LAST-DAY PERILS
“Satan, clothed in angel robes, will deceive, if possible, the very elect. There will be gods many and lords many. Every wind of doctrine will be blowing. Those who have rendered supreme homage to ‘science falsely so-called’ will not be the leaders then. Those who have trusted to genius, intellect, or talent, will not then stand at the head of rank and file. They did not-keep pace with the light. Those who have proved themselves unfaithful will not then be entrusted with the flock.”GCB March 30, 1903, page 14.1
“The time is not far distant when the test will come to every soul. The mark of the beast will be urged upon us. Those who have step by step yielded to worldly demands, and conformed to worldly customs, will not find it a hard matter to yield to the powers that be, rather than subject themselves to derision, insult, threatened imprisonment, and death.”GCB March 30, 1903, page 14.2
Now, brethren, we know that unions and organizations of various kinds are becoming so numerous in the world that liberty is almost crushed out. Why, it has come to the point when a man can not do as he would like to do even in matters of business. Men are being trampled under and bound down by unions and organizations that are in the world to-day, and the very next and the greatest of all boycotts will be the religious boycott. It is already in the air. And when that time comes, then those that are loyal and true to God will stand for right in the midst of threatened imprisonment, in the midst of insult, and even at the risk of death.GCB March 30, 1903, page 14.3
Now God says that, when this time comes, and so soon as we begin the forward movement, the key-note of which has been sounded in this Conference, we are going to intensify the situation in the world, and we will bring about this condition. So then, those that are half-hearted now, those that are leaning to the world now, those that are simply hanging on with the faint hope that somehow in some way they will be saved because they have some sort of connection with this people,—these will either become converted, or they will drop clear out into the world, and others will take their places.GCB March 30, 1903, page 14.4
Now let us read a little farther in this chapter. Notice this verse, please: “Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me, these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and from and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone: these, where had they been?”GCB March 30, 1903, page 14.5
The Lord tells us exactly in this same Testimony where they had been, and why they have been there. Let us read again:—GCB March 30, 1903, page 14.6
“When the multitudes of false brethren are distinguished from the true, then the hidden ones will be revealed to view, and, with hosannas, range under the banner of Christ.”GCB March 30, 1903, page 14.7
Where had they been?—They had been hidden. I do not believe that it is a stretch of the imagination to believe that there are honest souls that have been looking toward this truth for deliverance. They have not been satisfied with their Christian experience. They have realized that there was something better and higher, and there has been a longing in their souls to reach that thing, and their attention has been turned toward this people; but the inconsistencies, the worldliness of spirit, the lack of zeal and energy, in view of the great testing truth that God has given to this people, have caused them to hesitate. But when we make a forward movement, and give the trumpet a certain sound, “those who have been timid and distrustful will declare themselves openly for Christ and His truth. The most weak and hesitating in the church will be as David,—willing to do and dare. The deeper the night for God’s people the more brilliant the stars. Satan will sorely harass the faithful, but, in the name of Jesus, they will come off more than conquerors.”GCB March 30, 1903, page 14.8
When will this be?—When the condition of things comes up spoken of in the text I have read, when God’s children make haste, and those that are half-hearted, those that have troubled the Israel of God separated from the communion, and these others will come in to take their places, and when a consistent Christian life is seen with those that profess the precious truth, when the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus will be lived out by this people before the world.GCB March 30, 1903, page 14.9
“Servants of God, with their faces lighted up, and shining with holy consecration, will hasten from place to place to proclaim the message from heaven. By thousands of voices all over the earth the warning will be given. Miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and signs and wonders will follow the believers. Satan also works with lying wonders, even bringing down fire from heaven in the sight of men. Thus the inhabitants of the earth will be brought to take their stand.”GCB March 30, 1903, page 14.10