Earth’s Final Apostasy

An Epilogue

THE LAST DAY OF GRACE

Recently I finished my trilogy entitled “Earth’s Final Apostasy.” Following the

completion of the final essay, I thought about a period of grace granted me by the District
Court (after the May 27, 2009 decree), during which I was to certify to the Court my
compliance with the Judge’s permanent injunction. As the final day of this time-span
approached, the Spirit spoke to me of “The Last Day of Grace.” It was referring me to
June 17, 2009, the due date for my certification of compliance with the following order:
“Defendant and his agents, servants and employees, and all those persons in active
concert or participation with them, are forever enjoined from using the mark SEVENTH-
DAY ADVENTIST, including the use of the words SEVENTH-DAY or ADVENTIST,
or the acronym SDA, either together, apart, or as part of, or in combination with any
other words, phrases, acronyms or designs, or any mark similar thereto or likely to cause
confusion therewith, in the sale, offering for sale, distribution, promotion, provision or
advertising of any products and services, and including on the Internet, in any domain
name, key words, metatags, links, and any other use for the purpose of directing Internet
traffic, at any locality in the United States.” Of course, I could not in good conscience
comply in the least, for this injunction meant, “no one [including me, my agents, servants
and employees, and all those persons in active concert or participation with me] should
be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or
the number of his name.” (Revelation 13:17; NASB, brackets supplied)

As I pondered this “last day of grace” prayerfully, I was shown a simple and
applicable principle taught by the Savior. This is what He said, “For with what judgment
ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you
again.” (Matt. 7:2) “When we are brought to account by the Lord, we shall receive the
very same measure we have meted to others, and eat the fruit of our own doings.”
(Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, August 16, 1892) I further remembered, “Be not
deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
(Galatians 6:7) This law of cause and effect is a terrible truth that none can rightly deny.

It suddenly struck me that, though the nation was effectively signing a “death
warrant” for the name Creation Seventh Day Adventist within the jurisdiction of the
United States, she was sealing “The Last Day of Grace” for herself. What a solemn
thought! It was then that the Spirit took me back through the ages of Bible history,
reminding me of how “history repeats itself.” (The Signs of the Times, November 8,
1899)
“Jerusalem [like the Seventh-day Adventist Church and American nation] had
been the child of His care, and as a tender father mourns over a wayward son, so Jesus
wept over the beloved city. How can I give thee up? How can I see thee devoted to
destruction? Must I let thee go to fill up the cup of thine iniquity? One soul is of such
value that, in comparison with it, worlds sink into insignificance; but here was a whole
nation to be lost. When the fast westering sun should pass from sight in the heavens,
Jerusalem’s day of grace would be ended. While the procession was halting on the brow
of Olivet, it was not yet too late for Jerusalem to repent. The angel of mercy was then
folding her wings to step down from the golden throne to give place to justice and swift-
coming judgment. But Christ’s great heart of love still pleaded for Jerusalem, that had
scorned His mercies, despised His warnings, and was about to imbrue her hands in His
blood. If Jerusalem would but repent, it was not yet too late. While the last rays of the
setting sun were lingering on temple, tower, and pinnacle, would not some good angel
lead her to the Saviour’s love, and avert her doom? Beautiful and unholy city, that had
stoned the prophets, that had rejected the Son of God, that was locking herself by her
impenitence in fetters of bondage – her day of mercy was almost spent!” (The Desire of
Ages, pages 577, 578)

“Christ came to clothe His people with his righteousness. But they would not
receive Him, and with pale and quivering lips and broken utterance He exclaimed, ‘If
thou hadst known, even thou at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy
peace!’ Then came a pause, for the Saviour was reluctant to pronounce the irrevocable
sentence–’but now they are hid from thine eyes.’ It was with a burst of agony that Christ
spoke these words. He was bearing a great burden for the people of His care, but they
knew not the time of their visitation. The superhuman agony of the Son of God was
keenly felt in the heavenly courts, but those for whom He shed bitter tears knew not their
day of grace.” (The Signs of the Times, July 26, 1899)

Three and one half years ago, I received demands from the General Conference of
SDA trademark attorneys requiring us to “cease and desist” any use of the term
SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST. It was then that YAH said, “And I will give power unto
my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days,
clothed in sackcloth.” (Revelation 11:3) We were in deep contrition and obscurity during
this period as we continued to herald the “three angels’ messages” in the power of the
“fourth angel” of Revelation 18. The inspired pen comments on a past fulfillment of this
prophecy, “During the greater part of this period, God’s witnesses remained in a state of
obscurity. The papal power sought to hide from the people the word of truth, and set
before them false witnesses to contradict its testimony.” (The Great Controversy, page
267) It is further noted that, “The saints then will be an obscure people, little known to
the Catholics; but the churches and nominal Adventists who know of our faith and
customs […] will betray the saints and report them to the Catholics as those who
disregard the institutions of the people.” (Spalding and Magan Collection, page 1)
Referring to the persecution of saints in the first centuries, the prophetess writes, “It
required a desperate struggle for those who would be faithful to stand firm against the
deceptions and abominations which were disguised in sacerdotal garments and introduced
into the church. The Bible was not accepted as the standard of faith. The doctrine of
religious freedom was termed heresy, and its upholders were hated and proscribed.” (The
Great Controversy, page 45) Because Creation Seventh Day Adventists “disregard the
[religious trademark laws] of the people” and regard “liberty of conscience” as “a gift
worth preserving,” they are “hated and proscribed” as heretics by an apostate church and
the sin-loving world.

The prophecy of Revelation 11 continues, “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.” (Revelation 11:7) “It had been Rome’s
policy, under a profession of reverence for the Bible, to keep it locked up in an unknown
tongue and hidden away from the people. Under her rule the witnesses prophesied
‘clothed in sackcloth.’ But another power – the beast from the bottomless pit – was to
arise to make open, avowed war upon the word of God. […] This [beast] is atheism, and
the nation represented by Egypt would give voice to a similar denial of the claims of the
living God and would manifest a like spirit of unbelief and defiance. ‘The great city’ is
also compared, ‘spiritually,’ to Sodom. The corruption of Sodom in breaking the law of
God was especially manifested in licentiousness. And this sin was also to be a pre-
eminent characteristic of the nation that should fulfill the specifications of this scripture.”
The United States, manifesting a spirit of atheism and maintaining a society of
licentiousness, qualifies as a “beast from the bottomless pit.” The laws of the land now
follow a course in harmony with atheism and in defiance of the laws of YAHWEH.
Allow me to cite an example from my own trademark lawsuit.

Within the legal record we read, “This Court has previously recognized that
Pastor McGill chose the name of his church based on a divine revelation and that it was
not his intent to confuse the public into thinking he was affiliated with Plaintiffs’
church.” [See Order Granting in Part and Denying in Part the Plaintiff’s Motion for
Summary Judgment, p. 22 (D.E. # 70).] The Court consistently refused to acknowledge
any aspect of conscience in this contest. One dictionary definition of conscience is “the
inner sense of what is right or wrong in one’s conduct or motives, impelling one toward
right action: to follow the dictates of conscience.” In the First Amendment of the Bill of
Rights, Americans are afforded the free exercise of religion, and that, according to the
dictates of conscience. This Bill of Rights was based upon the express will of God and
righteous principles suited for the administration of a nation holding respect to “life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The great reformer, Martin Luther, once wrote,
“Liberty is the essence of faith.” More than one hundred years ago, the servant of YAH
penned, “The time has come when judgment is fallen in the streets, and equity cannot
enter, and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. But the Lord’s arm is not
shortened that it cannot save, and his ear is not heavy that it cannot hear. The people of
the United States have been a favored people; but when they restrict religious liberty,
surrender Protestantism, and give countenance to popery, the measure of their guilt will
be full, and ‘national apostasy’ will be registered in the books of heaven. The result of
this apostasy will be national ruin.” (Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, May 2, 1893)
“National ruin” is the state reached when the nation has become a “beast from the
bottomless pit.” “A time is coming when the law of God is, in a special sense, to be
made void in our land. […] When our nation, in its legislative councils, shall enact
laws to bind the consciences of men in regard to their religious privileges, […] bringing
oppressive power to bear against those who keep the seventh-day Sabbath, the law of
God will, to all intents and purposes, be made void in our land; and national apostasy
will be followed by national ruin. “ (Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, December 18,
1888)

In 1522, almost 490 years ago, Luther delivered an address opposing compulsion
(as quoted in The Great Controversy, page 190), “I will preach, discuss, and write; but I
will constrain none, for faith is a voluntary act. See what I have done. I stood up against
the pope, indulgences, and papists, but without violence or tumult. I put forward God’s
word; I preached and wrote–this was all I did. And yet while I was asleep, . . . the word
that I had preached overthrew popery, so that neither prince nor emperor has done it so
much harm. And yet I did nothing; the word alone did all. If I had wished to appeal to
force, the whole of Germany would perhaps have been deluged with blood. But what
would have been the result? Ruin and desolation both to body and soul. I therefore kept
quiet, and left the word to run through the world alone.” So, from that time of
spectacular reformation in the church of Christ, it is as if “Seventy weeks [of years had
been] determined upon [YAH’s] people and upon [YAH’s] holy city [the church], to
finish the transgression [of popery], and to make an end of sins [through the victory
resulting from righteousness by faith], and to make reconciliation for iniquity [through
the cleansing of the Heavenly sanctuary], and to bring in everlasting righteousness [by
the sealing of YAH’s servants, the close of human probation, and the second advent of
Messiah]; we find ourselves, as it were, in the midst of the final week of years (all
brackets supplied; review Daniel, chapter 9). It was in the middle of that seventieth and
final week that Messiah was “cut off, but not for Himself.” And in a similar fashion,
Creation Seventh Day Adventists are “cut off” from the world and the bearing of their
divine testimony via a “death warrant” contrived by their “former brethren,” “seeing they
crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame.” (Hebrews
6:6) The prophecy of Revelation 11 also applies, “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.” (Revelation 11:8) At the time of Christ’s sacrifice, the Jewish nation was
favored with an extension of three and one half probationary years unto the stoning of
Stephen, at which time, “The kingdom of God [was] taken from [them], and given to a
nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” (Matt. 21:43; brackets supplied) At the close of
time, the world is granted another brief period of grace designed for their repentance
prior to the general destruction and declaration of Daniel 7:27, “And the kingdom and
dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the
people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all
dominions shall serve and obey Him.” “And after three days and an half the Spirit of life
from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them
which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up
hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.”
(Revelation 11:11, 12; italics supplied) You may recall the Apostle’s words, “For the
Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel,
and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive
and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the
air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (1 Thess. 4:16, 17; italics supplied) Notice
also the vision of John the beloved, “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall
see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because
of him. Even so, Amen.” (Revelation 1:7; italics supplied)

“The Last Day of Grace” has arrived for America. The “dead bodies” of the
witnesses may lie in the street [or “information highway”] of that “great city,” but the
people “shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.” (Revelation 11:9b;
brackets added) The Creation Seventh Day Adventists cannot be set totally out of sight.
And though many shall “rejoice over them, and make merry” (Revelation 11:10), others
will certainly seek repentance and find a home in the ranks of the 144,000 who “keep the
commandments of YAH and the faith of YAHSHUA.” (Revelation 14:12) As the
curtains of probationary time fall quickly upon the world, YAH extends His mercy “three
and a half days.” (Revelation 11:9; NASB)

“Are you ‘time-setting?,’” some may ask. You, reader, must become the judge.
“Then I saw the four angels cease to hold the four winds. And I saw famine, pestilence
and sword – nation rose against nation, and the whole world was in confusion. Then we
cried to God day and night for deliverance, until we began to hear the bells on Jesus’
garment. And I saw Jesus rise up in the Holiest, and as he came out we heard the tinkling
of the bells and knew that our High Priest was coming out. Then we heard the voice of
God which shook the heavens and the earth, and gave the 144,000 the day and hour of
Jesus coming. Then the saints were free, united, and full of the glory of God, for He has
turned their captivity. And I saw a flaming cloud come where Jesus’ stood. Then Jesus
laid off his priestly garment and put on his Kingly robe, and took his place on the cloud
which carried him to the East, where it first appeared to the saints on earth – a small
black cloud which was the sign of the Son of Man. While the cloud was passing from the
Holiest to the East, which took a number of days, the synagogue of Satan worshipped at
the saint’s feet.” (To the Little Remnant Scattered Abroad, April 6, 1846; italics added)

“The Last Day of Grace” has been prophesied and fulfilled. The “national
apostasy” ended in “national ruin.” Only a short space of time now separates the saints
from glory. “Then Jesus would encourage them by raising His glorious right arm, and
from His arm came a glorious light which waved over the Advent band, and they
shouted, Hallelujah! Others rashly denied the light behind them, and said that it was not
God that had led them out so far. The light behind them went out which left their feet in
perfect darkness, and they stumbled and got their eyes off the mark and lost sight of
Jesus, and fell off the path down in the dark and wicked world below. It was just as
impossible for them to get on the path again and go to the City, as all the wicked world
which God had rejected. They fell all the way along the path one after another, until we
heard the voice of God like many waters, which gave us the day and hour of Jesus’
coming. The living saints, 144,000, in number, knew and understood the voice, while the
wicked thought it was thunder and an earthquake.” (The Day-Star, January 24, 1846;
italics supplied)

Dearly beloved, I am listening for “the tinkling of the bells.” The last moments of
Christ’s mediation in the Heavenly sanctuary continue, but no one knows exactly how
much longer His mercy will endure. If you keep your eyes upon “the information
highway,” you will notice our “dead bodies” “in the street of the great city.” What will
you do? Will you “rejoice over [us] and make merry?” Or, will you come to see “Christ
in [us], the hope of glory?” We are awaiting your final decision, for “The Last Day of
Grace” has come, and that, even for you. Let it not pass another moment before finding a
place in the ranks of the 144,000 – the Creation Seventh Day (and) Adventist Church,
keeping “the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” (Revelation 14:12; KJV)

Pastor “Chick” McGill

Writing from Africa
June 17, 2009