Chapter 47—Preparing for the Final Crisis
[
Address given by Ellen G. White at General Conference session of
1891
.]
Brethren and sisters, I appeal to you as Seventh-day Adventists to
be all that this name signifies. There is danger of departing from the
spirit of the message
The people of God are not to be guided by the opinions or practices
of the world. Hear what the Saviour said to His disciples, “I will pray
the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide
with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot
receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know
him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (
John 14:16, 17
).
“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that
we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us
not, because it knew him not” (
1 John 3:1
).
The Word of God plainly declares that His law is to be scorned,
trampled upon, by the world; there will be an extraordinary prevalence
of iniquity. The professed Protestant world will form a confederacy
with the man of sin, and the church and the world will be in corrupt
harmony.
Here the great crisis is coming upon the world. The Scriptures
teach that popery is to regain its lost supremacy, and that the fires of
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persecution will be rekindled through the time-serving concessions
of the so-called Protestant world. In this time of peril we can stand
only as we have the truth and the power of God. Men can know the
truth only by being themselves partakers of the divine nature. We have
need now for more than human wisdom in reading and searching the
Scriptures; and if we come to God’s Word with humble hearts, He will
raise up a standard for us against the lawless element.
It is difficult to hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto
the end; and the difficulty increases when there are hidden influences
constantly at work to bring in another spirit, a counterworking element,
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