Hartland Winter Convocation 2021: The Mind Which Has Wisdom

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Hartland Institute of Health and Education

Karl Tsatalbasidis

A Wise Mind Calculates

Well, good morning everyone and happy Sabbath to each and every 1 of you.

It's a privilege for me to be here with you.

And the theme that has been chosen for this winter 2021 convocation is the mind which has wisdom.

Last night we got a little glimpse of 1 of the 2 usages of the word in Revelation chapter 17 and verse 9 and so as I looked over our speakers direction I thought I'm gonna go in a different direction.

And so the other time that that word is used is in Revelation chapter 13 and verse 18 where it says, hear his wisdom, let him who has understanding count, or in the New King James, calculate the number of the beast for it is the number of a man and his number is 666.

And so as we continue to move on today, I'm just going to kneel in prayer and I just want you to bow your heads with me as we plead with the Lord to give us the wisdom and understanding, and as he does that, that we might have strength to deliver the message that he has entrusted to us as some Diadvanus.

Heavenly Father, Lord, we just wanna thank you for the privilege that you give to us to assemble here and to worship.

And we do plead with you for that wisdom that you have promised.

We pray that your Holy Spirit will always be our instructor, our teacher, our guide, and our friend.

Thank you for giving us this promise, for promising to illuminate and guide our minds, we pray in Jesus' name.

So a special welcome not just to those that are here, but to those that are viewing via the live stream.

We pray that this would be indeed a rich blessing.

The title of my presentation this morning is a wise mind calculates.

And of course it is based on Revelation 13 and verse 18.

I wanna talk a little bit as an introduction and then I'll kind of give you an overview of where we're gonna go with this message.

So by introduction, I wanna take your minds back to the 1960s and the Second Vatican Council.

And even before that council in 1869 and 1870, the first Vatican Council declared the Pope to be infallible.

That was contested by some very influential Roman Catholics because once you take that step, how can you actually go back?

And so it was it was a highly debated council but nevertheless they declared to be the Pope to be in fact infallible.

And the Roman Catholic Church in the 19th century was kind of losing touch with the world around it, especially the modern world, and it was distancing itself from science, from Protestantism, and from modernity.

And it was locking itself up into these timeless non-historical realities, and as a result, it really had very little influence.

Some of the astute theologians of the Catholic Church in the 20th century began to perceive the problem and they needed to draft a solution.

And so when the Second Vatican Council took place, Protestants, who pointed out that Rome never changes, were puzzled.

Because the Pope had already been declared infallible, so what need is there for another council?

Well, the entire aim of the council was to achieve unity, not just with Protestantism, but with all of the religions of the world.

And so let me give you kind of an overview of the things that began to change during the Second Vatican Council.

So instead of Gregorian chant, it's the music of the world.

The only kind of music that had ever been allowed in Roman Catholic circles prior to this is Gregorian chant or high art Baroque Western music, that was it.

Instead of tradition versus scripture in the Vatican II documents, it's now the Word of God alone.

There were 16 documents that were produced at Vatican II.

1 of them is called Dei Verbum, which means the Word of God alone.

So they began to introduce much more scripture in their liturgy after Vatican II.

Instead of the anathemas that you find in the Council of Trent, now the tone of these documents is very pastoral and full of Scripture.

As a matter of fact, if I were to read some of those documents without letting you know where they came from, you would probably never guess that they came from the Roman Catholic Church, especially if your perception is that the Catholic Church is the church of the 16th century and the counter-reformation.

So now instead of heretics, it's now separated brethren, which you've got to admit that does sound a lot better.

What was Rome's attitude toward the Constitution?

Well, in 1871 in the Catholic world, they stated, we do not accept it or hold it to be any government at all.

If the American Republic is to be sustained and preserved, it must be by the rejection of the principle of the Reformation and the acceptance of the Catholic principle." That's 1871.

Now, in 1978, this was in Miami, September 10th, 1987, I should say, this was the initial speech of Pope John Paul II, his pastoral visit to the U.S.

I come to proclaim the message of human dignity with its inalienable human rights as a pilgrim in the cause of justice and peace as a friend of the poor who are seeking the deep meaning of, those of you that know the American Constitution, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

So it appears that, you know, with all these changes that are happening, not just liturgically, but in their attitude towards the Constitution, it gives the impression that the church is changing.

Furthermore, in the year 2000, the title of the New York Times article is, The Pope Asks forgiveness for errors of the church over 2, 000 years.

Concerning the treatment of the Jews, the Pope says, "'We are deeply saddened by the behavior of those "'who in the course of history have caused these children "'of yours to suffer, and asking your forgiveness, "'we commit ourselves to genuine brotherhood "'with the people of the covenant.'" That's the New York Times, March 13th, the year 2000.

Coming a little closer to Pope Francis, you might've seen this video, and it's called the Pope video.

You can probably look it up by the words, I believe in love, which is the way that I looked it up.

And I can't quite do justice to the tone in which the Pope is speaking and which all the other religious leaders are speaking, but I'll do my best.

It says in that video, most of the planets, the Pope is speaking, most of the planets' inhabitants declare themselves believers.

This should lead to dialogue among the religions.

We should not stop praying for and collaborating with those who think differently.

And now, each 1 of the world religion leaders steps into the video and the representative of Buddhism says, I have confidence in Buddha.

I believe in Jesus Christ, states a Catholic priest, and I believe in God.

Allah, states the representative of Islam.

The Pope continues in that video, many think differently, feel differently, seeking God or meeting God in different ways.

In this crowd, in this range of religions, there is only 1 certainty we have for all, we are the children of God.

There's no tone of the supremacy of the papacy, no calling attention to Peter as the head of all the churches and the papacy is reigning supreme.

These are all different paths to the same God.

It really does give the impression that the church is changing.

Furthermore, in the Catholic News Agency, January 12th, 2016, the Pope had declared regarding homosexuals, gay priests, and then homosexuals in general, who am I to judge?

On that occasion, the Pope says, I said this, if a person is gay and seeks out the Lord and is willing, who am I to judge that person?

Pope Francis told the journalist Tornielli.

I was paraphrasing by heart the catechism of the Catholic Church where it says that these people should be treated with delicacy and not be marginalized.

All of the things that I've pointed out really begs us to ask this 1 question and that is, has the church changed?

Has the church changed or has it only given the appearance of change in order to more successfully deceive that it can dominate the world and thus enforce religious observance.

Where does the answer to this question lie?

It actually lies in the text in Revelation chapter 13 and verse 18.

So turn there with me so that you can look at it.

And right away you see the call to wisdom.

Let him that hath understanding, in the King James it says count, in the New King James, calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 600, 3 score and 6, or 666.

So the answer to the question, has the church changed, really lies in the understanding of this text it lies in obeying the command to calculate the number of the beast and the number of a man.

It requires wisdom to know whether the church has changed or whether it still exercises the same power in order to persecute all who disagree with her dogmas.

Only now the stakes are much higher since the scope of persecution is no longer limited to Europe, but could possibly extend to the world.

So let me give you kind of, after this introduction, let me give you kind of like an outline of the presentation.

We will look at Uriah Smith's unique contributions.

We will look at some historical issues that pertain to Vicarious Philii Day.

We will also examine some biblical issues, and then we will answer the question, why is it important to calculate the number?

This is Uriah Smith's unique contribution.

There are several other Latin names that add up to 666.

However, Uriah Smith's unique contribution is that he discarded all of those names and focused exclusively on the title, Vicarious Philly Day.

When he added the numerical value of the letters in that title, it came to 666, and this has been standard operating procedure in the Adventist church for many years.

In our Sabbath school lesson on Sabbath June 8, 2002, as Edwin DeKoch notes here, in a senior Sabbath school class, a battering ram thudded against the walls of a Seventh-day Adventist prophetic interpretation that had been standing for 137 years.

And so, we are living now in the time where there are 2 definite contradictory interpretations of Revelation chapter 13 verse 18.

1 is that it represents Vicarious Philii Dei and the other is that it represents some form of intensified rebellion that has its basis in taking 666 and making it 3 sixes, and since man was created on the sixth day, and man rebelled, therefore, this is viewed as rebellion intensified.

And so we'll look at some of these issues and some of these challenges.

So let's go to the historical issues here for a moment.

The charge is that there is no historical support for Uriah Smith's position.

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A Wise Mind Calculates

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