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The Last Crisis
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gradually but surely being withdrawn from the earth.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
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off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.”
Isaiah
59:14
. 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.
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