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The Great Controversy
But the churches generally did not accept the warning. Their
ministers, who, as watchmen “unto the house of Israel,” should have
been the first to discern the tokens of Jesus’ coming, had failed to learn
the truth either from the testimony of the prophets or from the signs
of the times. As worldly hopes and ambitions filled the heart, love
for God and faith in His word had grown cold; and when the advent
doctrine was presented, it only aroused their prejudice and unbelief.
The fact that the message was, to a great extent, preached by laymen,
was urged as an instrument against it. As of old, the plain testimony of
God’s word was met with the inquiry: “Have any of the rulers or of the
Pharisees believed?” And finding how difficult a task it was to refute
the arguments drawn from the prophetic periods, many discouraged
the study of the prophecies, teaching that the prophetic books were
sealed and were not to be understood. Multitudes, trusting implicitly
to their pastors, refused to listen to the warning; and others, though
convinced of the truth, dared not confess it, lest they should be “put
out of the synagogue.” The message which God had sent for the testing
and purification of the church revealed all too surely how great was
the number who had set their affections on this world rather than upon
Christ. The ties which bound them to earth were stronger than the
attractions heavenward. They chose to listen to the voice of worldly
wisdom and turned away from the heart-searching message of truth.
In refusing the warning of the first angel, they rejected the means
which Heaven had provided for their restoration. They spurned the gra-
cious messenger that would have corrected the evils which separated
them from God, and with greater eagerness they turned to seek the
friendship of the world. Here was the cause of that fearful condition
of worldliness, backsliding, and spiritual death which existed in the
churches in 1844.
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In
Revelation 14
the first angel is followed by a second proclaiming:
“Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all
nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”
Revelation
14:8
. The term “Babylon” is derived from “Babel,” and signifies
confusion. It is employed in Scripture to designate the various forms
of false or apostate religion. In
Revelation 17
Babylon is represented
as a woman—a figure which is used in the Bible as the symbol of a
church, a virtuous woman representing a pure church, a vile woman
an apostate church.