Chapter 32—The Shaking
I saw some with strong faith and agonizing cries, pleading with
God. Their countenances were pale, and marked with deep anxiety,
which expressed their internal struggle. There were firmness and
great earnestness expressed in their countenances, while large drops
of perspiration rose upon their foreheads, and fell. Now and then their
faces would light up with the marks of God’s approbation, and again
the same solemn, earnest, anxious look settled upon them.
Evil angels crowded around them, pressing their darkness upon
them, to shut out Jesus from their view, that their eyes might be drawn
to the darkness that surrounded them, and they distrust God, and next
murmur against him. Their only safety was in keeping their eyes
directed upward. Angels were having the charge over the people of
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God, and as the poisonous atmosphere from these evil angels was
pressed around these anxious ones, the angels, which had the charge
over them, were continually wafting their wings over them to scatter
the thick darkness that surrounded them.
Some, I saw, did not participate in this work of agonizing and
pleading. They seemed indifferent and careless. They were not resist-
ing the darkness around them, and it shut them in like a thick cloud.
The angels of God left them, and went to the aid of those earnest,
praying ones. I saw the angels of God hasten to the assistance of
all those who were struggling with all their energies to resist those
evil angels, and trying to help themselves by calling upon God with
perseverance. But the angels left those who made no effort to help
themselves, and I lost sight of them.
As these praying ones continued their earnest cries, at times a ray
of light from Jesus came to them, and encouraged their hearts, and
lighted up their countenances.
I asked the meaning of the shaking I had seen. I was shown that it
would be caused by the straight testimony called forth by the counsel
of the true Witness to the Laodiceans. It will have its effect upon the
heart of the receiver of the testimony, and it will lead to him to exalt
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