In one of the most graphic prophecies of the last days in all of Scripture, the apostle Paul writes as follows in his second epistle to Timothy:
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God;
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away (II Tim. 3:1-5).
Most conservative Christians today would find the first four of the above verses quite in harmony with their perspective on contemporary society’s moral state and what the world can rightly expect to be the prevailing conditions just before Jesus returns. Those who look for the Antichrist power of the last days to be primarily secular in nature, and who see overt godlessness to be the principal threat facing Christianity and the world today, will give a hearty affirmation to the prediction of these first four verses.
But it’s the last of these verses that shifts our focus away from the overtly godless to that form of Christianity which maintains a veneer of moral rectitude while denying the power of the gospel to vanquish sin in the lives of earthly believers. It is within this veneer where we find the secret of the end-time threefold union described in the book of Revelation:
And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty (Rev. 16:13-14).
Ellen White on Revelation’s Threefold Union
Ellen White, under divine inspiration, identifies this threefold union as Catholicism, apostate Protestantism, and spiritualism:
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 may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near [1].
The Protestants of the United States will be foremost in stretching their hands across the gulf to grasp the hand of spiritualism; they will reach over the abyss to clasp hands with the Roman power; and under the influence of this threefold union, this country will follow in the steps of Rome in trampling on the rights of conscience [2].
But it is the context of the above statement which offers a deeper insight into what this threefold union will do and look like when its power is established in America and throughout the world:
Through the two great errors, the immortality of the soul and Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under his deceptions. While the former lays the foundation of spiritualism, the latter creates a bond of sympathy with Rome. The Protestants of the United States will be foremost in stretching their hands across the gulf to grasp the hand of spiritualism; they will reach over the abyss to clasp hands with the Roman power; and under the influence of this threefold union, this country will follow in the steps of Rome in trampling on the rights of conscience.
As spiritualism more closely imitates the nominal Christianity of the day, it has great power to deceive and ensnare. Satan himself is converted, after the modern order of things. He will appear in the character of an angel of light. Through the agency of spiritualism, miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and many undeniable wonders will be performed. And as the spirits will profess faith in the Bible, and manifest respect for the institutions of the church, their work will be accepted as a manifestation of divine power.
The line of distinction between professed Christians and the ungodly is now hardly distinguishable. Church members love what the world loves and are ready to join with them, and Satan determines to unite them in one body and thus strengthen his cause by sweeping all into the ranks of spiritualism. Papists, who boast of miracles as a certain sign of the true church, will be readily deceived by this wonder-working power; and Protestants, having cast away the shield of truth, will also be deluded. Papists, Protestants, and worldlings will alike accept the form of godliness without the power, and they will see in this union a grand movement for the conversion of the world and the ushering in of the long-expected millennium [3].
Four Points
Four key points stand out in the above statement, and others, regarding this end-time threefold union:
1. The alliance thus forged between religion and civil government will see the former supreme over the latter. Notice how, in this statement, it will be “under the influence” of the unity formed between Catholicism, apostate Protestantism, and spiritualism that America will trample on the rights of conscience. We do not read of the government taking control of the churches, but rather, of the churches taking control of the government.
This prospect is reflected in two other Ellen White statements from the same book:
In order for the United States to form an image of the beast, the religious power must so control the civil government that the authority of the state will also be employed by the church to accomplish her own ends [4].
Let the principle once be established in the United States that the church may employ or control the power of the state, that religious observances may be enforced by secular laws; in short, that the authority of church and state is to dominate the conscience, and the triumph of Rome in this country is assured [5].
The popular fear just now in many conservative Christian circles that a secular government is scheming to take control of the church—a fear bolstered by the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting restrictions on social gatherings, including religious ones—is clearly not anticipated by the inspired consensus. False religion, not secularism, is consistently identified by the inspired pen as the great threat to religious freedom in the last days, as indeed it has been throughout most of history.
2. When the inspired pen speaks of spiritualism, it is not speaking of some secular version of spirituality, but rather, of a professedly Christian ideology which claims to honor both the Bible and the institutional church. When people today speak of spirituality, they often describe a philosophical construct which they believe to be a substitute for religion. But that is not how Ellen White foresees the spiritualism that will play such a decisive role in the crisis of the last days. This is clear from her statement that “the spirits will profess faith in the Bible, and manifest respect for the institutions of the church” [6].
Secular spirituality in most cases rejects both the Bible and the institutional church. But the above statement is clear that while end-time spiritualism will clearly depart from the teachings of the Bible, it will nevertheless profess to revere and honor the Bible.
3. The working of miracles will play a prominent role in establishing the power of the threefold union. The Bible, in describing this last-day conglomerate, speaks of “the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth, and of the whole world” (Rev. 16:14). Again it should be noted that the religious powers take the initiative in compelling the political powers to cooperate with the agenda of the religious powers, not the other way around. We don’t read that the kings of the earth dictate to the three unclean spirits.
But the role of miracles in bringing about this global unity is notable for its prominence in the end-time predictions of both the Bible and Ellen White. Notice how she writes that “through the agency of spiritualism, miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and many undeniable wonders will be performed” [7], then speaks of how “this wonder-working power” will sweep “all into the ranks of spiritualism,” uniting “papists, Protestants, and worldlings alike” [8].
It is difficult if not impossible to see any notions of secularism or non-supernaturalism surviving in an environment where “undeniable wonders” are as ubiquitous as the above inspired forecast describes. Secularism will effectively cease to exist when the choice confronting humanity will be reduced, not to a religious versus a secular alternative, but to two religious alternatives with supernatural signs attending each [9]. The question will no longer be whether supernatural forces exist in the universe, but rather, which supernatural force will receive each person’s allegiance.
4. The power of this threefold union will be entirely external, bypassing the imperative of Biblical conversion. Notice how Ellen White says that “church members love what the world loves and are ready to join with them” [10]. The miracles performed by the religious alliance that will then control the world will not constrain professed Christians or worldlings to surrender their cherished sins. True, civil law might criminalize or de-legitimize such conduct, but it will continue nonetheless, as it always does when hearts remain un-transformed beneath a façade of outward conformity.
Hence the modern prophet declares that under the influence of this threefold union, “papists, Protestants, and worldlings alike will accept the form of godliness without the power, and they will see in this union a grand movement for the conversion of the world, and the ushering in of the long-expected millennium” [11]. But the conversion here described will be one of external form, not inward change.
Conclusion: The Form Without the Power
At a time when so many American Christians have committed their moral agenda to the custody of openly corrupt political leaders, when high-ranking religious luminaries are caught in sordid personal sins while defending the transgressions of their political champions on the basis of the assumption that “we all sin every day” [12], when—at the time of this writing—yet another Congressman has been caught in shameless immorality [13] while promoting the Religious Right’s crusade against abortion and gay marriage [14], it is easy to see how Christendom is preparing itself to “accept the form of godliness without the power” [15].
REFERENCES
1. Ellen G. White, Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 451.
2. ----The Great Controversy, p. 588.
3. Ibid, pp. 588-589.
4. Ibid, p. 443.
5. Ibid, p. 581.
6. Ibid, p. 588.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid, p. 612.
10. Ibid, p. 588.
11. Ibid, pp. 588-589.
12. Kyra Phillips, Evan Pereira, and Jon Haworth, “Jerry Falwell Jr. officially resigns from Liberty University,” ABC News, Aug. 24, 2020 https://abcnews.go.com/US/jerry-falwell-jr-officially-resigns-liberty-university/story?id=72587982&cid=clicksource_4380645_3_heads_hero_live_headlines_hed
13. Jeremy Herb, Lauren Fox, and Ryan Nobles, “Gaetz showed nude photos of women he said he’d slept with to lawmakers, sources tell CNN,” CNN, April 1, 2021 https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/01/politics/matt-gaetz-photos-women/index.html
14. “Matt Gaetz on Abortion,” OnTheIssues: Every Political Leader on Every Issue https://www.ontheissues.org/FL/Matt_Gaetz_Abortion.htm; “Matt Gaetz,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#LGBT_rights
15. White, The Great Controversy, p. 588.
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