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Testimonies for the Church Volume 5
by and by, but it will be too late. God commanded Elijah to anoint the
cruel and deceitful Hazael king over Syria, that he might be a scourge
to idolatrous Israel. Who knows whether God will not give you up to
the deceptions you love? Who knows but that the preachers who are
faithful, firm, and true may be the last who shall offer the gospel of
peace to our unthankful churches? It may be that the destroyers are
already training under the hand of Satan and only wait the departure of
a few more standard-bearers to take their places, and with the voice of
the false prophet cry, “Peace, peace,” when the Lord hath not spoken
peace. I seldom weep, but now I find my eyes blinded with tears;
they are falling upon my paper as I write. It may be that erelong all
prophesyings among us will be at an end, and the voice which has
stirred the people may no longer disturb their carnal slumbers.
When God shall work His strange work on the earth, when holy
hands bear the ark no longer, woe will be upon the people. Oh, that
thou hadst known, even thou, in this thy day, the things that belong
unto thy peace! Oh, that our people may, as did Nineveh, repent with
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all their might and believe with all their heart, that God may turn away
His fierce anger from them.
I am filled with pain and anguish as I see parents conforming to
the world and allowing their children to meet the worldly standard at
such a time as this. I am filled with horror as the condition of families
professing present truth is opened before me. The profligacy of youth
and even children is almost incredible. Parents do not know that secret
vice is destroying and defacing the image of God in their children.
The sins which characterized the Sodomites exist among them. The
parents are responsible; for they have not educated their children to
love and obey God. They have not restrained them nor diligently taught
them the way of the Lord. They have allowed them to go out and to
come in when they chose, and to associate with worldlings. These
worldly influences which counteract parental teaching and authority
are to be found largely in so-called good society. By their dress, looks,
amusements, they surround themselves with an atmosphere which is
opposed to Christ.
Our only safety is to stand as God’s peculiar people. We must not
yield one inch to the customs and fashions of this degenerate age, but
stand in moral independence, making no compromise with its corrupt
and idolatrous practices.