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The Great Controversy
have no protection from the wicked one. Satan will then plunge the
inhabitants of the earth into one great, final trouble. As the angels of
God cease to hold in check the fierce winds of human passion, all the
elements of strife will be let loose. The whole world will be involved
in ruin more terrible than that which came upon Jerusalem of old.
A single angel destroyed all the first-born of the Egyptians and
filled the land with mourning. When David offended against God by
numbering the people, one angel caused that terrible destruction by
which his sin was punished. The same destructive power exercised
by holy angels when God commands, will be exercised by evil angels
when He permits. There are forces now ready, and only waiting the
divine permission, to spread desolation everywhere.
Those who honor the law of God have been accused of bringing
judgments upon the world, and they will be regarded as the cause of
the fearful convulsions of nature and the strife and bloodshed among
men that are filling the earth with woe. The power attending the last
warning has enraged the wicked; their anger is kindled against all
who have received the message, and Satan will excite to still greater
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intensity the spirit of hatred and persecution.
When God’s presence was finally withdrawn from the Jewish
nation, priests and people knew it not. Though under the control of
Satan, and swayed by the most horrible and malignant passions, they
still regarded themselves as the chosen of God. The ministration in the
temple continued; sacrifices were offered upon its polluted altars, and
daily the divine blessing was invoked upon a people guilty of the blood
of God’s dear Son and seeking to slay His ministers and apostles. So
when the irrevocable decision of the sanctuary has been pronounced
and the destiny of the world has been forever fixed, the inhabitants of
the earth will know it not. The forms of religion will be continued by a
people from whom the Spirit of God has been finally withdrawn; and
the satanic zeal with which the prince of evil will inspire them for the
accomplishment of his malignant designs, will bear the semblance of
zeal for God.
As the Sabbath has become the special point of controversy
throughout Christendom, and religious and secular authorities have
combined to enforce the observance of the Sunday, the persistent re-
fusal of a small minority to yield to the popular demand will make
them objects of universal execration. It will be urged that the few who