Amazing Facts Daily Devotional April 2nd Sunrise Killed for Their Testimony. Scripture tells us how long the two witnesses prophesy: 1,260 prophetic days (Revelation 11:3), which, we have learned, ended in AD 1798. Today’s verse tells us that the two witnesses were then killed. The heinous deed is done by “the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit.” A “beast” in Bible prophecy represents a kingdom, or, in modern language, a nation (Daniel 7:17, 23). At the turn of the century, one nation indeed declared “war” on the Bible. Beginning in 1789 and lasting a full decade, the French Revolution was characterized by its terror, licentiousness, and atheism. This was the consequence of the papacy’s iron hold. It had trampled God’s truths for 1,260 years, and now the nation of France had turned against it, with the culmination occurring in 1798, when Napoleon Bonaparte took Pope Pius VI captive, crippling the papal power. Long oppressed by the Church’s taxes and hypocrisy, the French government legislated against the Church’s role in the nation. Divorce was legalized, and clergy were made employees of the state, required to sign loyalty oaths to the regime on the threat of death. Churches were converted into “temples of reason,” where anti-Christian messages were preached. The Cult of Reason, a worship of atheism, became the state’s official religion. Remember who was responsible for loosing terrors from “the bottomless pit”—the fallen angel, the devil, he who wants to “exalt [his] throne above the stars of God” (Isaiah 14:13). This was another of Satan’s attempts to replace God with himself and God’s law with his own religion. Out of this came atheism, a seething hatred of all things God. Take a look at Voltaire, the famed French philosopher and adamant atheist; his scathing diatribes against the Bible campaigned unrelentingly for its ban, an act that eventually came into law. Indeed, the two witnesses (the Bible) were “murdered” in France. This is what occurs when the true character of God is appropriated, obscured, and assassinated: A counterfeit Christianity takes its place, and God is blamed for what the devil did. Father God, help me store Bible truth in my heart for difficult times that will soon come, that I may stand strong and ready in Your power. For Further Study: Daniel 7:25; John 19:30; 2 Timothy 4:7 KEY BIBLE TEXTS And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. Revelation 11:7