Two Horns or Little Horn?

May 1, 2025, saw the establishment of the Religious Liberty Commission, by executive order, for the purpose of investigating and recommending policies to restore and safeguard religious liberty for all Americans.[1] Set to expire on the fourth of July this year (2026), during the commission’s final hearing on April 13, 2026, the commission’s chair stated the following: “It is time to set the record straight: There is no such thing as ‘separation of church and state’ in the Constitution. For too long the anti-God left has used this phrase to suppress people of religion in our country.”[2]

J. N. Andrews published a paper in 1851 that identified the United States of America as the lamblike earth beast of Bible prophecy. Revelation 13:11 says: “Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.” Andrews noted that this power, which rises in an unpopulated area of the world, pictures perfectly the rise of the United States. And he observed that the beast’s two horns perfectly symbolized republicanism and Protestantism, qualities unique to the founding and fabric of this nation. “Those who first found an asylum on the shores of America rejoiced that they had reached a country free from the arrogant claims of popery and the tyranny of kingly rule. They determined to establish a government upon the broad foundation of civil and religious liberty.”[3]

An image to the beast is coming into view.

The Religious Liberty Commission’s recent conclusions signal, however, a significant shift in perceived national identity that is prophetically important. The two horns—Protestantism and republicanism—assured a separation of church and state. It was in fact, Protestant thinking that helped bring the idea of a republican form of government to the discussion: English dissenters had pushed back on the idea of a monarch-headed church. This new thinking is more in line with the little horn than the original two-horned beast.

Ellen White once wrote, “Let the principle once be established in the United States that the church may employ or control the power of the state; that religious observances may be enforced by secular laws; in short, that the authority of church and state is to dominate the conscience, and the triumph of Rome in this country is assured.”[4] An image to the beast is coming into view. We are living in incredible times, and today Jesus is calling us to watch and pray. We are right on track. The signs of the times are everywhere. Jesus said, “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matt. 24:14). May the signs propel us to do all we can to be a part of the fulfillment of this ultimate sign in taking the gospel of Jesus to the world.

[1] https://time.com/7284721/trump-religious-liberty-commission-goals-members-expert-concerns/

[2] https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/religious-liberty-commission-holds-final-hearing-past-present-and-future-religious-liberty

[3] Ellen G. White, “The Seal of God—No. 1,” Signs of the Times, Nov. 1, 1899.

[4] Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1911), p. 581.