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Mark of the Beast
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the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger,
to lay the land desolate and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
Sacrifice all to God. Lay all upon His altar—self, property, and all, a
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living sacrifice. It will take all to enter glory. Lay up for yourselves
treasure in heaven, where no thief can approach or rust corrupt. Ye
must be partakers of Christ’s sufferings here if ye would be partakers
with Him of His glory hereafter.”
Heaven will be cheap enough, if we obtain it through suffering.
We must deny self all along the way, die to self daily, let Jesus alone
appear, and keep His glory continually in view. I saw that those who
of late have embraced the truth would have to know what it is to
suffer for Christ’s sake, that they would have trials to pass through
that would be keen and cutting, in order that they may be purified
and fitted through suffering to receive the seal of the living God,
pass through the time of trouble, see the King in His beauty, and
dwell in the presence of God and of pure, holy angels.
As I saw what we must be in order to inherit glory, and then saw
how much Jesus had suffered to obtain for us so rich an inheritance,
I prayed that we might be baptized into Christ’s sufferings, that
we might not shrink at trials, but bear them with patience and joy,
knowing what Jesus had suffered that we through His poverty and
sufferings might be made rich. Said the angel, “Deny self; ye must
step fast.” Some of us have had time to get the truth and to advance
step by step, and every step we have taken has given us strength to
take the next. But now time is almost finished, and what we have
been years learning, they will have to learn in a few months. They
will also have much to unlearn and much to learn again. Those who
would not receive the mark of the beast and his image when the
decree goes forth, must have decision
now
to say,
Nay
, we will not
regard the institution of the beast.
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