THE COMING OF SATAN AND THE MAN OF SIN-THE PROPHETIC PICTURE

THE SIXTH SEAL AND THE COMING OF THE MAN OF SIN-REVELATION 6 AND 2 THESSALONIANS 3

One of the worst follies of Seventh-day Adventist theology is the baseless and literarily unwarranted depersonalization of Paul’s prophecy in 2 Thessalonians 3. It stems from her dogged resolve that the term “beast” can only apply to a government or civil-political power. It is also owing to the false idea that there is only one FALLING AWAY (APOSTASY) so far since the origin of the apostolic church, the one that climaxed in 533 CE, with the Emperor Justinian installing the Bishop of Rome as the Head of the church in the place of Christ. Since viewing the term “beast” and “man of sin” as an individual will require explaining how he will be alive at Christ’s advent, the church decided to adopt the interpretation that the term means government, the MEDIEVAL PAPAL ROMAN POWER. In coming to this conclusion, the church ignored and rejected all rules of literature and prophecy.

When Paul’s prophecy is closely studied, there are important elements that make up the message. There is the TIME ELEMENT which is evident in the fact that this “MAN OF SIN” will be destroyed by Christ at his coming. The second element is that of the MANNER OF COMING( or REVELATION) of this man of sin. The third element is the FALLING AWAY(APOSTASY) that will precede and in fact help reveal him.

THE TIME ELEMENT

Traditional Seventh-day Adventist church theology presumes that the fulfillment of this prophecy began with Medieval Papal Roman power, which is since 533 CE, when apostate bishops became allies to the state, and they together TOOK AWAY JESUS(THE DAILY), and SET UP ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION(BISHOP OF ROME-CAESAR’S REPRESENTATIVE in God’s temple-church), making him the HEAD OF THE CHURCH IN THE PLACE OF CHRIST.

The fact that “man of sin” will be destroyed by Christ at his coming presents a time element that any interpretation of this prophecy has to account for. So in order to account for the fact that this man of sin will need to be present when Christ comes, the church decided that the term man of sin refers to the OFFICE, and not to a person. Thus, in Seventh-day Adventist theology, this prophecy is not future, but instead already fulfilled, revealed since 533-538 CE. It is possible that Paul may have expected the second coming of Christ in his day and looked to the FALLING AWAY and MAN OF SIN’S revelation in his day. But, one thing is clear however, and that is that Paul knew that the man of sin is an individual and that he will encounter Christ at his second coming. Unfortunately, the falling away, though it began in his day, did not reach the climax that is to reveal the man of sin because Paul never lived to see the second coming of Christ.

Just like Paul, the MILLERITE Adventists and pioneers of Seventh-day Adventist church looked for the second coming of Christ on October 22, 1844, in their day, and as such concluded the 4th to 6th century falling away of the church as the fulfillment of the prophecy, expecting the Pope alive at the time to be the one Paul’s prophecy was talking about. But again Christ did not come in their day. However the church realized that if they continue to interpret the man of sin as an individual human, they then have to account for him being alive since 533 CE to October 22, 1844. Therefore the church chose to see man of sin as symbolically representing a government instead of a person. But, as mentioned already, this interpretation ignores the gross and prevalent personalization of the prophecy.

THE FALLING AWAY-APOSTASY

The church, in line with her false interpretation of man of sin as representing government and not a person, therefore recognized one and only FALLING AWAY(APOSTASY), the one which led to the emergence of the PAPACY. This is the same interpretation that the church has about the TAKING AWAY OF THE DAILY, since the two things are the same(FALLING AWAY = TRANSGRESSION OF DESOLATION), leading to TAKING AWAY OF THE DAILY. The church teaches only one fulfillment of TAKING AWAY THE DAILY, instead of three that the book of Daniel reveals.

MANNER OF THE COMING OF THE MAN OF SIN

The third element, which is the MANNER OF THE COMING OF THE MAN OF SIN, naturally and expectedly, is not addressed by Seventh-day Adventist church, since the church believes that this has already been fulfilled by the revelation of the office of the Pope in AD 533. But this is the element that exposes the fallacy of the church’s theology. The manner this man of sin is to come, appear, or be revealed, bears no resemblance whatsoever to what happened in 533-538 CE. What we see that happened in AD 533 was human political, social, military and economic maneuver that brought about the PAPACY. There was no overt and visible supernatural powers, signs and wonders displayed, as Paul clearly indicated in the prophecy. Here is what Paul said about how the man of sin will arrive or come,

“Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, [10] And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved” -Thessalonians 2:9-10 KJVS

Because of the church’s false assumption that this prophecy addresses government, and not a person, she has largely glossed over Paul’s description of how the man of sin will appear and who is directly involved and responsible for this.

Consider the phrase, “After the working of Satan”. This statement is not just saying that man of sin will merely employ Satan’s ways(politics, wars and other vices), but it goes further into revealing the extent of Satan’s direct involvement in the manner this man of sin is revealed to the world, namely, via an unprecedented supernatural display that Satan has ever undertaken.

The next phrase adds to the picture, “With ALL POWER AND SIGNS AND LYING WONDERS” Paul is not saying that these powers, signs and wonders are not real or genuine, rather he is saying that their purpose, intention and goal is to deceive. In fact Paul and Christ himself recognize these signs, miracle and wonders will be as real as the signs and wonders God will be correspondingly manifesting at that same time through his own saints.

This calls to question the church’s interpretation that this prophecy was fulfilled in 533-538 CE. What evidence is there of Satan’s manifestation of unprecedented POWERS, SIGNS AND WONDERS at this period? Yes, it was the working of Satan that got the apostate bishops and prelates to have Emperor Justinian declare the Bishop of Rome the head of the church in the place of Christ, thus TAKING AWAY THE DAILY(JESUS CHRIST THE TRUTH). But this was sublime; there was no visible, dramatic, overt display of signs, powers and wonders of the supernatural, as is clearly indicated in Paul’s prophecy. This fact strongly calls into question the church’s traditional interpretation of Paul’s prophecy. It therefore brings us back to the important question: Is the description, MAN OF SIN, a reference to the government or is it to a person, the person that heads the government?

MAN OF SIN-A PERSON-THE LAST HUMAN THAT HEADS THE BEAST KINGDOM

The composite beast of Revelation 13 has had several human leaders, from Nebuchadnezzar to the latest Pope(Caesar in sacerdotal cloth) of the Papal Roman system. But Paul’s reference is to a particular leader, the very last one whom Christ will destroy. Paul’s use of personal descriptions in the prophecy is simply too prevalent, pervasive and gross to allow for symbolism or abstract representation.

Man of sin is mentioned in the same context as Satan himself who is a person. He is to sit in God’s temple, God himself being also a person. It makes no literary sense that the entire beast government and apparatus sits in the church. Neither does it make literary sense that a government calls itself God, who is a person, and is worshipped as a person. Only a person can present himself to be worshipped in the place of God. God is a person, and it therefore makes absolute sense that only another person would present himself to be worshipped in his place. This point cannot be overstated or overemphasized. It presents an argument that traditional interpretation of these term, man of sin, cannot get around.

The truth that the world will reject, which makes them vulnerable to delusion, is both in the form of a person as well as a concept. Christ is the living truth, and the concept is that which Christ declared, saying,

“This is eternal life(truth), that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent”.

It is the world’s rejection of this truth that opens them up to the lie which Satan presents to them, namely, that his son, the man of sin(the BEAST-PERSON) is the true God and Messiah that is to come. It is the same lie that he fed the Jewish church, which led her to reject Christ. It is the same lie that he fed the Apostate bishops, beginning in the council of Nicaea(425 CE) all through to 533 CE when Christ was formally and ultimately rejected, replaced as the head of the church by a man, known today as the Pope(Bishop of Rome). However Paul’s prophecy is specifically zeroing in on the LAST POPE(or CAESAR) OF ROME, the one who will be alive when Jesus returns, and therefore the one who will have a personal encounter with Christ(See also Revelation 19:18-21))

This is what Paul’s prophecy (along with Daniel’s, Christ’s in Matthew 24, and John’s in the book of Revelation) is preaching and teaching, which is, that there will soon be a THIRD AND FINAL FALLING AWAY AND TAKING AWAY OF THE DAILY, and in the place of the DAILY, the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION, a man( MAN OF SIN, by Paul’s description, BEAST by Daniel and John’s description-Daniel 11:36-40; Revelation 13 and 19) will be set up.

SIXTH SEAL-THE MANNER OF REVELATION OF THE MAN OF SIN BY SATAN-THE MASTERFUL COUNTERFEITING OF THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST

If Satan is to present a human to the world in such convincing a manner that ALL BUT THE ELECT will be deceived into truly believing that he is Christ, the Jews rejoicing that the Messiah they have been expecting has finally come, would he go about this in a wimpy way, without unprecedented display of all the power that God gave him when he was created, which he has since been employing against God? The answer is no.

So then, if there is to be an unprecedented display of such power by Satan, to convincingly pass off his son to the world as being Jesus Christ, and to get the world to believe that this coming is the second coming of Jesus, not only will he accompany this introduction with all the power he has, knowing how close he is to the end, but he will equally make it as closely resembling the second coming of Christ as he can. In the light of this, would God keep his church in ignorance of this masterful deception? The answer is no.

So then the question: Where in scriptures, particularly prophecy, do we see events of extraordinary, supernatural display of power that so closely resembles, but is not actually, the second coming of Christ? The answer is, THE SIXTH SEAL.

On this note, Welcome, readers, to The sixth seal, a prophecy that has been grossly misunderstood and misinterpreted, thanks and no thanks to Satan. Because he intends that no one will truly know what this prophecy is so as to take even the elect by surprise and deceive them, Satan has been relentless in misrepresenting it to the churches, including the Seventh-day Adventist church..

The reader is encouraged to get the book where this prophecy has been fully studied and deciphered for the blessing of the church, to prevent Great Disappointment 2.0. The book is titled: DOCTRINAL REVELATIONS FOR CHRIST’S END-TIME CHURCH: EXPOSING THE CHURCH’S GRAVE DANGER AND AVOIDING GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT 2.0