The gift of prophecy has been one of the characteristics of the remnant of God in each period of the history of the church and particularly in the remnant of the last days (Rev. 12:17; 19:10; 22: 9). The Seventh-day Adventist Church, which claims to be the prophetic church that God would raise after the disappointment of 1844 (Dn 8:14), believes that the prophetic gift was received by Ellen Gould Harmon to guide the last church in its mission to preach the last message before the end of the time of grace (Rev. 14: 6-12).

As part of His prophetic mission, God showed Mrs. Ellen G. White some eschatological events related to the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation. She acknowledged the existence of certain hermeneutical presuppositions, recognizing that in the books of Daniel and Revelation there is a historical development from the days of Daniel and of John until the establishment of the eternal kingdom of God. She stated:

In the Revelation are portrayed the deep things of God. The very name given to its inspired pages, ‘the Revelation,’ contradicts the statement that this is a sealed book. A revelation is something revealed. The Lord Himself revealed to His servant the mysteries contained in this book, and He designs that they shall be open to the study of all. Its truths are addressed to those living in the last days of this earth's history, as well as to those living in the days of John. Some of the scenes depicted in this prophecy are in the past, some are now taking place; some bring to view the close of the great conflict between the powers of darkness and the Prince of heaven, and some reveal the triumphs and joys of the redeemed in the earth made new.¹

"The light that Daniel received from God was given especially for these last days. The visions he saw by the banks of the Ulai and the Hiddekel, the great rivers of Shinar, are now in process of fulfillment, and all the events foretold will soon come to pass."²

The purpose of this research study is to analyze some eschatological events mentioned by the gift of prophecy manifested in Ellen White such as: a) the USA and its identification as the second beast of Rev. 13:11, b) the union of all the churches promoted by the false satanic Trinity (Rev. 16:13-14), c) the Sabbath as the sign of God as opposed to the mark of the beast (Rev.13:15-17), and what hermeneutical presuppositions may have been in her mind when analyzing each of these events, and how these events have been confirmed throughout history to this day.

If we take into account the biblical principle mentioned by God through Jeremiah who said: "The prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet is fulfilled, will be known as the prophet whom the Lord has truly sent" (Jer 28: 9), then Mrs. White should be put to the test with respect to the eschatological predictions she made.

Keywords: eschatology, prophetic gift, eschatological events, fulfillment.

Brief review of the book The Great Controversy where Ellen G. White identifies the United States of America as the second beast of Revelation 13

The book The Great Controversy was originally part of a series of four volumes known by the English name Spiritual Gifts³ written by Ellen White in 1858, as part of one of her first visions received in Lovett's Grove, Ohio in mid-March.⁴

“In September of 1858, this first of several revisions and expansions of the vision was published under the title, The Great Controversy Between Christ and His Angels, And Satan and His Angels”.⁵

In the 1870s and 1880s, Ellen White felt it convenient to expand her earlier presentations of the great controversy, which were delineated in a series of four volumes under the general title of Spirit of Prophecy⁶, and as a subtitle, The Great Controversy, with an additional subtitle for each of the four books: Volume 1 was expanded and became Patriarchs and Prophets (1890); Volume 2, the first 62 chapters of The Desire of Ages; Volume 3, the last part of The Desire of Ages (1898) and The Acts of the Apostles (1911); and volume 4, The Great Controversy between Christ and Satan (1888).⁷

With regard to volume 4, The Great Controversy Between Christ and His Angels and Satan and His Angels, Mrs. White had a special concern, which led her to dedicate thirty years between 1858 and 1888, which ranged from the destruction of Jerusalem to the end of the controversy.⁸

Although in 1911 there was a need to make a final revision of the book The Great Controversy while Mrs. White was still alive, the content remained substantially unchanged, since the revision included the addition of some historical sources, the harmonization of spelling, the punctuation, etc.⁹

The last volume is focused eschatologically and gathers the first forty years of Ellen White's comments on the events of the last days, answering the big questions about how long the conflict will last, how it will end, and why the problems that started the conflict will be fixed forever.⁹

Therefore, the theme of the Great Controversy is what Ellen White called the conceptual "key" to understand the greatest questions of humanity. It provides the background for the development of evil and Satan's accusations against the government of God such as hinting that God is unjust, severe and arbitrary.

Affirmation of Ellen White about the second beast of Revelation 13

The identification by Ellen G. White regarding the second beast of Revelation 13:11 was made in the book the Great Controversy. In the context of a vision she describes the future of the United States and the influence that this nation would have with regard to the immutable law of God, specifically with the mark of the beast (worship on Sunday), as opposed to the seal of God (the Sabbath).

The unmasking of this second beast is done by the inspired writer through the question:

What nation of the New World was in 1798 rising into power, giving promise of strength and greatness, and attracting the attention of the world? The application of the symbol admits of no question. One nation, and only one, meets the specifications of this prophecy; it points unmistakably to the United States of America..¹⁰

This statement was made on the occasion of the revision and expansion of what became the 1888 edition of the Great Controversy where Mrs. White declared the purpose of the book: “To unfold the scenes of the great controversy between truth and error... and to show the holy, unchanging nature of His law”.¹¹

What was the reaction of the Adventist believers in the years from 1858-1888 when Mrs. White wrote about the Great Controversy? We must take into account the religious, political and social context of her days.

Religious, political and social context of the statements of Ellen G. White

Note that on May 21, 1845 at the Albany Conference the Millerite leaders voted the following resolution: "Resolved, we have no confidence in any new message, visions, dreams... etc., not in accordance with the unadulterated word of God".¹²

To the above we must add two people who preceded Ellen White, those are William Foy (1818-1893) and Hazen Foss (1819-1993), both men, and the latter was the one who refused to announce the visions that had been revealed.

What about the political and social situation in the United States of America when Mrs. White made the statement that the beast of Revelation 13 was the fledgling American nation?

If one takes into account the Civil War (1861-1865), which led the nation to a severe crisis in all aspects, it is in this context of a serious crisis in the nascent American nation that Mrs. Ellen G. White made the statement regarding the identification of the second beast of Revelation 13 with the USA.

It is worth mentioning that it was only in the Second World War (1939-1945) when the US finally demonstrated its world supremacy by dropping two atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that made Japan yield, initiating in the world the period of the Cold War (1945-1991) when the Soviet Union and the United States of America disputed world supremacy.

The big question that was being debated on the world scene was: what power would dominate the world, the United States of America or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics? The answer to this question was given on the basis of the warlike power of each of these nations to ostentation. However, the predictive prophecy more than a hundred years in advance made by Mrs. Ellen White would have its fulfillment when in 1991 communism fell in Europe and the Soviet Union was divided, leaving the United States as the only world power. In this way, the second beast of Revelation 13 that arose from the earth rose to receive the power of the dragon and the beast (v. 11) and thus fulfill the work of speaking like a lamb and finally as a dragon (v. 12).

Therefore, there is no doubt about what the Spirit of prophecy announced through Ellen G. White, regarding identifying the second beast of Revelation 13:11 with the EE.UU of North America in the context of the social and political crisis that the nation was going through. His hermeneutic presuppositions regarding the use of the historicist method were accurate as they are evident in the books of Daniel (2) and Revelation (12).

The union of all the churches promoted by Rome

Ellen G. White not only interpreted that the beast of Revelation 13:11 was undoubtedly the United States of America, but also made declarations related to the work promoted by Rome for the union of all the churches. In this regard she declared in 1889.

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.¹³

When the leading churches of the United States, uniting upon such points of doctrine as are held by them in common, shall influence the state to enforce their decrees and to sustain their institutions, then Protestant America will have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy, and the infliction of civil penalties upon dissenters will inevitably result.¹⁴

The fulfillment of what Mrs. White said over one hundred years ago was seen when on March 29, 1994 Evangelical Protestant leaders and Roman Catholics signed a memorable document in a joint statement that no one could have foreseen even in the 1980s. This was perhaps the most significant event in the last 500 years of church history. The signing of this amazing statement entitled "Evangelicals and Catholics Together: the Christian Mission in the Third Millennium" (ECT) substantially demolishes the Protestant Reformation while fulfilling the biblical prophecy and predictions of Ellen White.¹⁵

J. I. Packer, editor of the magazine Christianity Today, declared regarding the signing of this memorable document that:

The plot-line of its 8,000 words is simply summarized. After stating that its concern is with ‘the relationship between evangelicals and Catholics, who constitute the growing edge of missionary expansion at present and, most likely, in the century ahead,’ it announces its composers' agreement on the Apostles' Creed and on the proposition that ‘we are justified by grace through faith because of Christ’; it affirms a commitment to seek more love... draws up a purpose of a joint non-proselytizing action for the conversion and edification of strangers ... The editors of the ECT declare that ... they understand the Christian life from beginning to end as a personal conversion to Jesus Christ and a communion with him, they know they must teach to live in obedience to the divinely inspired Scriptures, which are the infallible word of God, and on this basis are brothers and sisters in Christ.¹⁶

The most recent meetings about the ecumenical program of the Catholic Church are the meetings held by Pope Francis I, as soon as he began his pontificate. In this first convocation of leaders of the largest religious confessions in the world he declared: "I confirm my firm will to continue the ecumenical journey." This statement was given at the meeting held in the Clementine Hall of the Vatican and in which Representatives of other Christian denominations participated, as well as Jews, Muslims and other religions, whom he invited to approach non-believers as well.¹⁷

Another no less important meeting happened on February 24, 2014 in the USA when Pope Francis communicated through a video with more than 200 Pentecostal and charismatic leaders whom he invited to the event, having the Anglican bishop Tony Palmer as his mediator. Before the great assembly gathered in the temple of the Pentecostal leader Kenneth Copelan, the pope said, "I’ve never seen God begin a miracle without Him finishing it well. He will complete this miracle of unity," in the video published by the Ecclesia Agency, linked to the Vatican.¹⁸

In this way, the evangelical world that previously saw the pope as the antichrist of biblical prophecy, today sees him as the leader capable of achieving the world unity of all religious confessions.

Again, Mrs. E. G. White was accurate in making use of the historicized method evoked in the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, regarding the work of the Satanic trinity in its purpose of uniting all the churches, which enriches our interpretation of the biblical text.

The Sabbath as the sign of God as opposed to the mark of the beast

Already by the 1870s Mrs. White stated:

The Sabbath will be the great test of loyalty; for it is the point of truth especially controverted. When the final test shall be brought to bear upon men, then the line of distinction will be drawn between those who serve God and those who serve him not. While the observance of the false sabbath in compliance with the law of the State, contrary to the fourth commandment, will be an avowal of allegiance to a power that is in opposition to God, the keeping of the true Sabbath, in obedience to God’s law, is an evidence of loyalty to the Creator. While one class, by accepting the sign of submission to earthly powers, receive the mark of the beast, the other, choosing the token of allegiance to divine authority, receive the seal of God."¹⁹

In the context of this statement she pointed out:

Heretofore those who presented the truths of the third angel’s message have often been regarded as mere alarmists. Their predictions that religious intolerance would gain control in the United States, that church and State would unite to persecute those who keep the commandments of God, have been pronounced groundless and absurd. It has been confidently declared that this land could never become other than what it has been, the defender of religious freedom. But as the question of enforcing Sunday observance is widely agitated, the event so long doubted and disbelieved is seen to be approaching, and the third message will produce an effect which it could not have had. In every generation God has sent his servants to rebuke sin, both in the world and in the church. But the people desire smooth things spoken to them, and the pure, unvarnished truth is not acceptable.²⁰

If one takes into account as stated by C. M. Maxwell that even in the fourteenth century AD. several commentators²¹ had already noticed that the sea beast in Revelation 13 was Roman Catholicism, it should be noted that no commentator before the rise of Adventism had applied the mark of the beast specifically to the issue of Saturday and Sunday.²²

It would be even easier to believe that Sister White made the remarks on Sunday as the mark of the beast, guided by the Holy Spirit, if one takes into account that the first beast of Revelation 13: 1-10 and the Little Horn of Daniel 7: 7-8 are the same power that "thought to change the times and the law" (v. 25); in this case the Roman Catholic Church is the one that attributes to itself the prerogative of having moved the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, because of the resurrection of Christ and as a reminder of the new creation.²³ In this way, Sunday will become the sign of authority of the Roman church, as opposed to the biblical Sabbath, which is God's sign of authority (Ez 20:12, 20).

Evidence that Sunday will become the mark of the beast as announced by Mrs. E. G. White?

If you take into account that in the USA only the Supreme Court has the authority to make an amendment in the Constitution that goes against the rights of minorities to support the majorities, mention should be made here of:

Dred Scott's infamous decision of 1857 where the court solemnly protected slavery and formally stated that, according to the constitution, no Negro could be a citizen of the United States, so the court misused the Fifth Amendment. the Bill of Rights, the amendment that protects, life, liberty or the belongings of all.’ The court defined that a slave was a property of the master, although in doing so, he deliberately ignored the slave's right to enjoy his own personal freedom.²⁴

Because of the limited space we will only mention one more piece of evidence and this has to do with the Sunday closure laws in the 13 founding states of the United States in the 1880s. The establishment of the Constitution did nothing to revoke those Sunday laws, because the First Amendment referred to the "Congress", not the states.²⁵

What caused that sudden imposition of Sunday laws? W. A. Blakely comments that in some cases it was resentment at the conversion of local citizens to the Seventh-day Adventist faith.²⁷ Mrs. White declared it this way: "Those who honor the Bible Sabbath will be denounced as enemies of law and order, as breaking down the moral restraints of society, causing anarchy and corruption, and calling down the judgments of God upon the earth. Their conscientious scruples will be pronounced obstinacy, stubbornness, and contempt of authority. They will be accused of disaffection toward the government".²⁶

Humanity has therefore witnessed how prophetic events that were announced by the Bible many centuries in advance have occurred in the past, others are now being fulfilled and others (future) are closing the great controversy between good and evil, just as they were announced by Ellen White.

Hermeneutical presuppositions that are inferred in the statements of Ellen G. White

In analyzing the statements made by Mrs. Ellen G. White regarding these three eschatological events that would take place in the last days, one can infer the existence of certain hermeneutical presuppositions that she took into account when interpreting especially the books of Daniel and the Apocalypse:

1. By identifying the second beast of Revelation 13:11 with the United States of America, she made use of the historicist method, as John the apostle had done in the context of chapter 12 where he sequentially describes the three attacks of the dragon: first against the Son of God (vv 1-5), second against the church for 1260 years (vv. 6, 12-16) and third against the remnant of the last days (v. 17), clearly perceiving the way in which John glimpsed what history has confirmed. So she stated:
   Some of the scenes depicted in this prophecy are in the past, some are now taking place; some bring to view the close of the great conflict (future) between the powers of darkness and the Prince of heaven, and some reveal the triumphs and joys of the redeemed in the earth made new.²⁷

2. In identifying the false satanic trinity of Revelation 16: 13-15 in its purpose of uniting all the churches, she contextualized some historical facts that were happening in her time, specifically in the 1860s and 1870s to which she referred saying:
   Romanism is now regarded by Protestants with far greater favor than in former years. In those countries where Catholicism is not in the ascendancy, and the papists are taking a conciliatory course in order to gain influence, there is an increasing indifference concerning the doctrines that separate the reformed churches from the papal hierarchy; the opinion is gaining ground that, after all, we do not differ so widely upon vital points as has been supposed, and that a little concession on our part will bring us into a better understanding with Rome. The time was when Protestants placed a high value upon the liberty of conscience which had been so dearly purchased. They taught their children to abhor popery and held that to seek harmony with Rome would be disloyalty to God. But how widely different are the sentiments now expressed!²⁸
   There is no doubt that what the apocalyptic prophecy had announced regarding the union between Catholics and Protestants had already in the historical panorama of her day begun to take shape.

3. By declaring that the Sabbath would become the test of loyalty, as opposed to Sunday as the mark of the lordship of Rome (Rev 13: 4-8, 10, 13-17) Ii is more probable that she had in mind what the prophet Daniel declared regarding the work of the fourth beast Rome in his pretensions to change the times and the law (Dan 7:25), and in his pretension to unite church and state (Rev 13: 11-17). Already Mrs. White noticed in the historical context of the 1860s what would happen. So she stated:
   The Constitution of the United States guarantees liberty of conscience. Nothing is dearer or more fundamental. Pope Pius IX, in his Encyclical Letter of August 15, 1854, said: `The absurd and erroneous doctrines or ravings in defense of liberty of conscience are a most pestilential error—a pest, of all others, most to be dreaded in a state.’ The same pope, in his Encyclical Letter of December 8, 1864, anathematized `those who assert the liberty of conscience and of religious worship,’ also ‘all such as maintain that the church may not employ force.
   The pacific tone of Rome in the United States does not imply a change of heart. She is tolerant where she is helpless. Says Bishop O’Connor: ‘Religious liberty is merely endured until the opposite can be carried into effect without peril to the Catholic world.’... The archbishop of St. Louis once said: ‘Heresy and unbelief are crimes; and in Christian countries, as in Italy and Spain, for instance, where all the people are Catholics, and where the Catholic religion is an essential part of the law of the land, they are punished as other crimes.²⁹
   Thus, Mrs. Ellen G. White in her interpretation of each of these events of the last days, used the historicist method as the pioneers had done.

Conclusions

1. The book The Great Controversy is the "key" to unmask the satanic work behind the events of the last days.

2. The prophetic declaration that the second beast of Revelation 13 is the United States of America was made by Mrs. White in a context of political, social and economic crisis of the fledgling nation, which declared in its first amendment the separation between church and state.

3. By divine inspiration God showed her that Rome (the first beast of Revelation 13) together with the other members of the Satanic trinity (dragon and false prophet, Rev 13:4-8, 10, 13- 17; 16: 13-14), would promote the unity of all the churches, as confirmed by the historical evidence observable today.

4. Ellen White prophetically declared that Sunday was the mark of the beast even though in her day no biblical commentator had done so.

5. It is evident that Mrs. Ellen White in her interpretation of these three events of the last days, made use of hermeneutical presuppositions related to the historicist method as the pioneers had done.

6. Once again it is confirmed that some of the eschatological statements made by Ellen White concerning the events of the last days have had their fulfillment in their day, others are being fulfilled today, and there are some predictions that will be fulfilled prior to the second coming of Jesus.

7. Therefore, the historicist method used in the apocalyptic literature of the Bible is the most reliable when it comes to interpreting eschatological.