As America confronts the pending transfer of presidential power, Seventh-day Adventists in the United States and elsewhere are forced to take stock of the prophetic and eschatological implications of the recent election, and of the past four years.

A faithful Seventh-day Adventist never views history or current events in a vacuum, but rather, in the light of inspired prophecy and the sweep of the great controversy narrative. Now that the 2020 U.S. elections belong to the ages—and soon, the current presidential term of office—it is time to invite instructive analysis as to the meaning of these events for those divinely called to deliver heaven’s last warning message to the world.

Doubting the Classic Adventist End-Time Scenario

Recently, an article by the present writer on this website [1] recalled the musings four decades ago by an Adventist historian who speculated that because of America’s modern pluralism and cultural diversity, the expectation by classic Adventist eschatology of a national Sunday law and the resulting persecution of dissenters in the United States represented a nineteenth-century worldview quite at odds with the realities of twentieth-century Western society [2]. The article expressing this perspective began with the following noteworthy passage from the writings of Ellen White:

When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with 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 the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we shall know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan, and that the end is near [3].

The recent article by the present writer referenced earlier offers ample evidence that while Sunday legislation is not presently conspicuous on the agenda of those in America currently seeking to enforce religion and morality through civil law, it is not far from their thinking and would take but a few decisive developments to bring it to the fore [4]. However, the focus of the present article involves other issues in contemporary America relevant to the classic Adventist end-time scenario, which the past four years have made notably and painfully evident.

Babylon’s Fall Continues

In the book of Revelation, the fall of spiritual Babylon—in context, a term referring to the papacy and its apostate Protestant allies—is depicted in terms of the means it employs to achieve and execute power. The second angel’s message declares:

Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication (Rev. 14:8).

The means by which she makes all nations do this is further articulated in Revelation 17, where the harlot woman representing Babylon (Rev. 17:5) is described as committing fornication with “the kings of the earth” (verse 2). The “wrath of her fornication,” in other words, is applied to individuals through the church’s alliance with civil government, a relationship Jesus disavowed when speaking to Pontius Pilate (John 18:36). This method on the part of Revelation’s spiritual harlot stands in sharp contrast with that of the bride of Christ, His true church, who invites men and women to partake willingly and freely of the truths of the gospel:

And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely (Rev. 22:17).

Babylon is fallen, in other words, because she has made civil coercion a substitute for heart-conversion.

The political behavior of Christian conservatives in the United States during the past four years has accelerated the prophesied fall of Babylon perhaps more than any other development within Christendom in recent times. It wasn’t very long ago, as some will remember, that conservative Christians in America demanded the ouster of a president on account of an adulterous affair with a White House intern. The rallying cry of the Religious Right in those days was that “character counts” so far as political leaders were concerned [5].

But if anything has become clear during the presidential term almost over, the “character counts” principle relative to political leaders no longer counts with the vast majority of politically active Christian conservatives. At least it doesn’t count regarding political figures who support the so-called “Christian” political agenda. So long as a politician supports that agenda, he can boast of his adulterous conquests [6], brag about assaulting women and getting away with it [7], declare that he has never asked God for forgiveness [8], and still be assured of the blind allegiance of millions who claim adherence to Bible-based Christianity.

Few events have been so disgraceful in the history of American religion than the tear-gassing of peaceful protesters this past summer in front of the White House, so that the president could stand in front of a historic house of worship nearby and hold up a Bible which he has likely never read. If this wasn’t an outright prostitution of the Christian message, it is hard to imagine what is! There were those who screamed sacrilege at about the same time when left-leaning protesters in Portland, Oregon, were seen burning Bibles—a story which, when investigated, turned out to be grossly exaggerated [9]. Contemptible as such conduct most assuredly is, I somehow sense that the God of Scripture is much more offended by the use of His Holy Word for raw political theater.

Ellen White says, regarding the end-time proclamation of the three angels’ messages, that “the sins of Babylon will be laid open” [10]. Interestingly, the first sin of which she speaks in this regard is not the endorsement of some theologically liberal transgression like gay marriage, but rather, “the fearful results of enforcing the observances of the church by civil authority” [11]. These fearful results have become grotesquely obvious in the present wholesale willingness of conservative American Christians to ally themselves with perhaps the darkest personal and political corruption in the nation’s history, merely because the one they have chosen as their champion has embraced the political goals they consider imperative for reversing society’s moral decline.

Assaulting the Guardrails of Liberty

Let us again consider the Ellen White statement quoted by the liberal Adventist historian cited earlier:

What is important about this statement is that it speaks of America repudiating “every principle of its constitution as a Protestant and republican government” [13]. This repudiation will obviously involve more than simply the compromise of religious liberty—for indeed, the compromise of one liberty inevitably jeopardizes other liberties. It is difficult to imagine the endangerment of any of the liberties enshrined in the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment to not inflict collateral if not fatal damage on the other liberties listed there.

Without question, the outgoing president of the United States is enamored of dictatorial power. He conspicuously coddles foreign tyrants and openly envies the control such leaders exert over the societies they govern. During the election cycle of four years ago, he spoke darkly at one of his rallies of a “Second Amendment” solution if his opponent were to be elected and appoint judges unfriendly to the gun lobby [14]. Put simply, whether the president’s apologists like it or not, this was a murder threat, not at all dissimilar to his inciting of supporters at another of his rallies to inflict violence on protesters [15]. (Ironically, most of these folks label themselves as “pro-lifers.”) This is the kind of talk you would hear at certain political gatherings in Germany in the early 1930s. It has no place in a free country, and deserves not the slightest support from anyone who claims to be a Christian.

Equally perverse has been the support by the current presidential incumbent of the use of torture by certain outlets of the American government [16]. Considering how Christians in many lands have been subjected to such mistreatment, it is inconceivable how anyone who bears the Lord’s name could lend support to a national leader who defends such tactics. When we think of the coming time of trouble predicted by inspired prophecy (Dan. 12:1), again we see how “every principle” of the American Constitution will ultimately be lost, and how the past four years in America have weakened the assumptions and institutions which maintain our cherished freedoms.

While campaigning for office four years ago, the current, now outgoing president spoke of “opening up libel laws” so that media outlets could be sued for publishing pieces he didn’t like [17]. Once again, free speech and a free press are indispensable pillars of the American Republic, enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution as unique and imperishable features of the American experiment. Regardless of how negative and unchristian certain aspects of the popular media have become, that is part of the price of liberty. And when an American chief executive attacks either of these freedoms, he damages civil rights that are imperative to the unobstructed, unrestricted proclamation of unpopular truth by anyone who holds to the teachings of the Bible, in particular Seventh-day Adventists.

As I write this, despite the challenger having been declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election by all major news outlets, regardless of ideological bias, the outgoing president persists in denying reality, giving his administration—in the words of one reporter—the aura of “a tottering regime—with its loyalty tests, destabilizing attacks on the military chain of command, a deepening bunker mentality and increasingly delusional claims of political victory” [18]. His leaving office, of course, is no mere option; once the results are officially ratified and the Electoral College chosen, he will have to depart. But the persistent denial of an obvious outcome, the incumbent’s evident desire to cling to power in any case, the cowering fear of his rage by his fellow partisans so that no accountability is demanded, represent a fundamental challenge to the governing documents and liberty-honoring traditions of the American Republic.

Those who would dismiss such chicanery as “typical dirty politics,” as nothing unusual so far as this country’s history is concerned, inhabit a dream world no less fictitious than the fantasyland occupied by the current American president. In no way, shape, or form is this conduct normal on the part of a losing presidential incumbent. We have never seen anything like this in the history of the United States.

Conclusion: A Whiff of the Dragon’s Breath

This is not a discussion of political ideology or partisanship. This isn’t about conservative or progressive politics, nor is it about Democrats or Republicans. Rather, it is about the basic institutions of the American system, the traditions and parameters of a political edifice brought into existence by God Himself as a beacon of liberty and a haven for the oppressed of every land [19].

The lamblike beast of Revelation 13, representing the United States of America [20], is declared to have “two horns like a lamb” (Rev. 13:11)—the symbol used throughout Scripture to represent Christ (e.g. Gen. 22:8; Isa. 53:7; John 1:29; I Peter 1:19; Rev. 5:6; 6:16; 7:17; 13:8; 14:1,10; 19:9; 21:9,13,22,23,27; 22:1). No other nation in sacred history has ever been symbolized by a lamb. Ellen White, under divine inspiration, describes the meaning of this symbol as follows:

The lamblike horns indicate youth, innocence, and gentleness, fitly representing the character of the United States when presented to the prophet as “coming up” in 1798. Among the Christian exiles who first fled to America and sought an asylum from royal oppression and priestly intolerance were many who determined to establish a government upon the broad foundation of civil and religious liberty [21].

Little wonder that the late U.S. presidential historian Theodore White wrote of the United States as “the only peaceful multi-racial civilization in the world” [22], a nation identified not by ancestral descent like the others, but by a “common faith” in its institutions of freedom [23].

Ellen White goes on to write, in words deeply respectful of those traditions of American democracy now under fierce attack:

And the Constitution guarantees to the people the right of self-government, providing that representatives elected by the popular vote shall enact and administer the laws [24].

But tragically, the prophecy of Revelation 13:11 doesn’t stop with the description of this power’s lamblike traits. It goes on to say, in the above verse: “And he spake as a dragon.” The inspired forecast of America’s future describes how this bastion of liberty will replicate the intolerance her founders sought to escape, and create an image of erstwhile ecclesiastical tyranny [25].

Beyond what the inspired pen reveals, we cannot be certain of the future. But in all likelihood, the coming transfer of presidential power in the United States will be smooth and peaceful, regardless of what the one currently holding this power may desire. However, the lessons of the present moment and the past four years cannot be lost on students of Bible prophecy in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The institutions of our free Republic, so easy for so many to take for granted, have been assaulted and weakened like never before. We have experienced a whiff of the dragon’s breath—the dragon whose character will be reproduced in America’s final actions before Jesus returns (Rev. 13:11).

The ultimate timing of this final drama is not, of course, in the hands of political leaders, but in the hands of God’s Spirit-empowered saints, whose reproduction of Jesus’ character—the opposite of the dragon’s—will at last determine when they receive the seal of the living God (Rev. 7:1-3), and when Jesus will come as King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Zeph. 3:13; I Thess. 5:23; II Peter 3:10-14; I John 3:2-3; Rev. 3:21; 14:5,12; 19:11-16).

REFERENCES

1. Kevin Paulson, “A New Challenge to Classic Adventist Eschatology,” ADvindicate, May 1, 2020 http://advindicate.com/articles/2019/9/20/paulson-draft-1-s88fl-6mlnf-tyf95-y3hyg-9n5tj-8pwk6-td6yw-3bj83

2. Jonathan Butler, “The World of E.G. White and the End of the World,” Spectrum, August 1979, pp. 2-13.

3. Ellen G. White, Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 451.

4. Paulson, “A New Challenge to Classic Adventist Eschatology,” ADvindicate, May 1, 2020 http://advindicate.com/articles/2019/9/20/paulson-draft-1-s88fl-6mlnf-tyf95-y3hyg-9n5tj-8pwk6-td6yw-3bj83

5. Jonathan Merritt, “Trump-Loving Christians Owe Bill Clinton an Apology,” The Atlantic, Aug. 10, 2016 https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/08/evangelical-christians-trump-bill-clinton-apology/495224/

6. Andrew Kaczynski, Chris Massie, Nate McDermott, “Donald Trump to Howard Stern: It’s okay to call my daughter a ‘piece of ass,’” CNN, Oct. 9, 2016 https://www.cnn.com/2016/10/08/politics/trump-on-howard-stern/index.html

7. “Donald Trump Access Hollywood Tape,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_Access_Hollywood_tape

8. “Donald Trump: ‘I haven’t asked God for forgiveness,’” YouTube, July 19, 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKLVIm7Q0IQ

9. Matthew Rosenberg and Julian E. Barnes, “A Bible Burning, a Russian News Agency and a Story Too Good to Check Out,” New York Times, Aug. 12, 2020 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/11/us/politics/russia-disinformation-election-meddling.html

10. White, The Great Controversy, p. 606.

11. Ibid.

12. White, Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 451.

13. Ibid.

14. Nick Corasaniti and Maggie Haberman, “Donald Trump Suggests ‘Second Amendment People’ Could Act Against Hillary Clinton,” New York Times, Aug. 9, 2016 https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/10/us/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton.html

15. Daniel White, “Donald Trump Tells Crowd to ‘Knock the Crap Out Of’ Hecklers,” Time, Feb. 1, 2016 https://time.com/4203094/donald-trump-hecklers/

16. James Masters, “Donald Trump says torture ‘absolutely works’—but does it?” CNN, Jan. 26, 2017 https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/26/politics/donald-trump-torture-waterboarding/index.html

17. Brian Naylor, “Donald Trump Wants To ‘Open Up Libel Laws’ So He Can Sue News Outlets,” npr, March 24, 2016 https://www.npr.org/2016/03/24/471762310/donald-trump-wants-to-open-up-libel-laws-so-he-can-sue-news-outlets

18. Stephen Collinson, “Alarm grows over Trump’s ‘dictator’ moves as he denies election defeat” CNN, Nov. 11, 2020 https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/11/politics/donald-trump-joe-biden-transition/index.html

19. White, The Great Controversy, p. 441.

20. Ibid, p. 440.

21. Ibid, p. 441.

22. Theodore H. White, Breach of Faith: The Fall of Richard Nixon (New York: Atheneum Publishers, 1975), p. 323.

23. Ibid.

24. Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 441.

25. Ibid, pp. 441-443.

Pastor Kevin Paulson holds a Bachelor’s degree in theology from Pacific Union College, a Master of Arts in systematic theology from Loma Linda University, and a Master of Divinity from the SDA Theological Seminary at Andrews University. He served the Greater New York Conference of Seventh-day Adventists for ten years as a Bible instructor, evangelist, and local pastor. He writes regularly for Liberty magazine and does script writing for various evangelistic ministries within the denomination. He continues to hold evangelistic and revival meetings throughout the North American Division and beyond, and is a sought-after seminar speaker relative to current issues in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He presently resides in Berrien Springs, Michigan