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The Last Crisis, December 8
Justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot
enter.
Isaiah 59:14
.
We are living in the time of the end. The fast-fulfilling signs of the times declare
that the coming of Christ is near at hand. The days in which we live are solemn and
important. The Spirit of God is gradually but surely being withdrawn from the earth.
Plagues and judgments are already falling upon the despisers of the grace of God.
The calamities by land and sea, the unsettled state of society, the alarms of war, are
portentous. They forecast approaching events of the greatest magnitude.
The agencies of evil are combining their forces and consolidating. They are
strengthening for the last great crisis. Great changes are soon to take place in our
world, and the final movements will be rapid ones.
The condition of things in the world shows that troublous times are right upon
us. The daily papers are full of indications of a terrible conflict in the near future.
Bold robberies are of frequent occurrence. Strikes are common. Thefts and murders
are committed on every hand. Men possessed of demons are taking the lives of
men, women, and little children. Men have become infatuated with vice, and every
species of evil prevails.
The enemy has succeeded in perverting justice and in filling men’s hearts with
the desire for selfish gain. “Justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street,
and equity cannot enter.” In the great cities there are multitudes living in poverty
and wretchedness, well-nigh destitute of food, shelter, and clothing; while in the
same cities are those who have more than heart could wish, who live luxuriously,
spending their money on richly furnished houses, on personal adornment, or worse
still, upon the gratification of sensual appetites, upon liquor, tobacco, and other
things that destroy the powers of the brain, unbalance the mind, and debase the soul.
The cries of starving humanity are coming up before God, while by every species of
oppression and extortion men are piling up colossal fortunes (
Testimonies for the
Church 9:11, 12
).
The Scriptures describe the condition of the world just before Christ’s second
coming (
Testimonies for the Church 9:13
).
Fearful tests and trials await the people of God. The spirit of war is stirring
the nations from one end of the earth to the other. But in the midst of the time of
trouble that is coming—a time of trouble such as has not been since there was a
nation—God’s chosen people will stand unmoved. Satan and his host cannot destroy
them, for angels that excel in strength will protect them (
Testimonies for the Church
9:17
).
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