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Christian Service
feel the ire of the dragon and his hosts. Satan numbers the world as
his subjects; he has gained control of the apostate churches; but here is
a little company that are resisting his supremacy. If he could blot them
from the earth, his triumph would be complete. As he influenced the
heathen nations to destroy Israel, so in the near future he will stir up
the wicked powers of earth to destroy the people of God. All will be
required to render obedience to human edicts in violation of the divine
law. Those who will be true to God and to duty will be betrayed “both
by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends.”—
Testimonies
for the Church 9:231
.
The time is not far distant when the test will come to every soul.
The observance of the false sabbath will be urged upon us. The contest
will be between the commandments of God and the commandments
of men. Those who have yielded step by step to worldly demands,
and conformed to worldly customs, will then yield to the powers
that be, rather than subject themselves to derision, insult, threatened
imprisonment, and death. At that time the gold will be separated from
the dross.... Many a star that we have admired for its brilliance will
then go out in darkness. Those who have assumed the ornaments of
the sanctuary, but are not clothed with Christ’s righteousness, will then
appear in the shame of their own nakedness.—
Prophets and Kings,
188
.
There is a prospect before us of a continued struggle at the risk of
imprisonment, loss of property, and even of life itself, to defend the
law of God, which is made void by the laws of men.—
Testimonies for
the Church 5:712
.
The time is hastening on when who stand in defense of the truth
will know by experience what it means to be partakers in Christ’s
sufferings. The great oppressor sees that he has but a short time in
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which to work, that soon he will lose his hold upon man and his power
be taken from him, and he is working with all deceivableness of un-
righteousness in them that perish. Superstition and error are trampling
upon truth, justice, and equity. Every power that is antagonistic to
truth is strengthening.—
The Southern Watchman, October 31, 1905
.
The work which the church has failed to do in a time of peace and
prosperity, she will have to do in a terrible crisis, under most discourag-
ing, forbidding, circumstances. The warnings that worldly conformity
has silenced or withheld, must be given under the fiercest opposition