Time of The End
49
be fireproof, and they were erected to glorify the owners and builders.
Higher and still higher these buildings rose, and in them the most
costly material was used. Those to whom these buildings belonged
were not asking themselves: “How can we best glorify God?” The
Lord was not in their thoughts.
As these lofty buildings went up, the owners rejoiced with ambi-
tious pride that they had money to use in gratifying self and provoking
the envy of their neighbors. Much of the money that they thus invested
[38]
had been obtained through exaction, through grinding down the poor.
They forgot that in heaven an account of every business transaction is
kept; every unjust deal, every fraudulent act, is there recorded. The
time is coming when in their fraud and insolence men will reach a
point that the Lord will not permit them to pass, and they will learn
that there is a limit to the forbearance of Jehovah.
The scene that next passed before me was an alarm of fire. Men
looked at the lofty and supposedly fireproof buildings and said: “They
are perfectly safe.” But these buildings were consumed as if made of
pitch. The fire engines could do nothing to stay the destruction. The
firemen were unable to operate the engines.
I am instructed that when the Lord’s time comes, should no change
have taken place in the hearts of proud, ambitious human beings, men
will find that the hand that had been strong to save will be strong to
destroy. No earthly power can stay the hand of God. No material
can be used in the erection of buildings that will preserve them from
destruction when God’s appointed time comes to send retribution on
men for their disregard of His law and for their selfish ambition.
There are not many, even among educators and statesmen, who
comprehend the causes that underlie the present state of society. Those
who hold the reins of government are not able to solve the problem
of moral corruption, poverty, pauperism, and increasing crime. They
are struggling in vain to place business operations on a more secure
basis. If men would give more heed to the teaching of God’s word,
they would find a solution of the problems that perplex them.
The Scriptures describe the condition of the world just before
Christ’s second coming. Of the men who by robbery and extortion are
amassing great riches, it is written: “Ye have heaped treasure together
for the last days. Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped
down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and