the previous quote says that we need to do that when old controversies and new theories come in, and I'm suggesting that the old controversy of a prophetic symbol, whether it represents Rome or some other application, was in Millerite history, Advent history, and it's twice occurred in our history, and it's occurring again in our history. For the final time, I'm saying that it's from verse 14 of Daniel 11, which is the very center of verses 13 and 15, which I claim is the sealing message. It's the prophetic testing verses that open it all up for those people that choose to be sealed, and sure enough, as it's right when it's being opened up, there's a controversy raised over who the robbers of thy people are, and it's the same controversy that was raised in the time of the Millerites, and Jesus illustrates the end with the beginning. Now, in the next quote, this is my logic for not being threatened by Colin having a different understanding of the robbers of thy people, and I'm going to be straight and direct here about Brother Colin. I've had an experience in this prophetic message for many—I don't know for how long now, since 1989 is when it all started, so whatever that is, 1939—40 years? Is that 40 years? Or 30 years? It's 30 years, roughly, and I've bumped heads with laypeople, with pastors, with general conference officials, with self-supporting ministers across the board, any avenue, college professors, university professors in the United States, in Europe, in South America, and I can't know a man's heart, and I shouldn't read negative thoughts into another man that I'm having an interaction with. Sometimes I don't have any confidence in the motivation of the people I was bumping heads with. For instance, one of the brothers that was totally against what I was saying—and he had a master's degree on the last six verses of Daniel 11, and he worked at the general conference—was this brother I told you about that we had the meeting in Oklahoma. And as I interacted with that man for the days that we were there in Oklahoma, I was convinced this guy was a genuine, humble Christian. I had no suspicion that he had selfish, self-exalting motivations. His testimony to me when I interacted with him is that his desire was to get out of the general conference work and go work with the Berberians as a translator, going to some third-world country that has not yet developed a language, and help them develop a language, and then produce the Bible for them. I mean, he was a humble, sacrificial guy, but he was dead wrong on the last six verses of Daniel 11. But I've bumped heads with other people that—you know, I remember there was a guy down here once that we wouldn't let him promote his view on Trump's Thanksgiving prophecy, and he ended up in front of people lying on the ground, beating his hands and feet on the air like a little spoiled child, protesting that he wasn't getting his way. So I'm not trying to be negative about him or positive about the other guy. I'm saying I have an experience presenting the prophetic message and bumping heads, so to speak, with people that have different points of view than I do on the prophetic message, and sometimes maybe it's bad on me. In the back of my mind, I have no confidence that these people are being honest or that their motives aren't simply to lift themselves up or because they like new and fascinating ideas that they want to promote, they don't understand the seriousness of the message. I just don't have confidence that they're genuinely seeking truth. And I'm saying all this to let you know that I've been to Canada several times, and almost every time that I was there, I interacted with Brother Colin, and I have no evil submission—I have confidence in Brother Colin. I don't see any of that. He's, to me, by my understanding—which is human understanding, so it can't be trusted as far as you can throw it—but I'm not worried that his motivations are out in left field. And because of that, him and I have come to this understanding that we can work through these things together, because I believe that we're now in a history of purification of the 144,000 that has been repeatedly illustrated. And one of the places it's illustrated, to give you an example of what I mean, is the 10 days that lead up to Pentecost and the disciples coming together for those 10 days to put aside their differences and study the God's Word and come into unity. When I seen this controversy unfold a few weeks ago, or however long ago it started, I never had conviction that Colin was one of these people that were going to be sticking his own agenda. So I thought, praise the Lord! The Lord has brought this controversy in because it's been brought in before in history, and there's a purpose for it. So this next quote says what that purpose is. I'm saying that we were told to wake up in July 2023, and we haven't done it yet. God will arouse his people if other means fail. What's arouse mean? It means wake up. God will wake up his people if other means fail. The other means were is that he began putting the message out on the articles around the world in 126 countries at this point, maybe more now, in their own languages that they can read and they can hear. It's supernatural the way this has spread in one year. It's unreal. God will arouse his people if other means fail. Heresies will come in among them, which will sift them, separating the chaff from the wheat. The Lord calls upon all who believe his word to awake out of sleep. Precious light has come appropriate for this time. It is Bible truth showing the perils that are right upon us. I claim these articles are that precious truth that has come at this time that is showing the perils that are right upon us. This light should lead us to a diligent study of the scriptures and a most critical examinations of the positions that we hold. God would have all the bearings and positions of truth thoroughly and perseveringly searched with prayer and fasting. Believers are not to rest in suppositions and ill-defined ideas of what constitutes truth. Their faith must be firmly founded upon the word of God so when the testing time shall come and they are brought before councils to answer for their faith, they may be able to give reason for the hope that is in them with meekness and fear. Agitate, agitate, agitate. The subjects which we present to the world must be to us a living reality. It is important that in defending the doctrines which we consider fundamental articles of faith, we should never allow ourselves to employ arguments that are not wholly sound. These may avail to silence an opposer, but they do not honor the truth. We should present sound arguments that will not only silence our opponents, but will bear the closest and most certain scrutiny. With those who have educated themselves as debaters, there is great danger that they will not handle the Word of God with fairness. In meeting an opponent, it should be our earnest effort to present subjects in such a manner as to awaken conviction in his mind, instead of seeking merely to give confidence to the believer. Whatever. And what's classic about this statement for me, brothers and sisters, is this last paragraph. This last paragraph was the paragraph that's on the front page of the first public presentation Future for America ever did. Whatever may be man's intellectual advancement, let him not for a moment think there is no need of thorough and continuous searching of the scriptures for greater light. As a people, we are called individually to be students of prophecy. We must watch with earnestness that we may discern any ray of light which God shall present to us. We are to catch the first gleamings of truth, and through prayerful study, clearer light may be obtained, which can be brought before others. So what I'm saying here, and so for me, I recognized when this controversy began, I recognized it for me, that this was a controversy that has popped up beginning with William Miller all the way through Advent history. And line upon line, it is now being brought into this movement at this time, because we have not did our due diligence and awakened as we should when we were told to awake at the beginning in July 2023. And this controversy is designed by God to force us to search and dig in the scriptures and come to the right understanding of truth. And I'm saying that line upon line, Jesus illustrates the end from the beginning. This is the same identical argument that William Miller had, with the exception that Miller was standing in opposition to the Protestants of his day, and that argued that the robbers of thy people were Antiochus Epiphanes. And the argument today I'm saying is that William Miller is still as correct today as he was back then, that the robbers of thy people are Rome, and that today the the controversial position is that no, it's the United States. Okay, so it's still the same, it's the same flawed argument that goes back through all of these lines. It's Rome. Is it Rome or the United States in our history? With the brethren that left after 9-11, is it Rome or is it Islam? With the argument between 1989 and 2001, is it Rome or Turkey? With the argument with James White and Uriah Smith, Rome, Turkey, back to William Miller, Rome, Syria. It's always about Rome, and for the first four lines, Rome was correct and these other arguments were incorrect. The last line here is the same as the first line, and it's hard for me to get around that line upon line, and I'm not too threatened about having to, you know, I'm not too threatened that someone's teaching the wrong view of the robbers of thy people, because I'm seriously saying that what this is, is that all of us have not awoken to the wake-up call that was given at the end of July 2023, and that because of that, God has now introduced an argument to force us, if we're willing to be led, to dig deeper into the prophetic word where we make these subjects, these truths, our own, where they become part of us, where we eat the bread of heaven, eat his flesh and drink his blood, and he's doing it because he knows in the very near future we're going to have to give testimony to the courts of the land before thousands of people, she says, in one place, and if we don't know this message for ourselves, at minimum, we're going to dishonor the Lord by not giving a clear testimony in the crisis time. So, when I saw it unfolding, I thought, praise the Lord, of all the hard-headed, hard-hearted people I've had to interact with on prophetic issues, Colin's the right man. He has the aptitude to see this in the context I'm seeing it in, and if he chooses to—I could be wrong about what I understand, I'm not arguing infallibility, but that's how I perceived it. So I wasn't threatened that the Lord was using Colin. I believed that he was using Colin and I to introduce the subject into this movement to force us to study, because time's running out very rapidly. I want to add another line. It's close, but I mentioned the argument between 1989 and 2001 that when we began presenting this message from 1989 to 2001, it first went through the self-supporting ministries around the world. Almost every one of them rejected it, and then it made its way into the general conference level, and of course they rejected it. But the argument was primarily over the Glorious Land. The argument almost always ended up being, is the Glorious Land of verse 41 in the United States, as I taught, as the Bible teaches, as it is, or is the Glorious Land the Seventh-day Adventist Church? That was the argument. We came to understand that this teaching by Adventism from the general conference level and the self-supporting ministry level, what they taught, that the Glorious Land of verse 41 was the Seventh-day Adventist Church, that it was totally opposite of what the verse actually taught, because the verse teaches that the Glorious Land is the United States, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church, when it's glorious, if it ever was—never was, it's always been Laodicean, but the word glorious makes it seem righteous—it's a prophetic characteristic, a character associated with Christ, whereas the United States, at the time of the Sunday Law in verse 41, where the Glorious Land is noted, the United States is speaking as a dragon. So the Glorious Land is either a dragon, or, in verse 41, or it's God's church. So it was a complete opposite. You get to choose between the symbol either being a satanic symbol or a godly symbol. And this took us back to another controversy in Millerite history, and I'm going to read from 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, beginning where we're at verse 3. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. The falling away first was at pagan Rome. The fourth power of Bible prophecy had to fall away to give way for the papacy, the fifth power of Bible prophecy. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he is God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Well, that's in agreement with Daniel 11 verse 14, that robbers of thy people, among other things, are going to exalt themselves. And how can you exalt yourself any higher than claiming that you are God sitting in his temple? Remember ye not that when I was yet with you, I told you these things, and now you know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. What's withholding the papacy from being revealed in his time is pagan Rome. It's holding them back. For the mystery of iniquity, which William Miller clearly says is the papacy, for the mystery of the iniquity doth already work, only he who now restraineth, letteth, will let, until he be taken out of the way. The pagan Rome had to be taken out of the way before the papacy was placed on the throne of the earth. And then shall that wicked, which is the papacy, be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, that they might all be damned, who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." So Paul's talking about the relationship between pagan Rome and papal Rome, and that pagan Rome restrained the papacy from taking control of the earth until it was taken out of the way. And on that subject, he is identifying that anyone that will not believe this truth about the relationship between pagan Rome and papal Rome, that they're going to receive a lie and receive strong delusion. William Miller, this passage in Thessalonians, is where William Miller discovered that the daily represented paganism, pagan Rome, and this is William Miller. He says this, I read on and can find no other case in which it, the daily, was found but in Daniel. I then, by the aid of a concordance, took those words which stood in connection with it, take away, he shall take away the daily from the time the daily shall be taken away, etc. I read on and thought I should find no light on the text. Finally, I came to 2 Thessalonians 2, 7, and 8. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work, only he who now letteth will let until he be taken out of the way, and then shall that wicked be revealed. And when I had come to that text, oh how clear and glorious the truth appeared. There it is, that is the daily. Well now, what does Paul mean by he who now letteth or hindereth? By the man of sin and the wicked, popery is met. Well, what is it that hinders popery from being revealed? Why it is paganism. Well then, the daily must mean paganism. This was another controversy in William Miller's history. The Protestants believed that the daily represented Christ's sanctuary ministry, and William Miller came to understand that it represented pagan Rome, which Sister White says is a satanic power. Sister White says in great controversies concerning Revelation 12, she says the dragon in Revelation 12 is Satan, but in a secondary sense it's pagan Rome. So William Miller identifies the daily as a satanic power in controversy with the Protestants of his day and age, who identified it as Christ's sanctuary ministry, a godly power, a complete opposite. And we realized that the argument in William Miller's day and age about the daily being a satanic power in opposition to the daily being Christ's sanctuary ministry, a godly power, was typifying the argument between 1989 and 2001 in Adventism over the glorious land. The glorious land is the United States, who in verse 41, where it is referenced, is speaking as a dragon, and yet Adventism teaches that it's the Seventh-day Adventist church, a complete opposite. One's a godly power, one's a satanic power. It was the same argument in the day. So when Sister White says old controversies are going to be revived, the connection, one of the connections between the daily of Second Thessalonians and William Miller's understanding was that the daily represented the power that had to fall away in order for the papacy to take the throne of the earth. Paganism gave way and papalism took control of the earth, and in that sense pagan Rome typifies the United States, which in verse 41 is the glorious land, and in which verse 41 it has fully fallen away, and in verse 41 it places the papacy on the throne of the earth. It is there that it is revealed. The 70 years of Isaiah 23 reaches its conclusion at the Sunday Law, and then the Whore of Tyre comes out and sings her song to the world. She's revealed. She's been forgotten. She's been in Samaria hidden for this time period of 1798 to the Sunday Law, the days of one king that the United States ruled. So this argument that controversy that took place in William Miller's day and age about the daily was an argument about whether a satanic power, pagan Rome, was a satanic power or was it a godly power, Christ's sanctuary ministry, and as pagan Rome it typified the United States, which is a satanic power that's going to speak as a dragon, and the controversy was no, it's not the United States. It's a godly power. It's the Seventh-day Adventist Church. That's two witnesses that tell us that when we get to the purification sifting time of the 144,000, there will once again be a controversy about who the United States is or isn't. I'm saying that this is the third fulfillment of that controversy as well. September 23rd, 1850, excuse me, the Lord showed me when union existed before 1844, nearly all were united on the correct view of the daily, but since 1844, in the confusion, other views have been embraced and darkness and confusion have followed. If you're not straight on the role of pagan Rome, be falling away and be in restraining the papacy from the throne of the earth in 538, and if you're not straight on the role of the United States falling away and placing the throne of the papacy on the throne of the earth at the Sunday law, then the point of reference is 2 Thessalonians chapter two. If you can't accept that truth, then you're destined to receive strong delusion. Revelation 18 is from Maranatha. Revelation 18 points to the time when, as a result of rejecting the threefold warning of Revelation 14, six through 12, the church will have fully reached the condition foretold by the second angel and the people of God still in Babylon will be called upon to separate from her communion. This message is the last that will ever be given to the world and it will accomplish its work. When those that believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness, 2 Thessalonians 2, 12 shall be left to receive strong delusion and to believe a lie, then the light of truth will shine upon all those who hearts are open to receive it, and all the children of the Lord that remain in Babylon will heed the call, come out of her my people. It's at the Sunday law that the call to come out of Babylon goes forth, and right as that call goes forth, those people that have received not the love of the truth are gonna receive strong delusion. When the Holy Spirit's being poured out upon the 144,000, those who have separated from the 144,000, those candidates that have lost their way will receive an outpouring, but it's gonna be of strong delusion, not the Holy Spirit, and it takes place right there at the Sunday law. And my point is that one of the prophetic truths that causes them to receive strong delusion is an incorrect understanding of the United States as the power that has been typified by paganism, which is symbolized by the daily, that had to be taken away, it had to fall away. The United States had to fall away in order to place the papacy on the throne of the earth. So I'm saying that not only is Rome the symbol that establishes the prophetic vision at the end of time, but it is also connected to the subject of the correct understanding of the role of the United States as the power that places the papacy on the throne, but first has to fall away. So I've given you two illustrations of what I understand to be line up online to lay out just the beginning of my understanding of this controversy, because this controversy, I believe, is designed by the Lord to lead his people into a more thorough understanding of the prophetic principles that have been opened up since July, 2023. There were nothing, not that they were opened up, they've been opened up since 1989. And before that they were opened up in William Miller's rules. This is the combination of all those truths here at the end, at the final movements of the line of the tribe of Judah, trying to bring his people into an end sign he can lift up. And in the first article that has come out concerning modern Rome, you're gonna see that I make the case about private interpretation. If you read any animosity into that between me and Colin, you're making a mistake. Any human understanding, whether it's mine or Colin's, we could both be wrong, is a private interpretation. And in 2 Peter 1, 19 through 21, it says this. We have also a more sure word of prophecy wherein you do well that you take heed as into a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and that day start rising in your hearts. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For a prophecy came not in old time by the will of men, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, 2 Peter 1, 19 through 21. And then you'll see as the last reference on your notes, Alpha and Omega. I believe, I've been teaching that the beginning of Daniel's last vision is the first 15 verses of Daniel 11, and that the climax of those verses is verses 13 through 15, and that in the middle of those verses is verse 14, where the robbers of thy people are introduced. So in what I believe to be the final sealing time of the 144,000, this controversy that we're having right now that was typified by the controversy at the beginning between William Miller and the Protestants, it's being repeated. And the repetition is designed by God, allowed by God, because we haven't awoken as we should. We haven't taken the signs of the times serious enough. And I don't know why we haven't when we look out at the world at what's going on. You know, let's face it, Joe Biden hasn't been, hasn't had the mental capabilities to run a nation for decades, not just the last three years. You go back through his political career, the guy never had the aptitude or ability to be a president. I'm not trying to bad mouth him. I'm saying, like my son and I were talking about yesterday, the Lord knew what was gonna happen with Joe Biden before he was born, and the Lord is the one that sets up kings and takes them down. And this role of the Democratic Party collapsing here is in agreement with the prophetic testimony, but it is collapsing. And as it collapsed, what's ahead, when Trump gets put back in place, Sister White says, active despotism, the crisis that, we're just months away now, just a few months away, the crisis that's about to unfold demands that we awaken and begin to understand these themes. Like I said, the brother that said he's trying to get these verses in his head where he can go back and forth, that's one of the reasons that I had confidence in Colin personally, is because I could understand the patterns that Colin lays out. I could understand him, I seen the logic of him, I was familiar with him. He's been doing his due diligence, but many of us haven't. We've determined, well, I believe him because I have more confidence in him, or I don't believe him because I don't like him, or whatever, and that will not stand in the coming crisis. And I don't mean to be so pointed, but in any case, the second article that's gonna come out is, I'm still not gonna address really Daniel 1114, I'm gonna address the relationship between the vision that we almost have if we're not gonna perish, and the increase of knowledge, because they're the same thing. So, shall we close with a word of prayer? Heavenly Father, we thank you that you've allowed us to come to this time, but it's a crisis time, we're not even aware yet of what's about to overtake us. I used to think I was aware of a crisis, but what I understood to be a crisis is nothing like what's happening in the world today. What's happening in the world today, there's no way I could have imagined it. It's far beyond the implications of the book 1984, the craziness that exists right now. It's clear the Holy Spirit is being withdrawn from the earth. We ask for your help to consecrate ourselves to our responsibility to be students of prophecy, that we ask that this controversy will be part of the tools that you use to lead us into that experience. And thank you for these things in Jesus' name, amen.