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The Church will not Fall, January 24
Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it.
Matthew 16:18
.
Those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus will
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.... Their only hope is in the mercy of
God; their only defense will be prayer.
The trying experiences that came to God’s people in the days of Esther
were not peculiar to that age alone. The revelator, looking down the ages to
the close of time, has declared, “The dragon was wroth with the woman, and
went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the command-
ments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
Revelation 12:17
.
Some who today are living on the earth will see these words fulfilled.
The wrath of Satan increases as his time grows short, and his work of
deceit and destruction will reach its culmination in the time of trouble.
Satan will work his miracles to deceive; he will set up his power as
supreme. The church may appear as about to fall, but it does not fall. It
remains, while the sinners in Zion will be sifted out—the chaff separated
from the precious wheat. This is a terrible ordeal, but nevertheless it must
take place. None but those who have been overcoming by the blood of the
Lamb and the word of their testimony will be found with the loyal and true,
without spot or stain of sin, without guile in their mouths.
God declares that even a mother may forget her child, “yet will I not
forget thee.” ... God thinks of His children with the tenderest solicitude and
keeps a book of remembrance before Him, that He may never forget the
children of His care.
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