Chapter 38—The Final Warning
“I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power;
and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily
with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and
is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit,
and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.” “And I heard another
voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, My people, that ye be not
partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.”
Revelation
18:1, 2, 4
.
This scripture points forward to a time when the announcement of
the fall of Babylon, as made by the second angel of
Revelation 14
(
verse
8
), is to be repeated, with the additional mention of the corruptions
which have been entering the various organizations that constitute
Babylon, since that message was first given, in the summer of 1844. A
terrible condition of the religious world is here described. With every
rejection of truth the minds of the people will become darker, their
hearts more stubborn, until they are entrenched in an infidel hardihood.
In defiance of the warnings which God has given, they will continue
to trample upon one of the precepts of the Decalogue, until they are
led to persecute those who hold it sacred. Christ is set at nought in
the contempt placed upon His word and His people. As the teachings
of spiritualism are accepted by the churches, the restraint imposed
[604]
upon the carnal heart is removed, and the profession of religion will
become a cloak to conceal the basest iniquity. A belief in spiritual
manifestations opens the door to seducing spirits and doctrines of
devils, and thus the influence of evil angels will be felt in the churches.
Of Babylon, at the time brought to view in this prophecy, it is de-
clared: “Her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered
her iniquities.”
Revelation 18:5
. She has filled up the measure of her
guilt, and destruction is about to fall upon her. But God still has a
people in Babylon; and before the visitation of His judgments these
faithful ones must be called out, that they partake not of her sins and
“receive not of her plagues.” Hence the movement symbolized by the
503