Chapter 36—The Impending Conflict
From the very beginning of the great controversy in heaven it has
been Satan’s purpose to overthrow the law of God. It was to accomplish
this that he entered upon his rebellion against the Creator, and though
he was cast out of heaven he has continued the same warfare upon
the earth. To deceive men, and thus lead them to transgress God’s
law, is the object which he has steadfastly pursued. Whether this be
accomplished by casting aside the law altogether, or by rejecting one
of its precepts, the result will be ultimately the same. He that offends
“in one point,” manifests contempt for the whole law; his influence
and example are on the side of transgression; he becomes “guilty of
all.”
James 2:10
.
In seeking to cast contempt upon the divine statutes, Satan has
perverted the doctrines of the Bible, and errors have thus become
incorporated into the faith of thousands who profess to believe the
Scriptures. The last great conflict between truth and error is but the
final struggle of the long-standing controversy concerning the law of
God. Upon this battle we are now entering—a battle between the laws
of men and the precepts of Jehovah, between the religion of the Bible
and the religion of fable and tradition.
The agencies which will unite against truth and righteousness in
this contest are now actively at work. God’s holy word, which has
been handed down to us at such a cost of suffering and blood, is but
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little valued. The Bible is within the reach of all, but there are few who
really accept it as the guide of life. Infidelity prevails to an alarming
extent, not in the world merely, but in the church. Many have come
to deny doctrines which are the very pillars of the Christian faith.
The great facts of creation as presented by the inspired writers, the
fall of man, the atonement, and the perpetuity of the law of God, are
practically rejected, either wholly or in part, by a large share of the
professedly Christian world. Thousands who pride themselves upon
their wisdom and independence regard it as an evidence of weakness to
place implicit confidence in the Bible; they think it a proof of superior
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