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Chapter 51—The Second Angel’s Message
The churches that refused to receive the first angel’s message
rejected light from heaven. That message was sent in mercy to arouse
them to see their true condition of worldliness and backsliding, and
to seek a preparation to meet their Lord.
It was to separate the church of Christ from the corrupting influ-
ence of the world that the first angel’s message was given. But with
the multitude, even of professed Christians, the ties which bound
them to earth were stronger than the attractions heavenward. They
chose to listen to the voice of worldly wisdom, and turned away
from the heart-searching message of truth.
God gives light to be cherished and obeyed, not to be despised
and rejected. The light which He sends becomes darkness to those
who disregard it. When the Spirit of God ceases to impress the truth
upon the hearts of men, all hearing is vain, and all preaching also is
vain.
When the churches spurned the counsel of God by rejecting
the advent message, the Lord rejected them. The first angel was
followed by a second, proclaiming, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen,
that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of
the wrath of her fornication.”
Revelation 14:8
. This message was
understood by Adventists to be an announcement of the moral fall of
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the churches in consequence of their rejection of the first message.
The proclamation, “Babylon is fallen,” was given in the summer of
1844, and as the result, about fifty thousand withdrew from these
churches.
Those who preached the first message had no purpose or expec-
tation of causing divisions in the churches, or of forming separate
organizations. “In all my labors,” said William Miller, “I never had
the desire or thought to establish any separate interest from that of
existing denominations, or to benefit one at the expense of another.
I thought to benefit all. Supposing that all Christians would rejoice
in the prospect of Christ’s coming, and that those who could not see
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