The Three Angel’s Messages
And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

The Judgment
And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.
And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.
And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.
And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.
And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.” (Revelation 14)

Come Out of Babylon
And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.  How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

Judgment of Babylon, People’s Reaction

Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:
The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,
And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.
And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.
The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!
And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.
And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.
And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;
And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.
(Revelation 18)

The book was sealed because the Last Days portion of it had not yet happened. The message of the First angel, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment is come,” (Revelation 14:7) had not yet been announced. From 1798 on, it was unsealed for the entire world to see. Since prophecy had been fulfilled, it could now be proclaimed to all. The book fulfils the first, second, and third angels’ messages. It covers the part of history from the Advent Movement (1840-1844) to the Second Coming of Christ. It talks about the marriage, the second coming, and the judgment. Everything after 1798 is covered here.

The book is written on the front and the backside. Since this book is a book of the heart, the front side stands for being written in our hearts. The back side stands for the time in which it was, not the place. This will be most clearly seen by the fact that some get light before others do. We all are in different places in our Christian walk.

Revelation chapter four speaks about an open door. This is the year 1844, when the Judgment began. The First Angel’s message was preached everywhere, but people misinterpreted it to mean that Jesus was coming back, not that the Judgment was beginning. Because we have never actually experienced these messages in actual time, we are either in front of or behind them. This would be written on the back side of this Book.

So in conclusion, our characters are very impressionable, and we need to make sure they are molded properly before the Judgment. The nearly fulfilled prophecy in Daniel 8:14 inspire the message of the three angels. They call for a heart transformation which we can choose to accept or reject. It’s our choice.

~ J. Fink

The process that starts the defective character is, quite simply, when your umbilical cord is cut. When we are born, we inherit tendencies to sin from Satan that will plague us the rest of our lives. However, to develop a heretofore undeveloped bad character trait, we must cultivate and indulge it. It may be a thought, action, etc, but what ever it is, the more we engage in it, the more it becomes part of our character.

The process that stops the defective character is going to the marriage, where Jesus exchanges our defective character which we have built with the perfect character He built for us while on earth. However, since our destiny is already decided at that time, it would behoove us to rectify our defects before this event. This can only be done by and with the power of Christ. His death and sacrifice for us enables us to kick sin and self where it hurts and overcome. When we cry out to Jesus, He gives us His strength; then all we have to do is take hold of the Hand offered. I know it sounds simple, and, in theory, it is, but we all know that such things are easier said than done. As soon as you accept, however, you are provided with the energy needed to modify your character, the deepest part of who you are.

God has given us talents, which are the tools of building character. Our mental faculties (not the staff of a mini university) our given to us to help us reason out God’s will for our character development, and whether we’re going to follow it. Our “mental and moral powers. . . are the workmen that build the character.” (www.bible11diane.wordpress.com/2009/02/02/the-character/#more-321)

There are many different “workmen” that God had given us to accomplish this mammoth task of changing who we are. Some of these, just to name a few, are our “mental powers, reason, judgment, understanding, memory – knowledge, wisdom, oral powers, conscience, will, self-control, faith, hope, and love.” (Ibid.)

There are many aspects in the construction (and for the geeks, reformatting) of a good character that are out of our control. We need to get a pro to do the job. To get the desire to start this uncomfortable process, we need to have it given to us by someone more powerful than us. He will cause us to desire that which our sinful natures cry out against. We, of our own volition, won’t initiate changes to our life. God, however, will give us some of His supernatural power to accomplish the task at hand.

The reason that we need to go to the marriage before the judgment is, plainly, that our probation has ended by that time. We need to be adorned with the spotless robe of Christ before we can be clean enough to stand in His presence. God, while He loves us, is very picky about how we can be saved. We have to do it His way, or no way. While that may seem critical, He found the only way to save us from Satan and his clutches. It would serve us well to heed His advice, for He truly cares.

It is very important to truly understand our character because we could be led astray into the ways of spiritualism. We could be led to believe that we can control our characters, rule our own destiny, which is the main purpose of the Devil’s brand of religion. This can be very dangerous, as you definitely noticed, accompanied by me overstating the obvious.

The process of refining our character is a long, painful process that ALL of us are required to do throughout our whole life. The only way that we can hope to overcome sin and our rotten characters is to accept Christ’s covering blood for us .

J. Fink

Satan wanted the early apostolic church to apostatize, because they would be “easy prey” for him. An apostate church looks better from the outside and is easier for him to work his evil.

²⁴ He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers’ fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.

Satan deceived by his craftiness even those Christians which were well versed in their Bibles. This can be noticed by those Bible scholars who, despite their many hours in the Word, hold false ideologies.

²⁵ And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he shall not stand: for they shall forecast devices against him.

In this particular verse, the “king of the South” stands for paganism, which tried its hardest to decimate Christianity from the inside.

²⁶ Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow: and many shall fall down slain.

The pagan teachings which fed the so-called “Christian church” would destroy it from the inside out. This is a war tactic known as divide and conquer, in which a force is disturbed by problems from the inside.

²⁷ And both these kings’ hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper: for yet the end shall be at the time appointed.

The compromise between Christianity and Paganism gave birth to the “man of sin” noted in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4.

²⁸ Then shall he return into his land with great riches; and his heart shall be against the holy covenant; and he shall do exploits, and return to his own land.

The new mutation of Paganism, Roman Catholicism, now was going to profit from the fears and superstitions of its mostly uneducated followers. This was most grossly manifested in the sale of indulgences, documents which would “absolve” a person from a sin he had or even would commit in the future!

²⁹ At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south; but it shall not be as the former, or as the latter.

This verse is referring to verse 25, in which paganism became the Papacy through the conversion of the Emperor Constantine; this would be the “former” spoken of in this verse. The “latter” describes where Paganism gets more solid in its ideologies with its own self.

³⁰ For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.

“Chittim” is another name for the island of Cyprus. However, in this verse, the main thrust is not the geographical location, but more meaning invaders of any type. “Him” is the Papacy, and the “ships of Chittim” are the people of God. God’s people rose up against error, the three parts of Babylon, and Spiritualism.

³¹ And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.

Arms stands for the power that the Papacy wielded. In A.D. 538, the Papacy set the an “idol Sabbath,” which is Sunday, the day of worship of the sun in the pagan world. This is the “abomination that maketh desolate.” It also made man an intercessor between other men and God. This takes away the need to come to Christ for forgiveness, you could just get it from a priest.

³² And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.

People that are well grounded in God’s word are used as instruments of the Lord to spread His truth in their own times. This really was noticeable in the Reformation period. John Wycliffe and Martin Luther were fine examples of this.

³³ And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days.

These “understanders” were teachers of the truth in the Dark Ages. Many were martyred for their faith and their burning desire to share it with others. These people included the Waldenses.

³⁴ Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries.

When people were martyred, the Lord often saw fit to give them the strength to go through it with strength. This explains why some people would go to be burned alive while singing with their last breath.

³⁵ And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.

God has to allow evil to hold partial sway to show the world what Satan is really like. This also purifies us for the time of trouble, which we are on the threshold of.

³⁶ And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.

“Exalting himself ” and “doing according to his will” are all trademarks of the Papacy. This is the most powerful church in the world at present. The pope actually is perceived as God on Earth, and is worshipped as His representative. He is actually called “Lord God the Pope.” This will continue until the second Advent of Christ.

³⁷ Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.

The Papacy has, through time, continued to accuse Protestants of heresy, and in the Dark Ages, killed countless numbers. The “desire of women” refers to the rule of celibacy, which was a doctrine of the Catholicism. “Magnifying himself above God” is another trademark of the Papacy.

³⁸ But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.

Force is always the last resort, and some people are quicker to use it than others. In their distress, they persecuted those with the light.

³⁹ Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain.

The “strange god” is the mystery of iniquity, which is a combo of Christianity and Paganism. The Papacy is continued to be described as a ruthless leader in this verse. They exacted heavy tribute and also absolute homage from other rulers.

⁴⁰ And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.

The time of the end is now. It began in 1798, when the Papacy received its deadly wound by the capture of the pope. In this time, spiritualism and paganism are pushing at Christianity in general. Some churches have actually combined the two! Rome then tried to conquer and unite all countries in one faith, their own. This describes when the “deadly wound was healed.”

⁴¹ He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.

This is not the first reference to a glorious or pleasant land in this chapter. Verse 41 mentions it, and if you want to count the “glorious holy mountain” in verse 45. This land is Palestine, or Canaan. Those who live there, are the chosen people. However, since the Jews chose to reject Jesus, He has offered salvation to us through us being Spiritual Jews. The “glorious land” refers nowadays to the Christian church. Paganism has entered into the Christian church by way of the Papacy. The three sins of Babylon are manifested in this system. These are the spreading of false doctrines, being politically ivolved in worldly alliances, and extravagantly and overly living. Now, I don’t have a problem with having nice things if you work hard for them, but gold toilet paper. . .?

⁴² He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.

The Papacy lost most of the world to Protestantism or Islam, and now it will try to make the whole world agree with it ideologically.

⁴³ But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.

Rome has an immense amount of money in her control, and this is being used to the utmost. It is said that money can do anything, and while it can’t save you or buy happiness, if you have it in enough amounts, people jump at your bidding.

⁴⁴ But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.

The location of the Sanctuary is in the North, and its tidings (the Sabbath message and salvation by faith) worry the Vatican. The final warning is given in the messages of Revelation chapter 14 and chapter 18, verses 1-41. This causes the Papacy to persecute those that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

⁴⁵ And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.

Rome has set up for herself a throne, which implies that she is being worshipped. It will have complete and unswayed worship when the U.S. enforces Sunday observance under Rome’s mandate.

J. Fink

I must say that, while I believe the Papacy is an evil system, I do not hat or even dislike those that are members of it. I even don’t hold anything against the Pope. He is just a tool in the hands of Satan to finish God’s plan for our world. I know some very sweet people that are Catholics. Some of them are more saved that most Protestants I know. So when I say strong things about the Papacy, it is about the system, it is not against the people at all.