Scarcely had the apostles been removed by death than the truths of the gospel began to be perverted. The essential teachings of the church, the very doctrines of the atonement, began, little by little, to change their form. This continued until they were wholly per-verted. Paul had plainly warned the elders that “of your own selves [that is, from among the leaders of the church] shall men arise, speaking perverse things.” Acts 20:30. That is, they would take the very truths of the gospel, and twist, change, warp, and pervert them, until they made them mean what they were never designed to mean. They would “change the truth of God into a lie.” They would take every truth of the gospel and so interpret these truths as to make them teach falsehood. They would then substitute that falsehood for the truth of God.GoPH 69.2

Memorial days of saints, the worship of the Virgin Mary, and nearly every other error of Roman Catholicism, were introduced, at least in rudimentary form, during the days following the death of the apostles. Among these errors and perversions was the change that was made in the observance of the Sabbath from the seventh day of the week to the first. This change had its origin in the apostasy that was taking place in the church at that time.GoPH 69.3

Christ had observed the seventh day as the Sabbath. The apostles had observed the seventh day. The early Christians in the churches established by the apostles had observed the seventh day. Now a change was being made. The law of God was being set aside. As in former times among the Jews, the whole church was turning away from the Sabbath of the Lord.GoPH 70.1

General apostasy, widespread corruption, followed. The church departed from its true Head, forsook the teachings of the Holy Scriptures, and adopted strange notions, fanciful superstitions, pagan customs, false observances, and a counterfeit Sabbath.GoPH 70.2

The church departed so far from Christ that it became the exact opposite of that which it had been when first established. In the prophecy of the seven seals the color white is used to describe the church at its beginning. During the period of apostasy, which we are now considering, it was necessary for God to use black to describe the apostate condition. The church’s beautiful robe of spotless white, the righteousness of Christ, had been laid aside, and it was endeavoring to gain a righteousness of its own, which in God’s sight was hideous, and an insult to His Son.GoPH 70.3

All the truths with which God had endowed the church had been perverted and changed into falsehoods. The very benefits that He had conferred upon the church, and that He designed the church should in turn give freely to the world for the salvation of men, were prostituted to the gain of a fallen priesthood, and sold for money. The divine Head of the church was driven out and a human head established. The divine priesthood of our Lord was ignored and a human priesthood inaugurated. The divine guidance of the Spirit was refused and a human system was substituted.GoPH 71.1

Of course God removed the gifts of the Spirit from the corrupt and apostate church, and among them the gift of prophecy.GoPH 71.2

Protestantism, in the great Reformation of the sixteenth century, rejected most of these perversions and corruptions of the apostasy.GoPH 71.3

Protestantism was a return to, and a restoration of, primitive Christianity. Catholicism had brought in foreign and heathen elements and thus corrupted and perverted the faith of the church, so that the religion established by Christ had been obscured and lost. This mixture of corrupt Christian doctrines with pagan teachings and practices had been substituted for genuine Christianity. Protestantism threw aside the encrustations of centuries, rediscovered the original truth of the gospel, abandoned the falsehoods and frauds of the fallen church, and set forth “the Bible and the Bible alone” as the sole source of truth for the church.GoPH 72.1

And God restored the gifts of the Spirit. But not all of them. There was one which is peculiarly and closely connected with obedience to God’s law. And that law was not yet obeyed by Protestantism.GoPH 72.2

Great and glorious as the Reformation was, the divine purpose for it has not yet been carried out. That purpose was a full restoration and recovery of all the truths of the gospel that had been perverted and lost under the errors of Rome, among them the observance of the Sabbath. This purpose has been delayed by the formation of creeds and the establishment of denominations upon only such parts of the recovered gospel as were revealed to individual reformers.GoPH 72.3

If the great principles upon which the Reformation had been started had been steadily maintained, all truth would by now have been restored, and the churches of Christ would not now be in the deplorable condition they are. Instead of this, however, multitudes have been content to array themselves under the banner of some inadequate creed, which, though it may contain some truth, contains but a small part of that which the Lord has to reveal to His people. From the beginning of the Reformation God has had more truth and light to reveal to men than men placed in the creeds that they formed out of the teachings of Luther, Knox, Calvin, or Wesley. God did not reveal all He had to disclose to the world to these men or their followers, for He allows light to shine only as His servants can bear it. And for men to gather into a creed the teachings of the great Reformers, and take the position that they can accept and believe only what such creeds contain, is for them to shut themselves out from all the additional light and truth that God yet has to reveal to the world, and that is not contained in these breeds.GoPH 73.1

And as the Protestant churches did not re-store the ancient Sabbath to its rightful place in their practice, so God did not restore to them the gift of prophecy.GoPH 74.1

From these considerations it is plain that when a body of people should arise that would take hold of all the truth of God, the Sabbath among all the other truths, it is reasonable to expect the Lord would restore to them the gift of prophecy. Indeed, this is exactly what is predicted in the word of God.GoPH 74.2

On the isle of Patmos John was shown the entire history of the church of Christ in advance. He saw its trials and its final victory. The church was displayed before him as a “woman clothed with the sun.” (Revelation 12:1.) He saw the attempt of earthly rulers to destroy the Lord (Verses 3-5); the flight of the church into the wilderness to escape the persecution of Rome (verses 13, 14); the 1260 years of this persecution (verse 14); the help which the kingdoms of the earth gave to the church during the Reformation (verse 16); and then he was shown the last end of the church, the remnant church, the church just before the coming of the Lord. This true church of the Lord just before the Lord’s second coming is identified by two characteristics:GoPH 74.3

“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Revelation 12:17.GoPH 75.1

The last church on earth, then, is to be a commandment-keeping church. This must include in its meaning that it will be a Sabbath keeping church. No church which keeps but nine of the ten commandments can ever rightly be called a commandment-keeping church. It must observe all ten of the commandments to be thus designated.GoPH 75.2

This prophecy surely teaches that in the last days God will have a church that will believe and practice a complete gospel. In its practice the observance of the true, Seventh-day Sabbath will be restored.GoPH 75.3

And to that church God will restore the gift of prophecy.GoPH 75.4

This is clearly the meaning of the other characteristic identifying the true church given in this passage. It will not only “keep the commandments of God”; it will also “have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Revelation 19:10 declares the “testimony of Jesus” to be “the spirit of Prophecy.”GoPH 75.5

Two things, then, will mark as genuine the church of Christ before the coining of our Lord. It will be a commandment-keeping church, a Sabbath-keeping church; and it will have restored to it the gift of prophecy. This is definitely and positively predicted in the word of God.GoPH 75.6

This view is confirmed by the language of Paul to the Corinthians. He wrote:GoPH 76.1

“I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; that in everything ye are enriched by Him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you; so that ye come behind in no gift waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 1:4-7.GoPH 76.2

From this it is clear that one of the characteristics of the church that is waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus is that it ” come behind in no gift.”GoPH 76.3

The fulfillment of this important prediction of Revelation 12:17 in our day we shall cover as these studies are continued.GoPH 76.4

Chapter Nine—Why the Prophetic Gift Was Removed

Chapter Eleven—Visions and Dreams