REVELATION 11:3, 7, 8, C. H. Cayce We have been asked to give our views on Rev. xi. 3 and 8. We would be glad to publish Gill’s comments on these passages, but do not have the space. We will write just a few lines, giving some of our thoughts in a very brief way. Verse 3 reads as follows:
And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
This thousand two hundred and three score days is twelve hundred and sixty years, and answers to the time the church was in the wilderness. The two witnesses are the church and the ministry—the true ministry of Christ. During these twelve hundred and sixty years they testified to the truth, but were sorely persecuted. They prophesied in sackcloth and ashes; and though they were persecuted by the world, yet the Lord blessed them. At the end of the twelve hundred and sixty years the Reformation carne, when Luther came out of Rome and established the Lutheran Church and Calvin established the Presbyterian Church. Then came religious liberty, and the true witnesses were allowed freedom to proclaim the riches of God’s grace in a public way without fear of molestation. Now we come to verses 7 and 8:
And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
Here is a prophecy that we would do well to take heed [pg 228] to. This beast is generally conceded to be Rome. The beast is to make war against the two witnesses and will overcome them and kill them, and their dead bodies will lie in the streets. Verse nine tells us that “they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.” This severe trial and persecution will last for three years “and six months, and it will be the most severe persecution that the world has ever known It is true that in past ages the true and humble followers of the Master have been put to death and punished in every conceivable way that it seems Satan could invent, and the persecutions have been severe; but this will be the worst. But thanks be to the Lord, it will be of short duration in comparison with the length of time some of our ancestors had to suffer.
For some years we have felt sure that we could see the dark clouds gathering, and we still believe we can see those clouds. Rome has been gradually working to gain her lost power, and the pope has been granted territory over which he is ruler in temporal matters as well as church matters. They have been working for years to make America Catholic. They are avowed enemies of our free school system, the bulwark of our freedom. They have always opposed the full and entire separation of church and state. For you to know these things to be true it is only necessary for you to read authentic church history and read what Catholics say in their own papers and publications now. They tried to elect Al Smith president, and all indications are that he will be a candidate next time. With a Catholic president this war on the two witnesses could be made before the [pg 229] Protestant people could have time or warning to he themselves. All papers opposing Catholicism could put out of business in a few weeks time, and that without remedy.
Do we want the trial of such persecution as is here told us about in this chapter? If not, then we should “be up and doing.” Let us awake to the dangers confronting us, and awake to the discharge of our every duty. Let us go to God in prayer, that such calamity may not befall us, and then let us do our full duty, the discharge of our every duty. In the discharge of our every duty the Lord will bless us.
We are not running a political paper, but we feel it be our indispensable duty to warn all our readers of the impending crisis. May the Lord help us all to awake the true situation and to do our whole duty. The Primitive Baptist, February 27, 1930