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Foreword
Does history have meaning? Does human life have lasting sig-
nificance? Is God involved in events on earth?
To these questions the author of this book answers Yes. Then,
with deep insight into providential workings, she draws the curtain
aside and reveals a philosophy of history which shows that events
among the nations have eternal significance.
This volume is an adaptation of
From Splendor to Shadow,
a 1984
condensed edition of Ellen G. White’s classic volume,
Prophets
and Kings.
The condensed volume included all the chapters of the
original, using only Mrs. White’s own words but shortening the
account.
The current adaptation goes a step beyond this, using some
words, expressions, and sentence constructions more familiar to
twenty-first century readers. Most of the Bible quotations are taken
from the New King James Version, which sounds much like the
King James Version that Mrs. White used most often. It is hoped
that readers who are new to Mrs. White’s writings will enjoy this
adaptation and will develop a desire to read the original editions of
her works.
Royalty and Ruin
begins with the account of Solomon’s glorious
reign over Israel. Here we review the history of a favored and chosen
people, wavering between allegiance to God and to the gods of the
nations around them. More importantly, in fascinating character
studies of the kings, leaders, and prophets of a turbulent age, we
find dramatic evidences of the raging conflict between Christ and
Satan for the hearts of men and women. The book’s final chapters
tell of Christ’s coming to the Jewish nation and the world as their
true Royalty and of His reign that will finally undo all the ruin that
humanity—royal or not—has brought on the earth through sin.
There are five powerful volumes in the “Conflict of the Ages”
series, this book being condensed and adapted from the second of
the five. That many more readers may be drawn to God through
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