Published by The world today finds itself near the end of its long and eventful history, the prophecies of the Bible open before us like a vast panorama of coming events and urge us to obtain the preparation we need for the great approaching crisis. Paul the Apostle rightly says it’s time to wake up. “That, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” Romans 13:11.
While the world shakes with fear at the uncertain future, we as Adventists are to know the times in which we live. We have our chart and compass, the Bible and the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy to guide us.
The church militant will become the church triumphant. “We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history.” Life Sketches 196.
What do we need to face this crisis of the ages? “A revival of true godliness among us is the greatest and most urgent of all our needs. To seek this should be our first work. 1 SM 121 “God’s people will not endure the test unless there is a revival and a reformation.” 7T 285
Will we have this? “Before the final visitation of God’s judgments upon the earth there will be among the people of the Lord such a revival of primitive godliness as has not been witnessed since apostolic times. The Spirit and power of God will be poured out upon His children.” GC 464. So unless we have this we will surely fail.
What are we to do?”
Christ has given us no assurance that to attain perfection of character is an easy matter. A noble, all round character is not inherited. A noble character is earned by individual effort through the merits and grace of Christ. We shall have to criticize ourselves closely, and allow not one unfavourable trait to remain uncorrected.” COL 331. We are now to wash our robes in the blood of the Lamb.
The shaking has started, we must be unmovable. Indeed, … the judgments of God are now upon the land, to give us warning, that we may know what is coming.” 4BC 1161. The angels of God keep the four winds of strife that blow on the earth from letting loose their full fury until Gods servants are sealed. God will test and prove His people to see who is worthy of eternal life. Will we be found worthy; for “Many hear the invitation of mercy, are tested and proved, but few are sealed with the seal of the living God.” 5T 50 “Those who receive the seal of the living God and are protected in the time of trouble must reflect the image of Jesus fully.” EW 74.
“Not one of us will ever receive the seal of God while our characters have one spot or stain upon them.” 5T 214. The latter rain will not fall on those who have defilement in their character.
“Unless we are daily advancing in the exemplification of the active Christian virtues, we shall not recognize the manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the latter rain.” TM 507.
The Spirit of God will be poured out without measure when we have entire, wholehearted consecration to the service of God, but this will not be while the largest portion of the church are not labourers together with God. See ChS 253. The blessing of God will fill only every soul who is purified from every defilement. See Ev 702. Only those who are living up to all the light that God has given will receive greater light. See TM 507.
How do we get ready to receive God’s Spirit? “When one is fully emptied of self, when every false god is cast out of the soul, the vacuum is filled by the inflowing of the Spirit of Christ.” GW 287. We need to make room in our hearts for God’s Spirit to work by cleansing defilement and sin from the life.
“God is now sifting His people, testing their purposes and their motives. Many will be but as chaff-not wheat, no value in them.” 4T 51. “Satan has come down with great power to work with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; and everything that can be shaken, will be shaken, and those things that cannot be shaken will remain.” 9T 62.”As the storm approaches, a large class who have professed faith in the third angels message, but have not been sanctified through obedience to the truth, abandon their position and join the ranks of the opposition.” GC 608. “The mighty shaking has commenced and will go on, and all will be shaken out who are not willing to take a bold and unyielding stand for the truth and to sacrifice for God and His cause.” EW 50. “Soon God’s people will be tested by fiery trials, and the great proportion of those who now appear to be genuine and true will prove to be base metal, they will cowardly take the side of the opposers.” 5T 136.
“The days are fast approaching when there will be great perplexity and confusion. Satan, clothed in angel robes, will deceive, if possible, the very elect…every wind of doctrine will be blowing’ 5T 80,81. The Lord indicates that surface readers who are not anchored in the Bible truths are like shifting sand, false theories will sift the people of God. See TM 112.
“When the law of God is made void, the church will be sifted by fiery trials, and a larger proportion than we now anticipate, will give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils… many prove that they are not living branches of the True Vine, they bear no fruit, and the husbandman taketh them away.” 2SM 368. The apostle Paul admonishes: “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” 1 Cor 10:12. “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Prov 14:12.
”In the mighty sifting soon to take place, the signs indicate that the time is near when the Lord will manifest that His fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor. Satan will be clothed in angel robes, there will be gods many and lords many. “True godliness will be clearly distinguished from the appearance and tinsel of it. Many a star that we have admired for its brilliancy will then go out in darkness. Chaff like a cloud will be borne away on the wind, even from places where we see only floors of rich wheat.” 5T 80,81.
“Satan will work his miracles to deceive; he will set up his power as supreme. The church may appear as about to fall, but it does not fall, It remains, while the sinners in Zion will be sifted out, the chaff is separated from the precious wheat. This is a terrible ordeal, but nevertheless it must take place. None but those who have been overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony will be found with the loyal and true, without spot or stain of sin, without guile in their mouths.” 2SM 380.
Satan will oppose the Loud Cry which gives a clearer and more forceful exposition of the Scriptures. “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.” 1 Tim 4:1. He will come down with great wrath because he knows he has but a short time to accomplish his ends. See Rev 12:12.
Fearful tests and trials will then assail the people of God. The crisis will be reached when the nations unite in making void God’s law. See 5T 524. When the world substitutes Sunday for Gods Sabbath by mere human authority, this is the last act in the drama. When it becomes universal, “God will reveal himself. He will arise in His majesty to shake terribly the earth. He will come out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the world for their iniquity.” 7T 141.
When America is in deepest apostasy, then it is time for national ruin. The crisis is just before us. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, we may know that the time has come for the marvellous working of Satan and that the end is near.
As the approach of the Roman armies was a sign to the disciples of the impending destruction of Jerusalem, so may this apostasy be a sign to us that the limit of God’s forbearance is reached…The people of God will then be plunged into those scenes of affliction and distress which prophets have described as Jacobs time of trouble.’5T 451.
There are two great errors that Satan uses to bring the people under his deceptions. What are they? Sunday sacredness and the immortality of the soul.
Then the protestant world will form the image to the beast.
When the great crisis comes upon the church, Christianity will be divided into only two groups distinct from each other. Those loyal to the Sabbath commandment and those who are the enemies of truth and keep Sunday. The death decree will go forth.
Like Elijah, acting as God’s true servant, Satan will bring fire down upon the earth to demonstrate that he has the truth. He will appear in the character of an angel of light. The work of the spirits will be accepted as a manifestation of divine power, see GC 588. Satan works with lying wonders, thus the inhabitants of the earth will be brought to make their stand. GC 612.
The world will see in the threefold union of apostate Protestantism, the Roman Catholic religion and spiritualism, as a grand movement for the conversion of the world and the ushering in of the long expected millennium. Satan will lead people to a new and more exalted system of religious faith while working as a destroyer. GC 588,589.
The great signs and mighty wonders of the devil are designed to deceive God’s people and overthrow them. EW 60.
Accidents, calamities, great conflagrations, fierce tornadoes, terrible hailstorms, tempests, floods, cyclones, tidal waves, earthquakes, in every place and in a thousand forms, Satan is exercising his power. These visitations will become more and more frequent and disastrous. Destruction will be upon man and beast. GC 589,590.
Everything that can be shaken will be shaken. “Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they may be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” 2 Thess 2:9-11.
We have reached the perils of the last days. Fearful sights of a supernatural character will soon be revealed in the heavens, in token of the power of miracle working demons. The spirits of devils will go forth to the kings of the earth and to the whole wide world to fasten them in deception and urge them on to unite with Satan in his last struggle against the government of heaven.’ People will arise claiming to have revelations from heaven contradicting the testimony of Scriptures. “Fearful sights of a supernatural character will soon be revealed in the heavens, they are a token of the power of miracle working demons.” GC 624.
”Satan will manifest himself among men as a majestic being of dazzling brightness, resembling the description of the Son of God given by John in the Revelation. The glory that surrounds him is unsurpassed by anything that mortal eyes have yet beheld. The shout of triumph rings out upon the air. Christ has come, Christ has come. The people prostrate themselves in adoration before him, while he lifts up his hands and pronounced a blessing upon them, as Christ blessed his disciples when He was upon the earth. He claims to have changed the Sabbath to Sunday, and commands all to hallow the day which he has blessed. He declares that those who persist in keeping holy the seventh day are blaspheming his name by refusing to listen to his angels sent to them with light and truth. This is the strong, almost overmastering delusion.” GC 624.
“He will bring fire down from heaven to prove that he is God. The whole world will be swept into the ranks of this delusion. We must stand barricaded by the truths of the Bible. The only hope for anyone is to hold fast the evidences that have confirmed the truth in righteousness.” Med Ministry 14,15.
Then the people that have been lulled to sleep with a fatal security will be awakened by the outpouring of the wrath of God. See GC 562,
“But the people of God will not be misled. The teachings of this false Christ are not in accordance with the Scriptures.” He pronounces his blessing on worshippers of the beast and his image, the very class the Bible declares will receive God’s unmingled wrath. GC 625. God’s word, rightly understood and applied is a safeguard. It will prove an anchor to those who are willing to receive it, it will save them from the terrible delusions of these perilous times. See 1T 344,345.
Next the seven last plagues are poured out when Christ is not in the sanctuary. Trouble overspreads the earth, nations grow more angry. War succeeds war. Fantastic stores of nuclear bombs and missiles are being stockpiled. Human society faces total ruin, the earth will be involved in a cataclysmic holocaust. Human hearts are deeply troubled, Hunger scourges whole countries, social disorder is rife, strife and racial uprisings show the apprehension that dominates our world. The air breathes violence, agitation besets societies, society disintegrates. Suicides are more frequent. There is an increase in vice, alcoholism and drug addiction which complicates the disorientation, fear and trouble that wrack our world. These signs point to the glorious culmination of the Christians dearest hopes. The nearness of these tremendous events should induce us to seek a genuine experience with God. Only such preparation will protect us in the hour of greatest peril.
The time of trouble before us demands that we have a faith that will overcome all, a purity of life with holiness, and an experience with God that complies with the Bible injunctions. Only those who have received the refreshing of the latter rain and been sealed are in a condition to pass safely through this stormy time. Only they can stand firm. This time of trouble will require a serious preparation of life and heart now while there is time.
God will liberate His people amidst a tremendous display of natural phenomena and fearful manifestations of His anger.
“Silently, unnoticed as the midnight thief, will come the decisive hour which marks the fixing of every man’s destiny, the final withdrawal of mercy’s offer to guilty men.” GC 491. The returning angel announces his work of sealing God’s chosen with the seal of the living God, then Jesus lays off his intercessory work and pronounces, He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. And he which is filthy, let him be filthy still. Every case has been decided for life or death.” Rev 22.11. GC 613. How will it fare with thee and me in that trying hour?
“The crisis is stealing gradually upon us. The sun shines in the heavens, passing over its usual round, and the heavens still declare the glory of God. Men are still eating and drinking, planting and building, marrying and giving in marriage. Pleasure lovers still crowd to theatres, horse races, gambling hells. The highest excitement prevails, yet probation’s hour is fast closing, and every case is about to be eternally decided. Satan sees that his time is short. He has set all his agencies at work that men may be deceived, deluded, occupied, and entranced until the day of probation shall be ended, and the door of mercy forever shut.” ChS 51.
“Transgression has almost reached its limit. Confusion fills the world, and a great terror is soon to come upon human beings. The end is very near.” 8T 28.
The Apostle John in vision heard a loud voice in heaven exclaiming: “Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. Kev 12:12. Fearful are the scenes which call forth this exclamation from the heavenly voice. During the time of trouble, in that fearful time when the righteous must live in the sight of a holy God without an intercessor, Satan has entire control of the finally impenitent. The wicked have passed the boundary of their probation, the Spirit of God, persistently resisted, has been at last withdrawn. Unsheltered by divine grace they have no protection from the wicked one. Satan will then plunge the inhabitants of the earth into one great, final trouble. The whole world will be involved in ruin more terrible than that which came upon Jerusalem of old.” GC 614.
What hope is there for us then? “I saw a covering that God was drawing over His people to protect them in the time of trouble, and every soul that was decided on the truth and was pure in heart was to be covered with the covering of the Almighty.” EW 43. “Satan and his host cannot destroy them, for angels that excel in strength will protect them. “ 9T 17.
Then the final battle of Armageddon will take place. “The powers of evil will not yield up the conflict without a struggle.” Some findings from the spirit of prophecy are: there is a battle between truth and error. It is a conflict between Christ and Satan. The fallen angels take part in it. The struggle will be directed against the children of God and will bring about a great persecution. The apostate powers of apostate Protestantism, the Papacy and Spiritism will actively participate in it. The kings of the earth will be engaged, the conflict will be of a political and military character. Armageddon is the final act in the age-long drama of strife between good and evil, Christ and Satan, and the followings of angels, demons and men; between truth and error. It is the final struggle of the long standing controversy concerning the law of God that first started in heaven. See GC 582.
Preparation for the final crisis. A mere mental knowledge of Scripture is not enough to deliver our souls. It is not enough to be hearers of the word, we must be doers of the word. We must know our Bibles, we must memorize Scripture, we must root out the idols that keep the affections from being placed squarely on Jesus. We need an experience of repentance and confession and of cleansing from sin. We must achieve victory over our weaknesses, we must experience complete deliverance by God, we must demonstrate consecrated activity in giving to the world the message it needs. The seal of God alone can prepare us to pass unharmed through the terrible time of trouble and at last meet Christ in peace at His second coming.
The 10 virgins in Mt 25 all slept, but the wise had entered beforehand into a vital experience with God. They had the oil of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is given to those who obey God.
“The time of trouble, such as never was, is soon to open upon us, and we shall need an experience which we do not now possess and which many are too indolent to obtain.” GC 622. We are on enchanted ground, we have nearly lost all sense of the shortness of time and the worth of the soul. See EW 120. The people need to be aroused in regard to the dangers of the present time. See 5T 715.
We should earnestly seek the preparation for this hour to enable us to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord. None but holy beings can ever dwell in His presence. See EW 71. None but those who come up to every point and stand every test and overcome, be the price what it may, none but these will receive the latter rain and be fitted for translation. None but those who gained the victory over every besetment, pride, selfishness, the love of the world, and every wrong word and deed will endure the test. See EW 71.
Those who make no decided effort, but simply wait for the Holy Spirit to compel them to action, will perish in darkness. ChS 228.
We need to be diligent students of the Scriptures, receive the love of the truth and an obedience to it, these will be shielded from the powerful delusion that takes the world captive. See GC 625. We need a complete surrender to God We must do diligent work for Christ.
We need to be fervent in prayer with God. We must reflect the image of Jesus without one spot or stain. “Said the angel: God will bring His work closer and closer to test and prove every one of His people., Some are willing to receive one point, but when God brings them to another testing point, they shrink from it and stand back, because they find that it strikes directly at some cherished idol. Here they have opportunity to see what is in their hearts that shuts out Jesus.” 1T 187. We must be willing to sacrifice our idols to heed the counsel of the True Witness.
The world is in agitation, we are in the final hours of probation. These words give us some idea of the gravity of the hour in which we live, alerting us to the danger that we all face. We need to be grounded on the immovable Rock of Ages and thoroughly familiar with divine truth. Persecution looms ahead, we will be threatened with the death penalty. The dark panorama spreads before us, illuminated by Gods promises of deliverance and protection. The rapid unfolding of last day events is seen in the fields of science, politics, economics, morality, religion and the environment. They are portrayed in the press, radio and television. The evidence is here before us that we are living in earths last hours. The sun of grace and mercy is about to set forever and the short night will be preceded by the glorious morning of eternal life.
But what if this catches us unready? As a thief in the night? We need serious self examination of our spiritual problems. We must do the powerful work of conquering sin in our lives, we must overcome our defects and reflect more perfectly the image of Christ. Let us make the necessary provision for our eternal triumph that we may share at last in the eternal reward to be granted to the victorious in the kingdom of glory.
“If God be for us, who can be against us.’ “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” “My grace is sufficient for thee.” “Said the angel, Get ready, get ready, get ready.”
