1798—Beginning
of the End
The
"Time of the End" Began in 1798 at the End of the 1260-Year Prophecy
Daniel 11:33-35: "They
(saints) shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity,...to try them,
and to make them white, even to the time of the end."
Daniel 12:4-7:
"But thou, 0 Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the
time of the end...How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?...It shall
be for a time, times and an half."
"The forty and two
months are the same as the 'time and times and the dividing of time'; three
years and a half; or 1260 days, of Daniel 7,—the time during which the papal power
was to oppress God's people. This period began...with the supremacy of the
papacy, A.D. 538 and terminated in 1798." —GC 439.
"...that part of
his prophecy which related to the last days, Daniel was bidden to close up and
seal 'to the time of the end.'" —Dan. 12:4).
"Since 1798 the
book of Daniel has been unsealed." —GC 356.
History
Affirms Dates of Papal Supremacy as 538 - 1798 A.D.
"538 A.D. ... From
this time on, the popes, more and more involved in worldly events, no longer
belonged solely to the Church; they are men of the state, and rulers of the
state." —Medieval Europe, Bemont and Monad, Revised by George Burton
Adams, page 120, New York, Henry Holt and Co., 1902.
"Berthier [a
French General] entered Rome on 10th February, 1798, and proclaimed a Republic.
The aged Pontiff (Pius VI) refused to violate his oath by recognizing it, and
was hurried from prison in France. Broken with fatigue and sorrows, he
died...and...with the Pope the papacy was dead." —Joseph Rickaby, "The
Modern Papacy," in Lectures on the History of Religions, Vol. 3, (Lecture
24, page 1), London: Catholic Truth Society: 1910.
Signs
That Warned of the Approach of the Time of the End
Note: The earthquake
and dark day given prior to 1798 alerted man that the time of the end was about
to begin:
Lisbon
Earthquake
Rev. 6:12: "And I
beheld when he had opened the sixth seal; lo, there was a great earthquake and
the sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the moon became as blood."
(See also Joel 2:10.)
"The revelator
thus describes the first of the signs to precede the second advent: 'There was
a great earthquake..." (Rev. 6:12)
"...In fulfillment
of this prophecy there occurred, in the year 1755, the most terrible earthquake
that has ever been recorded. Though commonly known as the earthquake of Lisbon,
it extended to the greater part of Europe, Africa, and America. It was felt in
Greenland, in the West Indies, in the island of Madeira, in Norway and Sweden,
Great Britain and Ireland. It pervaded an extent of not less than four million
square miles. In Africa the shock was almost as severe as in Europe. A great
part of Algiers was destroyed; and a short distance from Morocco, a village
containing eight or ten thousand inhabitants was swallowed up. A vast wave,
swept over the coast of Spain and Africa, engulfing cities and causing great
destruction.
"It was in Spain
and Portugal that the shock manifested its extreme violence. At Cadiz the
inflowing wave was said to be sixty feet high. Mountains, 'some of the largest
in Portugal, were impetuously shaken, as it were, from their very foundations;
and some of them opened at their summits, which were split and rent in a
wonderful manner, huge masses of them being thrown down into the adjacent
valleys....'
.. At Lisbon 'a sound
of thunder was heard underground and immediately afterward a violent shock
threw down the greater part of that city. In the course of about six minutes,
sixty thousand persons perished' —Lyell, Sir Charles, Principles of Geology, p.
495, Ed. 1858, N.Y.
"The shock of the
earthquake was instantly followed by the fall of every church and convent,
almost all the large public buildings and more than one fourth of the houses.
In about two hours after the shock, fires broke out in different quarters, and
raged with such violence
for the space of nearly
three days, that the city was completely desolated. The earthquake happened on
a holy day, when the churches were full of people, very few of whom
escaped." —Encyclopedia Americana, art. Lisbon, note ed. 1831.
"...It has been
estimated that ninety thousand persons lost their lives on that fatal
day." —GC 305.
A geologist wrote:
"Among the earth movements which in historic times have affected the
kingdom of Portugal, that of Nov. 1, 1755 takes first rank, as it does, also,
in some respects among all recorded earthquakes." —EARTHQUAKES, pp.
142,143, by Prof. W. H. Hobbs, Geologist.
Dark
Day
Note: The second
warning God gave to startle the inhabitants of earth into realizing "the
time of the end" was soon to dawn, was given only 18 years before 1798. It
was the "Dark Day," May 19, 1780.
Mark 13:24 "But in
those days, after the tribulation [1260 years], the sun shall be darkened, and
the moon shall not give her light."
Joel 2:21 "The sun
shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and
the terrible day of the Lord come."
"The 1260 days, or
years, terminated in 1798. A quarter of a century earlier, persecution had
almost wholly ceased. Following this persecution, according to the words of
Christ (Mark 13:24) the sun was to be darkened. On the 19th of May, 1780, this
prophecy was fulfilled." —GC 306
"At the close of
the great papal persecution, Christ declared, the sun shall be darkened, and
the moon should not give her light. Next the stars should fall from heaven....
"These signs have appeared." —DA 632.
"May 19, 1780,
stands in history as The Dark Day.' Since the time of Moses, no period of
darkness of equal density, extent, and duration, has ever been recorded."
—GC 308.
"Though at nine
o'clock that night the moon rose to the full. ... After midnight the darkness
disappeared, and the moon, when first visible, had the appearance of
blood." —GC 308.
The dictionary states:
"The Dark Day, May 19, 1780—so called on account of a remarkable darkness
on that day extending over all New England. ... The obscuration began about ten
o'clock in the morning, and continued till the middle of the next night. The
true cause of this remarkable phenomenon is not known." —Webster's
Unabridged Dictionary (1883 edition).
Note: On that same
date, the moon was to come up early in the evening, but did not appear until
the middle of the night when it appeared as a ball of red—like blood,
fulfilling the words of Rev. 6:12 and Mark 13:24.
At the falling of the
stars, which is the third great sign that the earth was about to enter a new
era, will be discussed in the next chapter.
