Chapter 51—The Coming Crisis
“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make
war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of
God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” In the near future we
shall see these words fulfilled as the Protestant churches unite with the
world and with the papal power against commandment keepers. The
same spirit which actuated papists in ages past will lead Protestants to
pursue a similar course toward those who will maintain their loyalty
to God.
Church and state are now making preparations for the future con-
flict. Protestants are working in disguise to bring Sunday to the front,
as did the Romanists. Throughout the land the papacy is piling up
her lofty and massive structures, in the secret recesses of which her
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former persecutions are to be repeated. And the way is preparing for
the manifestation, on a grand scale, of those lying wonders by which,
if it were possible, Satan would deceive even the elect.
The decree which is to go forth against the people of God will
be very similar to that issued by Ahasuerus against the Jews in the
time of Esther. The Persian edict sprang from the malice of Haman
toward Mordecai. Not that Mordecai had done him harm, but he had
refused to show him reverence which belongs only to God. The king’s
decision against the Jews was secured under false pretenses through
misrepresentation of that peculiar people. Satan instigated the scheme
in order to rid the earth of those who preserved the knowledge of
the true God. But his plots were defeated by a counterpower that
reigns among the children of men. Angels that excel in strength were
commissioned to protect the people of God, and the plots of their
adversaries returned upon their own heads. The Protestant world today
see in the little company keeping the Sabbath a Mordecai in the gate.
His character and conduct, expressing reverence for the law of God,
are a constant rebuke to those who have cast off the fear of the Lord
and are trampling upon His Sabbath; the unwelcome intruder must by
some means be put out of the way.
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