crisis

The Approaching Time of Crisis

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A great crisis awaits the people of God. Very soon our nation will attempt to enforce upon all, the observance of the first day of the week as a sacred day. In doing this, they will not scruple to compel men against the voice of their own conscience to observe the day the nation declares to be the Sabbath. In view of this, there must be, among God’s commandment-keeping people, more spirituality and a deeper consecration to God, and a zeal in His work that has never yet been reached, to hold aloft the banner of God’s truth. The law of God, the only standard of righteousness, must be prized in proportion as the professed Christian world manifest contempt for it.

The law of God should be loved and prized by God’s true people now, more than ever before. There is the most urgent necessity of enforcing the words of Christ upon the mind and heart of every believer, both men and women, youth and children: “Search the Scriptures.” Examine your Bibles as you have never done before. Unless you arise to a higher, holier attitude in your religious life, you will not be ready for the appearing of our Lord. There are many who are not purifying their souls by obeying the truth. As great light has been given them, God expects proportionate zeal, devotion, and faithfulness upon the part of His people. But there will be proportionate darkness, unbelief, and blindness as the truth is not appreciated and acted upon.

The Lord will not remove from His people every occasion to doubt; but He will give sufficient light and evidence to encourage faith and confidence; and if they walk as Christ, the light of the world,leads the way, they will not step aside into the paths of doubt and unbelief. When declension and danger threaten the church, there will be more praying, more fasting, by the faithful few, and the Lord will answer the prayers offered to Him in sincerity, and at the same time He will come forth as an avenger because of the guiltiness of the evil-workers. He will be a protector; for He will “avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them.”

It will appear as though Satan is triumphant, and that truth is overborne with falsehood and error; because the people over whom God has spread His shield, and the country which has been an asylum to the conscience-oppressed lovers of God and the defenders of His truth, are placed in desperate jeopardy through its oppressive legislation. Should our nation abjure the principles of Protestantism, to give countenance and sanction to the Sunday law, they will in this act join hands with popery; for it will be nothing else than giving life to the tyranny which has been eagerly waiting and watching its opportunity to spring into active despotism. And now, as this evil is on the point of realization, it is the business of all believers in the Bible to arouse.

For years many have sat in calm expectation of this event, and they will not be working out the purposes of God if they comfort themselves with the thought that what is to come will come, and anything that they may do will not prevent it. They should not settle down in an easy, comfortable indolence, thinking that God will shelter His own people in the day of this calamity. This is the time for action, not for indolence and spiritual stupor. Satan is preparing his forces with a power from beneath, and all heaven is in busy activity, ready to work in the interests of those who are awake to the condition of things, and, like faithful sentinels, are doing all they can to arouse the people to avert, if possible, the threatened evil.

If our people continue in the listless attitude in which they have been, God cannot pour upon them His Spirit. They are unprepared to co-operate with Him. They do not realize the threatened danger, and are not awake to the situation. They should feel now as never before their need of vigilance and well-concerted action.

The following quotation from Testimony, No. 32, pages 208–210, which was published in 1885, shows that our people have not been left without warnings as to the duties and dangers of the times: “God has revealed what is to take place in the last days, that His people may be prepared to stand against the tempest of opposition and wrath. Those who have been warned of the events before them are not to sit in calm expectation of the coming storm, comforting themselves that the Lord will shelter His faithful ones in the day of trouble. We are to be as men waiting for their Lord, not in idle expectancy, but in earnest work, with unwavering faith. It is no time now to allow our minds to be engrossed with things of minor importance. While men are sleeping. Satan is actively arranging matters so that the Lord’s people may not have mercy or justice. The Sunday movement is now making its way in darkness. The leaders are concealing the true issue, and many who unite in the movement do not themselves see whither the under-current is tending. Its professions are mild, and apparently Christian; but when it shall speak, it will reveal the spirit of the dragon. It is our duty to do all in our power to avert the threatened danger. We should endeavor to disarm prejudice by placing ourselves in a proper light before the people. We should bring before them the real question at issue, thus interposing the most effectual protest against measures to restrict liberty of conscience. We should search the Scriptures, and be able to give the reason for our faith. Says the prophet, “The wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.”

Those who have access to God through Christ have important work before them. Now is the time to lay hold of the arm of our strength. The prayer of David should be the prayer of pastors and laymen: “It is time for Thee, Lord, to work; for they have made void Thy law.” Let the servants of the Lord weep between the porch and the altar, crying, “Spare Thy people, O Lord, and give not Thine heritage to reproach.” God has always wrought for His people in their greatest extremity, when there seemed the least hope that ruin could be averted. The designs of wicked men, the enemies of the church, are subject to His power and overruling providence. He can move upon the hearts of statesmen; the wrath of the turbulent and disaffected, the haters of God, of His truth and His people, can be turned aside, even as the rivers of water are turned, if He orders it thus. Prayer moves the arm of Omnipotence. He who marshals the stars in order in the heavens, whose word controls the waves of the great deep,—the same infinite Creator will work in behalf of His people if they call upon Him in faith. He will restrain the forces of darkness, until the warning is given to the world, and all who will heed it are prepared for the conflict. “The wrath of man shall praise Thee,” says the psalmist; “the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain.” God means that testing truth shall be brought to the front, and become a subject of examination and discussion even if it is through the contempt placed upon it. The minds of the people must be agitated. Every controversy, every reproach, every slander, will be God’s means of provoking inquiry, and awakening minds that otherwise would slumber.

Thus it has been in the past history of God’s people. For refusing to worship the great golden image which Nebuchadnezzar had set up, the three Hebrews were cast into the fiery furnace. But God preserved His servants in the midst of the flames, and the attempt to enforce idolatry resulted in bringing the knowledge of the true God before the assembled princes and great men of the vast kingdom of Babylon. So it was when the decree went forth forbidding prayer to any god save the king. As Daniel, according to his custom, made his supplications three times a day to the God of heaven, the attention of the princes and rulers was called to his case. He had an opportunity to speak for himself, to show who is the true God, and to present the reason why he alone should receive worship, and the duty of rendering Him praise and homage. And the deliverance of Daniel from the den of lions was another evidence that the Being whom he worshiped was the true and living God.

So the imprisonment of Paul brought the gospel before kings, princes, and rulers, who otherwise would not have had this light. The efforts made to retard the progress of truth will serve to extend it. The excellence of truth is more clearly seen from every successive point from which it may be viewed. Error requires disguise and concealment. It clothes itself in angel robes, and every manifestation of its real character lessens its chance of success. The people whom God has made the depositaries of His law are not to permit their light to be hidden. The truth must be proclaimed in the dark places of the earth. Obstacles must be met and surmounted. A great work is to be done, and this work has been entrusted to those who know the truth. They should make mighty intercession with God for help now. The love of Christ must be diffused in their own hearts. The Spirit of Christ must be poured out upon them, and they must be making ready to stand in the judgment. While they are consecrating themselves to God, a convincing power will attend their efforts to present the truth to others, and its light will find access to many hearts. We must sleep no longer on Satan’s enchanted ground, but call into requisition all our resources, and avail ourselves of every facility with which Providence has furnished us. The last warning is to be proclaimed “before many people, and nations, and tongues, and kings;” and the promise is given, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”

Through fraud and falsehood Satan is now using those who claim to be Christians to divorce the world from God’s mercy. They are working in blindness. They do not see that if a Protestant government sacrifices the principles that have made them a free, independent nation, and through legislation brings into the Constitution, principles that will propagate papal falsehood and papal delusion, they are plunging into the Roman horrors of the Dark Ages. But this need not be, just at this point of time, if the church is aroused to her duty and her work. A vast responsibility is devolving upon men and women of prayer throughout the land, to petition that God may sweep back this cloud of evil, and give a few more years of grace to work for the Master.

The peculiar work of the third angel has not been seen in its importance. God meant that His people should be far in advance of what they are today. But now, when the time has come for them to spring into action, they have the getting ready to do. When Satan made his advances, it was high time for the watchmen on the walls of Zion to arouse and counteract his efforts to obtain the advantage. It is not in the order of God that light has been kept from our people —the very present truth which they needed for this time. Not all of our ministers who are giving the Third Angel’s Message, really understand what constitutes that message. The National Reform movement has been regarded by some as of so little importance that they have not thought it necessary to give much attention to it, and have even felt that in so doing, they would be giving time to questions distinct from the Third Angel’s Message. May the Lord forgive our brethren for thus interpreting the very message for this time. The Third Angel’s Message comprehends more than many suppose. What interpretation do they give to the passage which says an angel descended from heaven, and the earth was lightened with his glory? This is not a time when we can be excused for inactivity. If this work, which was so essential, had been taken up by our ministers, there would be today a far different state of things in all our churches.

Some in the church will prove to be false brethren; their faith, their love, their patience, their constancy will be tested and tried; and if they are not rooted and grounded in the truth, if they are not filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and the praise of God, they will become offended at reproofs and warnings, will not humble their souls before God, and will go back and walk no more with those who love the truth. The people need to be aroused in regard to the dangers of the present time. The watchmen are asleep. We are years behind. Let the chief watchmen feel the urgent necessity of taking heed to themselves, lest they lose the opportunities given to them to see the dangers. Let them blow the trumpet, not in a general way, but so that it may give a certain sound, that other watchmen upon the walls of Zion may hear, and in their turn send forth the warning note.

Perils now threaten the people of God; and what will they do? Can we not assist in lifting the standard, and in calling to the front those who have a regard for their religious rights and privileges? God calls us to awake; for the end is near. The prophecies that show us the closing scenes of earth’s history, are fast fulfilling. The time is fast approaching when we shall be made to feel the hand of oppression, because we demand our religious rights. Shall we then dishonor God by keeping silent, when His holy commandments are being trampled under foot?

We have been looking many years for a Sunday law to be enacted in our land; and now that the movement is right upon us, we ask, What are our people going to do in the matter? Do you realize that the night will soon come, when no man can work? Have you that intensity of zeal, that piety and devotion, which will enable you to stand when opposition is brought upon you? If God has ever spoken by me, the time will come when we shall be brought before councils, and every position of truth which we hold will be severely criticized. The time that we are now allowing to go to waste should be devoted to the charge God has given us, of preparing for the approaching crisis. Much time should be spent in prayer, that our garments of character may be washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb.

We should especially seek God for grace and power to be given His people now. God lives; and we do not believe that the time has fully come when He would have our liberties restricted. The prophet saw “four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.” Another angel ascending from the east, cried to them, saying, “Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.” This points out the work we now have to do, which is to cry to God for the angels to hold the four winds until missionaries shall be sent to all parts of the world, and shall have proclaimed the warning against disobeying the law of Jehovah. But every conceivable thing that the enemy can bring against the people of God, to hinder them in their work, will be employed. The Lord, on the other hand, bids all to be awake and to watch; for it was while men slept, that the enemy sowed tares.

 

The Crisis in Adventism

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“The warfare against God’s law, which was begun in heaven, will be continued until the end of time. Every man will be tested. Obedience or disobedience is the question to be decided by the whole world. All will be called to choose between the law of God and the laws of men. Here the dividing line will be drawn. There will be but two classes. Every character will be fully developed; and all will show whether they have chosen the side of loyalty or that of rebellion. Then the end will come.” The Desire of Ages, 763.

What is the last great crisis that is facing the world? Not the symptoms, but what is the fundamental issue in the last great crisis facing the world? It is the Law of God. “That the Law which was spoken by God’s own voice is faulty, that some specification has been set aside, is the claim which Satan now puts forward. It is the last great deception that he will bring upon the world. He needs not to assail the whole law; if he can lead men to disregard one precept, his purpose is gained . . . By consenting to break one precept, men are brought under Satan’s power.” Ibid.

When Jesus was on earth, the disciples asked what was going to be the sign of the end of the age. “And Jesus answered, and said to them: Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, I am the Christ and will deceive many.” Matthew 24:4. The first thing that Jesus said to His disciples was a warning about being deceived. This was so important that Jesus repeated the warning at least three times in Matthew 24.

Who was it that Jesus warned could be deceived? He said, “For false Christs and false prophets will rise up and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” Matthew 24:24. Jesus warned the elect against being deceived. Who are the elect? They are the godly. They are the church. They are the Seventh-day Adventists.

The devil has a special plan for deceiving Seventh-day Adventists. He is causing a great crisis in Adventism, because he wants to deceive those who have been given the greatest light—the elect.

This clear warning has been given to Seventh-day Adventists. “In the last vision given me I was shown the startling fact that but a small portion of those who now profess the truth will be sanctified by it and be saved.” Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, 608, 609.

That is not good news to me. I grew up in the Adventist Church. I went entirely through the Adventist educational system. All my friends, when I was growing up, were part of the Adventist Church. Those are my best friends today, scattered all over the world. It is startling to read that only a few of those who now profess the truth will be sanctified by it and be saved. The great majority of Seventh-day Adventists will be deceived by the devil’s sophistries. I repeat God’s warning because I do not want you to be one of the many people who are going to be lost.

What will be the test for those who will be among the faithful who stand strong despite the devil’s greatest deceptions? “To stand in defense of truth and righteousness when the majority forsake us, to fight the battles of the Lord when champions are few—this will be our test.” Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, 136.

What is the great crisis for Adventism? “Satan hopes to involve the remnant people of God in the general ruin that is coming upon the earth. As the coming of Christ draws nigh, he will be more determined and decisive in his efforts to overthrow them. Men and women will arise professing to have some new light or some new revelation whose tendency is to unsettle faith in the old landmarks.” Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, 295.

This great crisis in Adventism is predicted in Matthew 24. “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” Matthew 24:12. The antichrist power teaches people to break part of God’s law. Revelation and 2 Thessalonians 2, show clearly that almost the whole world is going to be deceived.

God’s people are going to be living in the midst of an ocean of lawlessness. In that environment, Jesus said the love of many will grow cold. This does not take place suddenly. You do not go from a position of spiritual health and strength, filled with the Holy Spirit, then immediately turn and be ready for ruin and destruction. It happens over a period of time.

The message to the Laodiceans is that they need to repent, because they are lukewarm. They are no longer hot. Their love has grown cold. This is the great crisis in Adventism. Many are in the process of going from hot to cold, but sadly, they do not realize the change, because they do not feel any different today than they felt yesterday. How does the devil work it so that someone can go from hot to cold and not even know anything has happened? That is the incideousness and the subtleness of the crisis in Adventism.

The story is told of a Seventh-day Adventist minister in California who lost his life in a tragic vehicle accident. When the autopsy was performed, the physicians found that he was full of cancer. He would have died in a short time anyway, but neither he nor his wife knew it.

Why did he not know about it? Because the cancer, itself, does not hurt. The results of cancer can hurt as a nerve is eaten up, or pressure from a tumor pushes on something and causes unbearable pain. The cancer itself does not hurt. You can be full of it and not know that you are sick.

 

Safeguard Against Deceptions

 

If you have the truth and the devil is trying to involve you in the ruin that is coming upon the world, how is he going to do it? “It is not alone those who openly reject the Testimonies, or who cherish doubt concerning them, that are on dangerous ground. To disregard light is to reject it . . . Many are going directly contrary to the light which God has given to His people, because they do not read the books which contain the light and knowledge and cautions, reproofs, and warnings.” Testimonies to the Church, vol. 5, 680, 681.

Many people go directly contrary to God’s instructions because they do not read. Your pastor, Sabbath School teacher, and elder cannot teach you everything in the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. God holds us responsible when we do not take advantage of the light available to us. God expects you to learn on your own.

As we approach the end, there will be people who will say, “I am a Seventh-day Adventist. I believe the Bible. I believe the Spirit of Prophecy.” But they will be involved in the ruin coming on all the world because they are not following God’s instruction. They do not read. They choose not to understand.

We are living in the most deceptive time in the world’s history. How will you know if you are deceived? (Always remember, that no one who is deceived knows he is deceived.) If you do not want to be deceived you must study for yourself. No one can do it for you. If you are not studying, watching, and praying for yourself, the devil will bring a deception for you, and cause you to lose confidence in the truth.

We are living in a time of unbelief and doubt. All throughout Adventism, and especially on Seventh-day Adventist college campuses, skepticism is running rampant. The devil is using his cleverly developed methods to secure his end. He rarely makes a frontal attack, because he is a deceiver. To gain control of us, he starts to chip away at our belief, to undermine our confidence in the inspired writings.

You and I are no match for the devil. We are not as intelligent as he is, or as old. The devil knows that the only way we can escape is by reading the inspired writings, believing them and acting upon them. (See James 2.)

The chapter called “Snares of Satan,” in the book The Great Controversy, shows how the devil tries to rob people of their faith. We have had attack, after attack, in Adventism on this point. For instance, in 1976 an Adventist scholar wrote a book called, Ellen G. White, Prophetess of Health. Many Adventist, intellectual people, lost their confidence in Ellen White on the basis of this book. This book asks a lot of questions to bring in doubt.

We need to learn that if we involve ourselves in asking questions that no one can answer, we will eventually lose our faith, become skeptics, and lose our souls. This was the devil’s first tactic after he rebelled in heaven. He planted doubt in the minds of his fellow angels, by asking questions.

Ellen White warned us that this is one of the principle deceptions of the devil. “It is a masterpiece of Satan’s deceptions to keep the minds of men searching and conjecturing in regard to that which God has not made known and which He does not intend that we shall understand.” The Great Controversy, 523.

 

Mysteries in the Bible

 

Seven mysteries are mentioned in the New Testament. One of the seven mysteries is the incarnation—God manifested in flesh. That is spoken of as a great mystery in 1 Timothy 3:16. When an inspired writer says that something is a great mystery, in other words, it is something you and I are never going to be able to explain fully. Yet, I get letters from Seventh-day Adventists who want me to explain the Godhead, and every detail about the nature of Christ. They want the unexplainable explained for their finite minds.

The early church, between the second and sixth centuries, wanted the same thing. Large church councils were called over and over again, to try to settle the controversy. In the end fighting broke out, and there was actually war over the issue. All this took place because people were trying to explain what God had not revealed.

The devil uses philosophical and scientific arguments that are pleasing to the mind to lead many astray. Friend, if the devil can rob you of your faith and confidence in inspired writings, he will prevail. You may not know that he has won, because you will be deceived, but you will still be lost. He leads many people to think that if they can ask a question that cannot be answered, they have gained some point. These people put their own finite mind above the infinite mind of God.

Many today are like the Greeks, who required a rational explanation for everything, or like the Jews, who wanted a sign before they would believe. But faith is not based on demonstration. It is based on evidence. “The Word of God, like the character of its Author, presents mysteries that can never be fully comprehended by finite beings. But God has given in the Scriptures sufficient evidence of their divine authority. His own existence, His character, the truthfulness of His Word, are established by testimony that appeals to our reason; and this testimony is abundant. True, He has not removed the possibility of doubt; faith must rest upon evidence, not demonstration; those who wish to doubt have opportunity; but those who desire to know the truth find ample ground for faith.” Education, 169.

 

Evidence

 

The Word of God is the only thing in this world that you can really depend upon all the time. Are you asking, “Pastor John, what is the evidence?” If so, study carefully the following two evidences from the Bible.

The first is the evidence that God Himself is the One true God. He gives this as a challenge in Isaiah 44 and 45, and especially in Isaiah 46:9, 10. He supports His claim with the evidence that He can do something that no one else can ever do. He says, “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me. Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.” Isaiah 46:9, 10. God says that not only has He created everything that exists, He also knows the end from the beginning, and can reveal the future.

Several months ago we held a Prophecy Seminar in Wichita and we went over these things the first night. A young woman came to this Prophecy Seminar. Her mother, who was a Christian, upon learning that her daughter was attending our meetings, became worried that she might be becoming involved with a cult. I am sure she had heard some of the things that Seventh-day Adventists are called today. The mother said, “I should go and be sure that my daughter is not becoming a cultist.”

The mother came about the sixth or seventh session. By that time we were studying the Sabbath and the Law of God and what prophecy said about it. The mother listened carefully the first night. She could not find anything cultic in the messages she heard from the Bible. She came every single night after that. After several nights, she realized that there was a message in Bible prophecy that she could see was being fulfilled all over the world. The prophecy was true, and the evidence was overwhelming.

In many seminars I have conducted, I have watched people from many religions, non-Christians, Catholics, Lutherans—people from many other churches, and when the seminar is completed, they will tell you the same thing. The evidence that what you have taught is Bible prophecy and that it is true, is overwhelming. The evidence is there if you want to see it.

There is an evidence of the truthfulness of God’s Word that is far more profound than simply prophecy or the ability to foretell the future. This powerful evidence is found in this text: “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.” Romans 8:16. The evidence that Jesus is the Messiah, that the gospel is true, that the Bible is an inspired book and that Ellen White was a prophetess, comes as you study these things. The Holy Spirit comes into your life and changes your heart. Then the Lord can use you to win others who do not know Him, even if they do not know anything about prophecy. If you have been changed, and you can share your testimony with others, you can be a mighty witness for the Lord.

 

The Holy Spirit’s Power

 

What changes does the Holy Spirit make when He comes into your heart? First, the Holy Spirit gives you power to witness. “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Acts 1:8.

Second, the Holy Spirit gives you power to overcome sin. “That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.” Romans 8:4, 5. (See Romans 8:1–14.)

Sometimes people say, “Pastor John, I have a besetting sin and I cannot overcome it.” Of course, you cannot overcome it. No one can overcome a besetting sin in their own power. When the Holy Spirit comes into your life, he gives you the power to overcome. Your thoughts will be pure, your language will be pure and your actions will be in harmony with God’s law. You will begin to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and your neighbors as yourself. You will be a different person. Then you become a powerful witness.

Are you having that experience? Is the Holy Spirit inside? Or is the Holy Spirit outside, pleading with you to give your heart in surrender to Jesus, not only as your Savior but as the Lord of your life? The Holy Spirit is with all who have not committed the unpardonable sin.

Jesus told His disciples that up to that time the Holy Spirit had just been with them, but in the future it was going to be different. “The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” John 14:17.

What is your condition today? Is the Holy Spirit just with you? Or is the Holy Spirit in you? If the Holy Spirit is in you, you will be living a sin-free life, bearing witness to the gospel. It will have a powerful effect on other people. That is the most powerful sign that God’s Word is true, that Ellen White is a prophet, that Jesus is the Christ and that He is coming soon to take the faithful home.

 

Pen of Inspiration – The Crisis Imminent

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I am deeply exercised in mind in reference to the low standard of piety among our people. And when I think of the woes passed on Capernaum, I think of how much heavier will come the condemnation upon those who know the truth and have not walked according to the truth, but in the sparks of their own kindling. In the night seasons I am addressing the people in a very solemn manner, beseeching them to ask their own consciences, What am I? Am I a Christian, or am I not? Is my heart renewed? Has the transforming grace of God moulded my character? Are my sins repented of? Are they confessed? Are they forgiven? Am I one with Christ as He is one with the Father? Do I hate what I once loved? Do I now love what I once hated? Do I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus? Do I feel I am the purchased possession of Jesus Christ, and that every hour I must consecrate myself to His service?

We are standing upon the threshold of great and solemn events. The whole earth is to be lightened with the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the channels of the great deep. Prophecies are being fulfilled and stormy times are before us. Old controversies which have apparently been hushed for a long time will be revived, and new controversies will spring up; new and old will commingle, and this will take place right early. The angels are holding the four winds, that they will not blow, until the specified work of warning is given to the world; but the storm is gathering, the clouds are loading, ready to burst upon the world, and to many it will be as a thief in the night.

Many smiled and would not believe when we told them, twenty and thirty years ago, that the Sunday Law would be urged upon all the world, and a law be made to compel its observance, and force conscience. We see it being fulfilled. All that God has said of the future will surely come to pass; not one thing will fail of all that He has spoken. Protestantism is now reaching hands across the gulf to clasp hands with the papacy, and a confederacy is being formed to trample out of sight the Sabbath of the fourth commandment and the man of sin, who, at the instigation of Satan, instituted the spurious Sabbath, this child of papacy, will be exalted to take the place of God.

All heaven is represented to me as watching the unfolding of events. A crisis is to be revealed in the great and prolonged controversy in the government of God on earth. Something great and decisive is to take place, and that right early. If any delay, the character of God and His throne will be compromised. The armory of heaven is open; all the universe of God and its equipments are ready. One word has justice to speak, and there will be terrific representations upon the earth, of the wrath of God. There will be voices and thunderings and lightnings and earthquakes and universal desolation. Every movement in the universe of heaven is to prepare the world for the great crisis.

Intensity is taking possession of every earthly element; and as a people who have had great light and wonderful knowledge, many of them are represented by the five sleeping virgins with their lamps, but no oil in their vessels; cold, senseless, with a feeble, waning piety. While a new life is being diffused and is springing up from beneath and taking fast hold of all Satan’s agencies, preparatory to the last great conflict and struggle, a new light and life and power is descending from on high, and taking possession of God’s people who are not dead, as many now are, in trespasses and sins. The people who will now see what is soon to come upon us by what is being transacted before us, will no longer trust in human inventions, and will feel that the Holy Spirit must be recognized, received, presented before the people, that they may contend for the glory of God, and work everywhere in the byways and highways of life, for the saving of the souls of their fellow-men. The only rock that is sure and steadfast is the Rock of Ages. Those only who build on this Rock are secure.

Those who are carnally minded now, notwithstanding the warnings given of God in His word and through the testimonies of His Spirit, will never unite with the holy family of the redeemed. They are sensual, debased in thought, and abominable in the sight of God. They have never been sanctified through the truth. They are not partakers of the divine nature, have never overcome self and the world with its affections and lusts. These characters are all through our churches, and as the result the churches are weak and sickly and ready to die. There must be no indifferent testimony borne now, but a decided, pointed testimony, rebuking every impurity and exalting Jesus. We must as a people be in the attitude of expectation, working and waiting and watching and praying.

This blessed hope of the second appearing of Christ needs to be presented often to the people, with its solemn realities; looking for the soon appearing of our Lord Jesus to come in His glory, will lead to the regarding of earthly things as emptiness and nothingness. All worldly honor or distinction is of no value, for the true believer lives above the world; his steps are advancing heavenward. He is a pilgrim and stranger. His citizenship is above. He is gathering the sunbeams of the righteousness of Christ into his soul, that he may be a burning and shining light in the moral darkness that has enshrouded the world. What vigorous faith, what lively hope, what fervent love, what holy, consecrated zeal for God is seen in him, and what a decided distinction between him and the world! “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21:36). “Watch ye therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come” (Matthew 24:42). “Therefore be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (verse 44). “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments” (Revelation 16:15).

Special Testimonies, Ellen G. White, February 18, 1892.