Great Distress Coming, and God’s People Not Prepared For It
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with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is
the first and great commandment.”
The first four commandments allow us no separation of the af-
fections from God. Nor is anything allowed to divide, or share, our
supreme delight in him. Whatever divides the affections, and takes
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away from the soul supreme love to God, takes the form of an idol.
Our carnal hearts would cling to, and seek to carry along, our idols;
but we cannot advance until we put them away; for they separate from
God. The great Head of the church has chosen his people out of the
world, and required them to be separate. He designs that the spirit
and life of his commandments shall draw them to himself, and sep-
arate them from the elements of the world. To love God and keep
his commandments is to be far from loving the world’s pleasures and
friendship. There is no concord between Christ and Belial. The people
of God may safely trust in him alone, and without fear press on in the
way of obedience.
Philosophy and Vain Deceit
I have been shown that we must be guarded on every side, and
perseveringly resist the insinuations and devices of Satan. He has
transformed himself into an angel of light, and is deceiving and leading
thousands captive. The advantages he takes of the science of the human
mind, is tremendous. Here, serpent-like, he imperceptibly creeps in to
corrupt the work of God. The miracles and works of Christ, he makes
all human. If Satan should make an open, bold attack upon Christianity,
it would bring the Christian in distress and agony at the feet of his
Redeemer, and the strong and mighty Deliverer would affright the bold
adversary away. But Satan, transformed into an angel of light, works
upon the mind to allure from the only safe and right path. The sciences
of phrenology, psychology, and mesmerism, have been the channel
through which Satan has come more directly to this generation, and
wrought with that power which was to characterize his work near the
close of probation.
Read
2 Thessalonians 2:8-12
. “And then shall that wicked be
revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth,
and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming; even him whose
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coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying