The Secret Number – 666
By Elder Lawrence Nelson
“We are living, we are dwelling,
In a grand and awful time – To be living is sublime.
And the prince of evil spirits,
Great deceiver of the world!
Cometh with unwonted power,
Knowing that his reign will cease
When the kingdom shall be given
To the mighty Prince of Peace.
He, alone, who thus is faithful,
Who abideth to the end,
Hath the promise, in the kingdom
An eternity to spend.”
So writes Arthur C. Coxe in his beloved hymn.
This war that began in heaven is soon to end in this old world. We are told in Revelation 12:7 – 9, “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”
In your visual aids which came with this sermon please notice #1, the dragon, which we have just talked about. Praise God that we are not left in doubt as to the outcome for God has revealed exactly how this war will end. I am reading from Revelation 19:11 – 16, 19, 20: “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.” Now listen carefully: “The beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.”
As we come to this final showdown we must never forget there is a people that the devil is determined to destroy, for in Revelation 12:17 it tells us, “The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant.” I wish that you would place the woman at the end of your beast chart (figure #8). Any lady listening to this tape knows what a remnant is – it’s the last part of a bolt of cloth. Thus Satan is making war with the remnant of her seed. Who are they? – Those “which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Thank God we can be saved by the sword of the Lord which is the Word of God.
Before we continue let us pause here to pray for heavenly guidance. Heavenly Father, As we compare Thy truth with the false doctrines of Satan, may Thy Holy Spirit clearly reveal the difference between truth and error so that there will be no doubt concerning Thy truth. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Now, in the visual aids before you, we found in our study of the Old Testament times that the dragon power of old Babylon continually fought against the God of Israel through its following governments: Medo-Persia, Greece and pagan Rome with its traditions of false teachings of pagan worship. Finally Satan was able to penetrate God’s Israel causing His very Church to become like Babylon and crucify Jesus, the Messiah.
Since the cross Satan has again infiltrated God’s Christian Church with his pagan teachings of traditions, so that today the majority of professed Christians no longer believe the Bible truths, but reject their Lord by accepting the false traditions of Babylon. This is why God has given to the world this end-time final warning message contained in the Three Angels’ Messages in which He clearly states that in both the Old Testament and in the New Testament era His professed followers are thus proclaimed to have fallen twice.
I’m reading Revelation 14:8, “And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” God is saying in this verse that Babylon has fallen. In the day when Christ was upon the earth, and since many of the churches of our day no longer follow the Word of God, they too have become fallen Babylon.
The question before us is this: Where do we stand in this final battle? Shall we accept the Word of God as found in the scripture and obey its teachings, or shall we follow the majority which have accepted the traditions of Satan? Modern religion is a mixture of both scripture and traditions of paganism and God will have none of it. The Bible truth is the original and tradition is that of satanic origin and is nothing more than a counterfeit. Therefore it is very important that we understand the difference between the genuine and the counterfeit.
When I was a boy about eight years of age I went to a little church in Los Angeles where my father was the church treasurer. Every Sabbath evening when the sun went down he would gather the collection together and write the receipts. I was delighted when he gave me a little job. I was given all the nickels, the dimes, quarters and fifty-cent pieces, along with the silver dollars to count them and get them ready for wrapping. I would count forty nickels and put them in a pile and then I would count out fifty dimes and so on. Of course my Dad would check everything over. One of the things that really intrigued me was the fact that we would often find some counterfeit coins.
Back in those days loose change was worth a lot. Today evil men don’t waste their time in making counterfeit coins; they try to make $20 and $100 counterfeit bills. When I was a boy a dime was worth a dime. I remember getting three cans of Campbell soup for a dime, and believe it or not the cans were one-third larger than they are now. How times have changed! If a man could make a counterfeit fifty-cent piece he could feed his family for a whole day. I was always watching to see if I could find any counterfeit coins that were mixed with the genuine coins. When I did I would put them in a little cloth bag together with the loose change that my father took to the bank on Monday. Then we would watch as the bank teller dumped the sack of loose change on the counter to see what would happen. When the coins hit the marble slab the teller’s eyes would light up and she would say, “I hear the sound of a counterfeit.” Believe me, she would find them every time. Why? – Because she knew the sound of the original coin.
In this tape we want to see if we can tell the difference between the counterfeit and the genuine; the difference between truth and error. We are going to clarify God’s warning message. Since God loves all the people He would like to have every soul in His kingdom. This is why He has given the warning message that we may be ready to meet Him. Like the days before the flood God said He would destroy the world because the people no longer obeyed His Word. Back then, if you wanted to be saved you had to get into the ark. Today’s message is not another warning of a worldwide flood that is about to happen, but rather it is a warning message of the eternal destruction of all who worship the beast and obey its traditions. The issue before us is of tremendous consequence.
Let me read once more Revelation 14:8 – 10. “And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God.” Let us make sure as we go over some of the following teachings to see if they are God’s genuine beliefs or that of a counterfeit.
First let’s talk about the trinity. In the scriptures, in Matthew 28:19 it says, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” The Bible is very clear that the Godhead is made up of three separate Beings. Now let us look at the false. The Bible tells of a counterfeit trinity in the book of Revelation 16:13, “And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.” You can see that the devil has his counterfeit trinity. Keep this in mind as we proceed.
Now let’s take another. What’s the difference between the devil’s government and God’s government? The government of God is based on love and this appeals to us. He tells us, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” John 14:15. God never forces anyone to obey Him; He would rather have His people honor Him because they love Him. Now tell me, you who are fathers, would you find any joy if you had to take a whip in your hand and force your little son to come to you and tell you that he loves you? Why of course not! When you come home from work you are filled with pride to see your little fellow run across the room with his outstretched arms and give you a big hug as he whispers in your ear, “Daddy, I love you.”
God’s kingdom is based on love, but the dragon’s power has always been based on force. If you don’t do as he says he will kill you. Let me read it to you in Revelation 13:15, “And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” This power we are talking about in this tape has to do with the beast whose deadly wound is healed. God has pictured this counterfeit power as a woman riding the beast. Notice how God describes her with all her ornaments of gold and silver and adorned in purple. Look on your beast chart at #8. She is a harlot, an evil woman. This is God’s symbol of a counterfeit church. God is telling us this power uses force. It will force you to do what it demands and this is not God’s way with individuals.
Let’s look at another teaching. What about God’s existence? The Bible teaches that God always was. He was the Creator of everything that our eyes behold. He tells us in Isaiah 44:6, “I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.” But the Bible also reveals that there is a counterfeit god in this world. Let me read this to you in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come (he’s speaking of the Second Coming of Christ), except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself about all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” There is a man in Rome today who says, “I am God,” but beloved, he never created anything.
I can hear someone say, “Surely this man, the pope, doesn’t claim to be a god.” But just listen to this: I am quoting from the Church, “All names which in the scripture are applied to Christ, by virtue of which it is established that He is over the church, all the same names are applied to the pope.” That’s taken from a Roman Catholic book The Authority of the Councils, book #2, chapter 17, volume 2, p. 266, edition 1619. I believe you are beginning to see and hear the true ring between truth and error.
Let us consider another false teaching. We find that each side in this war has a mediator, whether it is on the dragon’s side or the true woman’s side. In the Word of God in 1 Timothy 2:5 it says, “There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” In our last tape (#5 of this series) we talked about Christ as our mediator. My heart was thrilled as I brought to you a spiritual presentation of what Jesus is doing for us in heaven before the Father at the mercy seat where He sprinkles His own precious blood. He says to the Father, “I died for this sinner. He has asked Me for forgiveness and I want this person to be with Me in heaven.” How wonderful it is that we have a mediator before God who is able to save us to the uttermost seeing that He ever liveth to make intercession for us. (See Hebrews 7:25). Christ is our mediator before the Father.
But there is another power in this world that claims that the pope is the mediator. Let me read it to you from a Catholic source: “Therefore an appeal is always taken from an inferior judge to a superior judge. As no one is greater than himself so no special holes (sic) when made from the pope to God; because there is one consistory of the pope himself who is the key bearer. Therefore, no one can appeal from the pope to God, no one can enter into the consistory of God without the mediation of the pope.” You will find this Catholic writing in the British Museum in London entitled, “An Appeal From a Decision of the Pope,” by Augustinus de Ancona a Roman Catholic. Let me ask you, Did the pope ever die for you? Is the pope in heaven today standing at the mercy seat pleading his blood for you? Oh friend, you can just hear the ring that this is a counterfeit. We know from God’s Word that Jesus is our mediator.
The devil has spread so much of his tradition in our world today that many find it difficult to understand the scripture. But God has provided His Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, to guide us into all truth. Sometimes when I find a passage of scripture difficult to understand I just kneel down in my study and ask for the Holy Spirit to help me with spiritual eyesight. This is why we should pray every time we study the good Book. Remember the Word of God’s promise, “When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth.” John 16:13.
But the counterfeit system does not teach this. Listen as I read from the book called Define the Church – a Roman Catholic book (p. 33) which says, “The Catholic Church recognizes that it cannot obtain a safeguard doctrine in any other way than by a living authority. This authority has always been recognized to exist in one man. Who is this man? – In the first place it was Saint Peter and since the death of Saint Peter it has been the successors, the popes, the Bishops’ of Rome.”
When you really want to find something you go to the author. No one knows more about the Bible than the author. God has revealed who the author of His Word is. Turn with me to 2 Peter 1:21. “Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” But the pope says, “Listen to me. I am the only one who knows how to explain the scripture.” Surely you are beginning to hear the ring of a counterfeit.
Let’s look at another doctrine. What is the foundation of God’s true church? We find in 2 Timothy 3:16 these words, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” Oh how we thank God for the Bible! What could we do without it? No wonder in the Dark Ages people died for this Book. They could be burned at the stake for possessing a few pages of scripture. Why? – Because they read in John 5:39, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” But what about the dragon’s power of tradition? Remember what Christ said, “Why do ye also transgress the commandments of God by your tradition?” Matthew 15:3. I can just hear the ring of the counterfeit.
Let’s take a closer look at tradition. God says that we are to find His doctrines in the Bible, but some want tradition to take the place of the scriptures. In the Catholic book entitled Find the Church p. 32 we read these words, “The New Testament could not have been established by Christ by which men were to become acquainted with His doctrine.” What’s that! Let me continue with the quotation: “All things being so there is one thing evident the only means by which Christ chose to have His doctrine handed down was not a writing. It is not the scriptures.” Can you sense the difference? Can you hear the ring of a counterfeit? Then I read in the book The Catholic Doctrines p. 606, “Traditions, not the scripture, is the rock on which the church of Jesus Christ is built.” There is no question about it, the Church of Rome is built upon traditions and not the Bible. Can you hear the ring of the counterfeit?
Let’s look at another doctrine – the sacrifice for sin. In our last sermon we found in scripture that Jesus died on the cross as the Lamb of God. In Hebrews 9:28 we read, “Christ was once offered.” Notice the word once. Let me read it again, “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” But the dragon, by means of his tradition, has attempted to change this scripture. Consider the mass. Let me read this from The Manual of Christian Doctrine a Roman Catholic publication, p. 417, by John Joseph McBay. “What is the sacrifice that continues on earth? The sacrifice of the cross.” Did you hear that? The Bible says that Jesus died once, but here we find that the mass continues to sacrifice. I continue to quote, “What is the sacrifice of the mass? It is the sacrifice of Christ’s body and blood in order to represent and continue the sacrifice of the cross.” Oh my friend, you can just hear the difference of the ring between the genuine and the counterfeit.
Let’s look at some other doctrines quickly. What about baptism – is it sprinkling or immersion? The Bible talks about a man being baptized as being buried with Christ. Romans 6:4 reads, “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” The baptismal candidate with the help of Christ dies to his past sins, is buried by his pastor into the watery grave, then brought up out of the water into the newness of life. This is the teaching of Biblical baptism. But this false baptism which takes a little water and sprinkles the candidate is a counterfeit.
You will remember when the eunuch of Ethiopia asked Philip if he could be baptized in Acts 8:37 he said, “If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.” Now consider this: When a little baby is brought to the priest to be baptized by sprinkling he does not yet have the ability to believe for he knows nothing about Jesus. He doesn’t know that he is innocent of known sin and was born into a sinful world, so how can an infant understand that Jesus came from heaven and was crucified for the sins of the world. What does the scriptures say? – “If thou believest with all thy heart.” I’m sure that you will agree with me that you can sense the difference between the genuine and the counterfeit. Where did sprinkling for baptism come from? – Not from the Word of God. It comes from the traditions of Babylon. This is why God calls you and me to come out of Babylon and come into God’s true church.
Here is another doctrine. God says, “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.” “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Malachi 3:8, 10. When we realize that Christ has forgiven us of our sins and that we now belong to Him He pours out His blessings by giving us the strength of life to get the things we need. Because of our genuine love for Him we will gladly give Him of our tithes and offerings because we love Him so much.
But this counterfeit system says all you need to do in order to be forgiven is to buy an indulgence. Anyone in their right mind, with a knowledge of scriptures, knows that this is not right; it is a counterfeit. We don’t buy our way into heaven. We have a Saviour that when we come to Him and repent of our sins He will freely forgive us. Salvation is a gift. This false system teaches in many countries, like Mexico where I have been, that when you come to a priest and say, “I have sinned, please forgive me,” that you must do penance. You may have to make a large wooden cross and carry it to the top of a certain hill where you must dig a hole and plant the cross in an upright position. When you have done so the priest will then say, “I will forgive you.”
Furthermore, in this false system you can buy your loved ones to heaven with money. For example, here is a wealthy family and the husband has just died leaving his wife to grieve. The priest comes in and plays upon her emotions saying something like this, “Your husband earned a lot of money in a way he shouldn’t have for he wasn’t an honest man. He is going to burn in purgatory for a long time. But if you will give the church $10,000 I will pray him out today.” Is this the kind of a God we have? My friend, you can just sense the difference.
Now let’s talk about how God is going to punish the wicked. God tells of a day when hell will burn. We read in 2 Peter 3:7, “The heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” So hell is not burning today because the judgment has not been completed. God never condemns a man unless He examines him. He is a loving judge, a caring judge; He wants to save us. He doesn’t want us to be burned in hell. This is why the Lord has done everything possible to save us. But if a man or woman or youth reject the mercy of God they will finally be destroyed in hell. This false system teaches that as soon as you die you will go to purgatory, which is burning now.
I have been in Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome. I was amazed as I looked at that tremendous picture of purgatory. There are pictured infants whose parents had failed to have them baptized before they died and they are now burning in hell for thousands of years and forevermore. Is this the kind of God we have? – Oh no! God is not like that. God is a God of love. Purgatory is not burning today. Let us have no fear. Such teachings are a counterfeit.
Now consider with me the teachings regarding sin. The Bible states in Ezekiel 18:4, “The soul that sinneth it shall die.” When you turn to the dragon, that old serpent called the devil and Satan as stated in Genesis 3:4 Satan states, “Ye shall not surely die.” Again you can hear the ring of a counterfeit.
What about the Ten Commandments? When we read the Bible we find that they are eternal and changeless, but most preachers in today’s world are following the traditions of Babylon and preach that the Commandments have been done away with. But what does God say? – “The works of his hand are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.” Psalm 111:7, 8. Why would anyone want to change what God has said? And yet God has told us that the dragon would actually attempt to do this for we read in His Word, he would “think to change times and laws.” Daniel 7:25.
We could go on and on about these counterfeits, but what we want to know is where did they come from. The Bible teaches that they all came from the dragon. When Satan developed his first great empire called Babylon that eventually crumbled, all of its pagan traditions were transferred to Medo-Persia and then passed on to Greece, and from Greece it was given to pagan Rome and pagan Rome passed them all on to papal Rome. (Check your beast chart which clearly reveals it).
One of these days this great beast power, whose deadly wound was healed, will eventually control the New World Order and affect your life. The Bible says clearly, “Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?” Revelation 13:4. Once more may I read to you from the Church of Rome where they got their traditions? I have never found anything written so clearly as that found in Cardinal Newman’s book concerning the origin of the doctrines of this great organization. Let me read it to you from his book entitled The Development of Christian Doctrine. “Confiding then in the power of Christianity to resist the infection of evil and to transmute the very instruments and appendages of demon worship to an evangelical use.” What is he saying? – We’ve got all these doctrines from devil worship. Isn’t that amazing! Then he names them: “The use of temples and those dedicated to particular saints and ornamented on occasion with branches of trees, incense, lamps, candles, votive offerings to recover from illness, holy water, asylums, holy days and seasons, the use of calendars, processions, blessings on the fields, sacerdotal vestments, the tonsure, the ring of marriage, turning to the east, images at later date, all are of pagan origin and sanctified by their adoption into the church.” p. 371 – 373. This quotation of a cardinal reveals where Easter worship came from and the forty days of Lent, together with Halloween, the celebration of the dead coming up out of their graves honoring their father of lies when Satan said, “Ye shall not surely die.”
Now it is time in this sermon to discover the meaning of the mystery number 666. In Revelation 13:18 we read, “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.” There are those today who claim that this could be a Social Security number, however the Bible plainly states that it is the number of a man that is connected with the beast of Revelation 13. (Look at your beast chart #8).
Please permit me to use an illustration to explain this number. Many of you have gone to another town in search of somebody but you did not know where they lived. Where do you start? You visit a corner grocery store and ask someone if they know where this person lives. They tell you, “Of course, just continue on down this road for two miles and you will come to a railroad crossing. Go another two miles and you will find a road that turns off to the right. Take this road and continue two more miles and you will come to a bridge. After you have crossed the bridge take the first road to the left and you will see a house with red shutters. It is a two-story house with a great veranda across the front. You will notice a mailbox up in front with the number 666 on it.”
You get in your car, follow down the road two miles, cross a railroad track and go another two miles and come to a road that turns to the right, then turn and go another two miles and cross a bridge and you’ll find a road going to the left. Immediately you see the two-story house with the red shutters and a porch all the way across the front. Out in front is the mailbox with the number 666. There isn’t any doubt in your mind that you have found the right place.
God wants us to be absolutely positive as He adds these unquestionable facts. Listen carefully. When the pope is crowned, the tiara is placed on his head representing that he is the god of heaven, the god of this earth, and the god of hell. On the crown there used to be the words “Vicarius Filii Dei” which means “the vicar of the Son of God.” But you won’t find these words there today and in a moment I will tell you why. Since Latin is the official language of the Roman Catholic Church (look at your visual aids which has these words written) you will notice that these words have different values. I’m going to discuss the values found in the different words. For your interest, I have before me a Duoy Catholic Bible. In a note explaining Revelation 13:18 it states, “Numeral letters of his name shall make up his number.” Nothing could be stated more clearly for even the Church of Rome knows what this means.
You will now discover that each letter of “Vicarius Filii Dei” stands for in the Latin language.
V = 5
I = 1
C = 100
A = 0
R = 0
I = 1
U = 5
S = 0
112
F = 0
I = 1
L = 50
I = 1
I = 1
53
D = 500
E = 0
I = 1
501
666
Add these up and you have six hundred and sixty-six. Could God have done anything more to reveal this truth? The Bible tells us, “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.”
Let me tell you something that you won’t find in any book or library. I once worked in the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and I know whereof I speak. Many years ago the General Conference leadership wanted to publish a book about these things that we have been studying. They instructed an artist to draw the artwork throughout the book to illustrate the message. When he came to the “666” the artist sought for a picture of the pope wearing the crown with the words “Vicarius Filii Dei.” He could not find one so he did the next best thing and took a photograph of the pope wearing the crown and then with his pen placed the words “Vicarius Filii Dei” on the crown.
When this book was published it wasn’t long before one day the best lawyers in the world knocked at the door of the General Conference. They said, “You have done something illegal and we are going to sue you.” When the General Conference realized what had happened they knew that they were in big trouble. When I studied for the ministry at what is now called La Sierra University Elder Sorenson, one of my professors of religion, told me what happened. He said that our church sent men to Europe to find evidence that these words were once on the pope’s crown. Since this was before the war all the libraries and archives of Europe were still in existence. They spent many days searching and finally found a number of men and women that had actually seen these words on the pope’s crown. They were able to get their sworn statements documented by law that could be used in any court in the world. With this information the General Conference sent word to Rome that they were ready to go to court. Nothing more happened.
But, listen to this. On November 15, 1915 Rome published the following in Our Sunday Visitor, the official Catholic paper for North America. “Is it true that the words of the Apocalypse Revelation in the thirteenth chapter, eighteenth verse, refers to the pope?” And then it answers, “The words referred to are these: ‘This is wisdom. He that hath understanding let him count the number of the beast for it is the number of a man and the number of him is six hundred sixty-six.’ The title of the Pope of Rome is ‘Vicarius Filii Dei.’ This is inscribed on his miter and if you take the letters of his title, which represent Latin numerals (printed large) and add them together they come to 666.” So the Church admits these words are on the pope’s original tiara. What you have been hearing in these tapes is all based on the Word of God and it never fails.
Let us pray. Thank you God, for giving us the absolute truth so that we can make a right decision to have nothing to do with the mark of the beast. Help us to obey Thy Word, in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.