Paul Appeals to Caesar
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the apostles. In the great crisis through which they are soon to pass,
the faithful servants of God will encounter the same hardness of heart,
the same cruel determination, the same unyielding hatred.
All who in that evil day would fearlessly serve God according to the
dictates of conscience, will need courage, firmness, and a knowledge
of God and His word; for those who are true to God will be persecuted,
their motives will be impugned, their best efforts misinterpreted, and
their names cast out as evil. Satan will work with all his deceptive
power to influence the heart and becloud the understanding, to make
evil appear good, and good evil. The stronger and purer the faith of
God’s people, and the firmer their determination to obey Him, the
more fiercely will Satan strive to stir up against them the rage of those
who, while claiming to be righteous, trample upon the law of God. It
will require the firmest trust, the most heroic purpose, to hold fast the
faith once delivered to the saints.
God desires His people to prepare for the soon-coming crisis.
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Prepared or unprepared, they must all meet it; and those only who
have brought their lives into conformity to the divine standard, will
stand firm at that time of test and trial. When secular rulers unite with
ministers of religion to dictate in matters of conscience, then it will be
seen who really fear and serve God. When the darkness is deepest, the
light of a godlike character will shine the brightest. When every other
trust fails, then it will be seen who have an abiding trust in Jehovah.
And while the enemies of truth are on every side, watching the Lord’s
servants for evil, God will watch over them for good. He will be to
them as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
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