Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow: The Ideological War and the Final Crisis
By: Dr. Conrad Vine
It is a privilege to share with you today. To those watching online, welcome to this Religious Liberty Sabbath. I have been blessed by the presentations so far—they light a fire under me. I am so grateful that I serve the Lord, and that Jesus is coming again. One glorious day, all these problems will be over.
I came here planning to preach one sermon… but I changed it. My wife has been praying for the last 48 hours that I wouldn’t preach the original version. She said, “I don’t want to be disfellowshipped just yet.” So, I will leave that sermon for another time.
Today, I want to talk about Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.
The War in Heaven
We start in Revelation 12:17. It speaks of war in heaven. We don’t associate heaven with war, but the Greek word polemos refers to a battle of ideas, propaganda, and ideology. The war in heaven was an ideological conflict over the character of God.
As Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote: “To do evil, a human being must first believe that what he’s doing is good.” Ideology justifies evil in the eyes of the evildoer. It silences the conscience.
We have seen this pattern in three phases: Yesterday (Soviet Union), Today (the Pandemic), and Tomorrow (the Final Crisis).
Yesterday: The Soviet Famine (1932-1933)
Seventy years ago, in Ukraine and Kazakhstan, roughly 15 million people perished in a man-made famine. It was perhaps the single largest crime in human history.
How did it happen? Lenin and Stalin viewed the peasantry—the Kulaks—with ideological contempt. The definition of a “Kulak” became fluid. If you were a devout orthodox, if you owned a cow, or if you simply had a good harvest, you were reclassified as an enemy of the state.
Stalin’s policy moved from “limiting” the Kulaks to liquidating them as a class. Children as young as 12 were executed because Marxist ideology claimed “class consciousness” began at that age. A Soviet novel at the time summarized it: “Not one of them was guilty of anything, but they belonged to a class that was guilty of everything.”
Group identity politics determined your moral value. The West knew. Journalists like Walter Duranty of the NY Times lied and won a Pulitzer for denying the famine. Fake news is nothing new.
-
Dominant Ideology: Marxism (Class warfare).
-
Demonized Group: The Kulaks.
-
Outcome: 15 million dead.
Today: The Technocratic Pandemic
Could modern society turn on a minority overnight? Yes. We just lived it.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we moved from a government of the people to a government by the technocrats and for the corporations. The dominant ideology was Secular Science—science that denies the possibility of God and revealed morality.
The goal was not your health; the goal was global control of access, travel, employment, and economic participation. In America, hospitals received payments for COVID diagnoses, for ventilators, for Remdesivir, and for death. They received nothing if the patient went home alive.
The social divide was vaccination status. The demonized group were the unvaccinated—suddenly labeled as “GMOs” (genetically modified humans) by society. The persecutors were everyone: government, social media, employers, and medical professionals.
The outcome was Cancel Culture: the intentional destruction of social, professional, and financial well-being.
Societies turn overnight. Nobody knew what an “unvaccinated person” was in 2019, yet by 2020, they were the enemy.
Tomorrow: The Final Crisis (Revelation 12, 13, 14)
What is coming? The Bible describes a final ideological war. The prize is not the next election; the prize is eternal life.
In Revelation 13, two beasts arise:
-
The Sea Beast (The Papacy): Rising out of populated Europe. Historically, Protestants and even Catholics recognized this power. It bears blasphemous names (“Holy Father,” “Vicar of Christ”). It claims to be the mediator between God and man. The whole world follows after this beast.
-
The Earth Beast (The United States): Rising out of a relatively unpopulated land. It has two horns like a lamb (innocence and democracy) but speaks like a dragon. It exercises the authority of the first beast. It makes fire come down from heaven (miracles/deception).
The final crisis will involve a union between American economic/military power and Papal spiritual authority to enforce false worship. As we see today, from the left (Sunday lockdowns for family/worker safety) to the right (Sunday laws to restore morality), the pressure is building.
In 1961 (McGowan v. Massachusetts), the US Supreme Court ruled that Sunday laws are constitutional if there is a “secular justification.” We are seeing America dedicated to religious causes in unprecedented ways.
The Central Issue: Worship & The Sabbath
The final test comes down to the Seal of God vs. the Mark of the Beast.
-
The Seal of God is the Holy Spirit transforming our character (Ephesians 1:13). But the external sign of that internal sanctification is the Sabbath (Exodus 31:13, Ezekiel 20:12). Just as a Liverpool fan wears a jersey to show what is inside their heart, we keep the Sabbath as a sign of loyalty to the Creator.
-
The Mark of the Beast is the opposite: allegiance to human authority and false worship.
Satan will counterfeit the coming of Christ (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10). He will appear as a great physician, but he will bring disaster. He will persuade the world that those who keep God’s commandments are causing the calamities, and that Sunday observance must be strictly enforced.
Even secular voices are waking up. Charlie Kirk (before his death) wrote: “It makes sense that in an apocalyptic age defined by spiritual deception, the Sabbath would reemerge as a sign of fidelity to God.”
Conclusion: Where Do You Stand?
-
Yesterday (USSR): Truth was suppressed. Millions died.
-
Today (Pandemic): Truth was denied. Millions perished.
-
Tomorrow (Final Crisis): Truth will be at stake again.
There is no neutral option.
-
Either we follow the restored papacy, or we follow the Lamb.
-
Either we accept the mark of the beast (demonic character), or we receive the seal of God (Christ-like character).
-
Either we seek comfort in the lying narratives of today, or we stand for eternal glory.
Plant the Word of God in your heart. It is the only 100% true thing in a fallen world. People died to put this book in your language. Do not let it gather dust.
When you read it, you will see a Savior who came not to condemn, but to save. The older I get, the more precious eternity becomes. Base your life on the Word. Let God steer you through the crisis.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we cannot change what is coming, but we choose today where we will stand. We choose You. We choose Jesus. When He comes in the clouds of glory, please be looking for us. Amen