Manuscript Releases, vol. 1 [Nos. 19-96]

Papacy Included in Ruins of Crumbled Rome

The image revealed to Nebuchadnezzar, while representing the deterioration of the kingdoms of the earth in power and glory, also fitly represents the deterioration of religion and morality among the people of these kingdoms. As nations forget God, in like proportion they become weak morally. 1MR 50.1

Babylon passed away because in her prosperity she forgot God, and ascribed the glory of her prosperity to human achievement. 1MR 50.2

The Medo-Persian kingdom was visited by the wrath of heaven because in this kingdom God's law was trampled under foot. The fear of the Lord found no place in the hearts of the people. The prevailing influences in Medo-Persia were wickedness, blasphemy, and corruption. 1MR 50.3

The kingdoms that followed were even more base and corrupt. They deteriorated because they cast off their allegiance to God. As they forgot Him, they sank lower and still lower in the scale of moral value. 1MR 50.4

The vast empire of Rome crumbled to pieces, and from its ruins rose that mighty power, the Roman Catholic Church. This church boasts of her infallibility and her hereditary religion. But this religion is a horror to all who are acquainted with the secrets of the mystery of iniquity. The priests of this church maintain their ascendency by keeping the people in ignorance of God's will, as revealed in the Scriptures. The Youth's Instructor, September 22, 1903, p. 6. 1MR 50.5