Latest / Philosophy and Faith / 36 - The Impending Conflict - The Great Controversy

Transcript

36 - The Impending Conflict - The Great Controversy · Philosophy and Faith

0:00
Speaker 1: Chapter thirty six, the impending conflict. From the very beginning
0:05
Speaker 1: of the great controversy in Heaven, it has been Satan's
0:08
Speaker 1: purpose to overthrow the Law of God. It was to
0:11
Speaker 1: accomplish this that he entered upon his rebellion against the Creator,
0:16
Speaker 1: And though he was cast out of Heaven, he has
0:18
Speaker 1: continued the same warfare upon the earth. To deceive men
0:22
Speaker 1: and thus lead them to transgress. God's Law is the
0:25
Speaker 1: object which he has steadfastly pursued. Whether this be accomplished
0:29
Speaker 1: by casting aside the law altogether or by rejecting one
0:33
Speaker 1: of its precepts, the result will be ultimately the same.
0:37
Speaker 1: He that offends in one point manifests contempt for the
0:40
Speaker 1: whole law. His influence and example are on the side
0:43
Speaker 1: of transgression. He becomes guilty of all. In seeking to
0:48
Speaker 1: cast contempt upon the divine statutes, Satan has perverted the
0:52
Speaker 1: doctrines of the Bible, and errors have thus become incorporated
0:56
Speaker 1: into the faith of thousands who profess to believe the scriptures.
1:00
Speaker 1: The last great conflict between truth and error is but
1:03
Speaker 1: the final struggle of the long standing controversy concerning the
1:06
Speaker 1: Law of God. Upon this battle we are now entering
1:11
Speaker 1: a battle between the laws of men and the precepts
1:13
Speaker 1: of Jehovah, between the religion of the Bible and the
1:17
Speaker 1: religion of fable and tradition. The agencies which will unite
1:21
Speaker 1: against truth and righteousness in this contest are now actively
1:24
Speaker 1: at work. God's Holy Word, which has been handed down
1:28
Speaker 1: to us at such a cost of suffering and blood,
1:31
Speaker 1: is but little valued. The Bible is within the reach
1:34
Speaker 1: of all, but there are few who really accept it
1:36
Speaker 1: as the guide of life. Infidelity prevails to an alarming extent,
1:42
Speaker 1: not in the world merely, but in the Church. Many
1:46
Speaker 1: have come to deny doctrines which are the very pillars
1:48
Speaker 1: of the Christian faith. The great facts of creation as
1:52
Speaker 1: presented by the inspired writers, the fall of Man, the atonement,
1:56
Speaker 1: and the perpetuity of the Law of God are practically rejected,
2:00
Speaker 1: either wholly or in part, by a large share of
2:03
Speaker 1: the professorbly Christian world. Thousands who pride themselves upon their
2:07
Speaker 1: wisdom and independence, regard it as an evidence of weakness
2:11
Speaker 1: to place implicit confidence in the Bible. They think it
2:14
Speaker 1: a proof of superior talent and learning to cavil at
2:17
Speaker 1: the scriptures and to spiritualize and explain away their most
2:20
Speaker 1: important truths. Many ministers are teaching their people, and many
2:25
Speaker 1: professors and teachers are instructing their students that the Law
2:29
Speaker 1: of God has been changed or abrogated, and those who
2:32
Speaker 1: regard its requirements as still valid to be literally obeyed
2:36
Speaker 1: are thought to be deserving only of ridicule or contempt.
2:40
Speaker 1: In rejecting the truth, men reject its author In trampling
2:44
Speaker 1: upon the Law of God, they deny the authority of
2:46
Speaker 1: the lawgiver. It is as easy to make an idol
2:50
Speaker 1: of false doctrines and theories as to fashion an idol
2:53
Speaker 1: of wooter Stone. By misrepresenting the attributes of God, Satan
2:58
Speaker 1: leads men to conceive of him in a false character,
3:01
Speaker 1: with many a philosophical Idolis enthroned in the place of Jehovah,
3:06
Speaker 1: While the living God, as he is revealed in his Word,
3:08
Speaker 1: in Christ and in the works of Creation, is worshiped
3:11
Speaker 1: by but few thousands deify nature, while they deny the
3:16
Speaker 1: God of Nature. Though in a different form, Idolatry exists
3:20
Speaker 1: in the Christian world today as barely as it existed
3:24
Speaker 1: among ancient Israel in the days of Elijah, the God
3:27
Speaker 1: of many professedly wise men of philosophers, poets, politicians, journalists.
3:33
Speaker 1: The God of polished, fashionable circles of many colleges and universities,
3:38
Speaker 1: even of some theological institutions, is little better than bail
3:42
Speaker 1: the Sun, God of Phoenicia. No error accepted by the
3:46
Speaker 1: Christian world strikes more boldly against the authority of Heaven.
3:50
Speaker 1: None is more directly opposed to the dictates of reason.
3:53
Speaker 1: None is more pernicious in its results than the modern
3:56
Speaker 1: doctrine so rapidly gaining ground that God's law is no
3:59
Speaker 1: laws longer binding upon men. Every nation has its laws
4:03
Speaker 1: which command respect and obedience. No government could exist without them.
4:08
Speaker 1: And can it be conceived that the creator of the
4:10
Speaker 1: heavens and the earth has no law to govern the
4:13
Speaker 1: beings he has made. Suppose that prominent ministers were publicly
4:18
Speaker 1: to teach that the statutes which govern their land and
4:20
Speaker 1: protect the rights of its citizens were not obligatory, that
4:23
Speaker 1: they restricted the liberties of the people, and therefore ought
4:26
Speaker 1: not to be obeyed. How long would such men be
4:29
Speaker 1: tolerated in the pulpit. But is it a graver offense
4:33
Speaker 1: to disregard the laws of states and nations than to
4:36
Speaker 1: trample upon those divine precepts which are the foundation of
4:39
Speaker 1: all government. It would be far more consistent for nations
4:43
Speaker 1: to abolish their statutes and permit the people to do
4:46
Speaker 1: as they please than for the ruler of the universe
4:49
Speaker 1: to annul his law and leave the world without a
4:51
Speaker 1: standard to condemn the guilty or justify the obedient. Would
4:56
Speaker 1: we know the result of making void the law of
4:58
Speaker 1: God The exper has been tried. Terrible were the scenes
5:03
Speaker 1: enacted in France when atheism became the controlling power. It
5:07
Speaker 1: was then demonstrated to the world that to throw off
5:10
Speaker 1: the restraints which God has imposed is to accept the
5:13
Speaker 1: rule of the cruelest of tyrants. When the standard of
5:16
Speaker 1: righteousness is set aside, the way is open for the
5:20
Speaker 1: prince of evil to establish his power in the earth.
5:23
Speaker 1: Wherever the divine precepts are rejected, sin ceases to appear
5:27
Speaker 1: sinful or righteousness desirable. Those who refuse to submit to
5:32
Speaker 1: the government of God are wholly unfitted to govern themselves.
5:36
Speaker 1: Through their pernicious teachings, the spirit of insubordination is implanted
5:40
Speaker 1: in the hearts of children and youth, who are naturally
5:42
Speaker 1: impatient of control, and a lawless, licentious state of society results.
5:48
Speaker 1: While scoffing at the credulity of those who obey the
5:51
Speaker 1: requirements of God. The multitudes eagerly accept the delusions of Satan.
5:56
Speaker 1: They give the rein to lust and practice the sins
5:59
Speaker 1: which have called down judgments upon the heathen. Those who
6:03
Speaker 1: teach the people to regard lightly the commandments of God,
6:05
Speaker 1: so disobedience to reap disobedience. Let the restraint imposed by
6:11
Speaker 1: the divine law be wholly cast aside, and human laws
6:14
Speaker 1: would soon be disregarded. Because God forbids dishonest practices, coveting, lying,
6:19
Speaker 1: and defrauding, men are ready to trample upon His statutes
6:23
Speaker 1: as a hindrance to their worldly prosperity. But the results
6:27
Speaker 1: of banishing these precepts would be such as they do
6:29
Speaker 1: not anticipate. If the law were not binding, why should
6:33
Speaker 1: any fear to transgress? Property would no longer be safe,
6:38
Speaker 1: Men would obtain their neighbor's possessions by violence, and the
6:41
Speaker 1: strongest would become richest. Life itself would not be respected.
6:46
Speaker 1: The marriage vow would no longer stand as a sacred
6:48
Speaker 1: bulwark to protect the family. He who had the power, would,
6:52
Speaker 1: if he desired, take his neighbor's wife by violence. The
6:56
Speaker 1: fifth commandment would be set aside with the fourth. Children
6:59
Speaker 1: would not from taking the life of their parents if
7:02
Speaker 1: by so doing they could obtain the desire of their
7:04
Speaker 1: corrupt hearts. The civilized world would become a horde of
7:08
Speaker 1: robbers and assassins, and peace, rest, and happiness would be
7:12
Speaker 1: banished from the earth. Already, the doctrine that men are
7:15
Speaker 1: released from obedience to God's requirements has weakened the force
7:19
Speaker 1: of moral obligation and opened the floodgates of iniquity upon
7:22
Speaker 1: the world. Lawlessness, dissipation, and corruption are sweeping in upon
7:27
Speaker 1: us like an overwhelming tide. In the family, Satan is
7:31
Speaker 1: at work his banner waves. Even in professedly Christian households,
7:37
Speaker 1: there is envy, evil, surmising, hypocrisy, estrangement, emulation, strife, betrayal
7:43
Speaker 1: of sacred trusts, indulgence of lust. The whole system of
7:48
Speaker 1: religious principles and doctrines, which should form the foundation and
7:51
Speaker 1: framework of social life, seems to be a tottering mass,
7:55
Speaker 1: ready to fall to ruin. The vilest of criminals, when
7:59
Speaker 1: thrown in to prison for their offenses, are often made
8:02
Speaker 1: the recipients of gifts and attentions, as if they had
8:05
Speaker 1: attained an enviable distinction. Great publicity is given to their
8:09
Speaker 1: character and crimes. The press publishes the revolting details of vice,
8:14
Speaker 1: thus initiating others into the practice of fraud, robbery, and murder,
8:18
Speaker 1: and Satan exults in the success of his hellish schemes.
8:22
Speaker 1: The infatuation of vice, the wanton taking of life, the
8:26
Speaker 1: terrible increase of intemperance and iniquity of every order and degree,
8:31
Speaker 1: should arouse all who fear God to inquire what can
8:33
Speaker 1: be done to stay the tide of evil. Courts of
8:37
Speaker 1: justice are corrupt, Rulers are actuated by desire for gain
8:41
Speaker 1: and love of sensual pleasure. Intemperance has beclouded the faculties
8:46
Speaker 1: of many, so that Satan has almost complete control of them.
8:51
Speaker 1: Jurists are perverted, bribed, diluted, drunkenness and revelry, passion, envy,
8:57
Speaker 1: dishonesty of every sort are represented among those who administer
9:01
Speaker 1: the laws. Justice standeth a far off, for truth is
9:05
Speaker 1: fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. The iniquity
9:10
Speaker 1: and spiritual darkness that prevailed under the supremacy of Rome
9:13
Speaker 1: were the inevitable result of her suppression of the scriptures.
9:16
Speaker 1: But where is to be found the cause of the
9:18
Speaker 1: widespread infidelity, the rejection of the law of God, and
9:22
Speaker 1: the consequent corruption under the full blaze of gospel light
9:26
Speaker 1: in an age of religious freedom. Now that Satan can
9:29
Speaker 1: no longer keep the world under his control by withholding
9:32
Speaker 1: the scriptures, he resorts to other means to accomplish the
9:35
Speaker 1: same object. To destroy faith in the Bible serves his
9:39
Speaker 1: purpose as well as to destroy the Bible itself. By
9:43
Speaker 1: introducing the belief that God's law is not binding, he
9:46
Speaker 1: is effectually leads men to transgress as if they were
9:49
Speaker 1: wholly ignorant of its precepts, And now, as in former ages,
9:54
Speaker 1: he has worked through the church to further his designs.
9:57
Speaker 1: The religious organizations of the day have have refused to
10:00
Speaker 1: listen to unpopular truths plainly brought to view in the scriptures,
10:04
Speaker 1: and in combating them, they have adopted interpretations and taken
10:08
Speaker 1: positions which have soon broadcast the seeds of skepticism. Clinging
10:13
Speaker 1: to the papal error of natural immortality in man's consciousness
10:17
Speaker 1: and death, they have rejected the only defense against the
10:20
Speaker 1: delusions of spiritualism. The doctrine of eternal torment has led
10:24
Speaker 1: many to disbelieve the Bible. And as the claims of
10:27
Speaker 1: the Fourth Commandment are urged upon the people, it is
10:30
Speaker 1: found that the observance of the seventh day Sabbath is enjoined,
10:34
Speaker 1: and as the only way to free themselves from a
10:36
Speaker 1: duty which they are unwilling to perform. Many popular teachers
10:40
Speaker 1: declare that the law of God is no longer binding.
10:44
Speaker 1: Thus they cast away the law and the Sabbath together.
10:47
Speaker 1: As the work of Sabbath reform extends, this rejection of
10:51
Speaker 1: the divine law to avoid the claims of the Fourth
10:53
Speaker 1: Commandment will become well nigh universal. The teachings of religious
10:58
Speaker 1: teachers have opened the door to infidelity, to spiritualism and
11:02
Speaker 1: to contempt for God's Holy Law. And upon these leaders
11:06
Speaker 1: rests of fearful responsibility for the iniquity that exists in
11:09
Speaker 1: the Christian world. Yet this very class put forth the
11:13
Speaker 1: claim that the fast spreading corruption is largely attributable to
11:16
Speaker 1: the desecration of the so called Christian Sabbath, and that
11:19
Speaker 1: the enforcement of Sunday observances would greatly improve the morals
11:23
Speaker 1: of society. This claim is especially urged in America, where
11:28
Speaker 1: the doctrine of the True Sabbath has been most widely preached. Here.
11:32
Speaker 1: The Temperance Work, one of the most prominent and important
11:35
Speaker 1: of moral reforms, is often combined with the Sunday movement,
11:38
Speaker 1: and the advocates of the latter represent themselves as laboring
11:42
Speaker 1: to promote the highest interest of society, and those who
11:45
Speaker 1: refuse to unite with them are denounced as the enemies
11:48
Speaker 1: of temperance and reform. But the fact that a movement
11:51
Speaker 1: to establish error is connected with a work which is
11:54
Speaker 1: in itself good is not an argument in favor of
11:57
Speaker 1: the error. We may disguise poison by mingling it with
12:00
Speaker 1: wholesome food, but we do not change its nature. On
12:04
Speaker 1: the contrary, it is rendered more dangerous, as it is
12:07
Speaker 1: more likely to be taken unawares. It is one of
12:10
Speaker 1: Satan's devices to combine with falsehood just enough truth to
12:14
Speaker 1: give it plausibility. The leaders of the Sunday movement may
12:18
Speaker 1: advocate reforms which the people meet, principles which are in
12:21
Speaker 1: harmony with the Bible. Yet while there is with these
12:24
Speaker 1: a requirement which is contrary to God's law, his servants
12:28
Speaker 1: cannot unite with them. Nothing can justify them in setting
12:31
Speaker 1: aside the commandments of God for the precepts of men.
12:35
Speaker 1: Through the two great errors, the immortality of the soul
12:38
Speaker 1: and Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under his deceptions.
12:44
Speaker 1: While the former lays the foundation of spiritualism, the latter
12:47
Speaker 1: creates a bond of sympathy with Rome. The Protestants of
12:51
Speaker 1: the United States will be foremost in stretching their hands
12:54
Speaker 1: across the gulf to grasp the hand of spiritualism. They
12:57
Speaker 1: will reach over the Abyss to clasp hands with the
12:59
Speaker 1: Roman power. And under the influence of this threefold union,
13:03
Speaker 1: this country will follow in the steps of Rome in
13:06
Speaker 1: trampling on the rights of conscience. As spiritualism more closely
13:11
Speaker 1: imitates the nominal Christianity of the day, it has greater
13:14
Speaker 1: power to deceive and ensnare. Satan himself is converted after
13:19
Speaker 1: the modern order of things, he will appear in the
13:22
Speaker 1: character of an angel of light. Through the agency of spiritualism,
13:26
Speaker 1: miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and
13:29
Speaker 1: many undeniable wonders will be performed. And as the spirits
13:34
Speaker 1: will profess faith in the Bible and manifest respect for
13:37
Speaker 1: the institutions of the Church, their work will be accepted
13:40
Speaker 1: as a manifestation of divine power. The line of distinction
13:44
Speaker 1: between professed Christians and the ungodly is now hardly distinguishable.
13:49
Speaker 1: Church members love what the world loves and are ready
13:52
Speaker 1: to join with them, and Satan determines to unite them
13:55
Speaker 1: in one body, and thus strengthen his cause by sweeping
13:58
Speaker 1: all into the ranks of sad spiritualism. Papists who boast
14:03
Speaker 1: of miracles as a certain sign of the true Church
14:06
Speaker 1: will be readily deceived by this wonder working power, and Protestants,
14:10
Speaker 1: having cast away the shield of truth, will also be deluded. Papists, Protestants,
14:15
Speaker 1: and worldlings will alike except the form of godliness without
14:19
Speaker 1: the power, and they will see in this union a
14:21
Speaker 1: grand movement for the conversion of the world and the
14:24
Speaker 1: ushering in of the long expected millennium. Through spiritualism, Satan
14:29
Speaker 1: appears as a benefactor of the race, healing the diseases
14:33
Speaker 1: of the people and professing to present a new and
14:35
Speaker 1: more exalted system of religious faith. But at the same
14:39
Speaker 1: time he works as a destroyer. His temptations are leading
14:43
Speaker 1: multitudes to ruin in temperance dethrones reason, sensual indulgence, strife,
14:49
Speaker 1: and bloodshed follow Satan delights in war, for it excites
14:54
Speaker 1: the worst passions of the soul and then sweeps into eternity,
14:58
Speaker 1: its victims steeped in vice and blood. It is his
15:02
Speaker 1: object to incite the nations to war against one another,
15:05
Speaker 1: for he can thus divert the minds of the people
15:07
Speaker 1: from the work of preparation to stand in the day
15:10
Speaker 1: of God. Satan works through the elements also to garner
15:14
Speaker 1: his harvest of unprepared souls. He has studied the secrets
15:18
Speaker 1: of the laboratories of nature, and he uses all his
15:21
Speaker 1: power to control the elements as far as God allows.
15:25
Speaker 1: When he was suffered to afflict job, how quickly locks
15:28
Speaker 1: and herds, servants, houses, children were swept away, one trouble
15:32
Speaker 1: succeeding another, as in a moment. It is God that
15:36
Speaker 1: shields his creatures and hedges them in from the power
15:39
Speaker 1: of the destroyer. But the Christian world have shown contempt
15:43
Speaker 1: for the law of Jehovah, and the Lord will do
15:46
Speaker 1: just what he has declared that he would. He will
15:48
Speaker 1: withdraw his blessings from the earth and remove his protecting
15:52
Speaker 1: care from those who are rebelling against His law, and
15:55
Speaker 1: teaching and forcing others to do the same. Satan has
15:59
Speaker 1: control of all who God does not especially guard. He
16:02
Speaker 1: will favor and prosper some in order to further his
16:05
Speaker 1: own designs, and he will bring trouble upon others and
16:08
Speaker 1: lead men to believe that it is God who is
16:10
Speaker 1: afflicting them, while appearing to the children of men as
16:14
Speaker 1: a great physician who can heal all their maladies. He
16:16
Speaker 1: will bring disease and disaster, until populous cities are reduced
16:20
Speaker 1: to ruin and desolation. Even now, he is at work
16:25
Speaker 1: in accidents and calamities by sea and by land, in
16:28
Speaker 1: great conflagrations, in fierce tornadoes and terrific hill storms, in tempests, floods, cyclones,
16:35
Speaker 1: tidal waves, and earthquakes. In every place, and in a
16:38
Speaker 1: thousand forms, Satan is exercising his power. He sweeps away
16:43
Speaker 1: the ripening harvest, and famine and distress follow. He imparts
16:47
Speaker 1: to the air a deadly taint, and thousands perish by
16:50
Speaker 1: the pestilence. These visitations are to become more and more frequent,
16:54
Speaker 1: and disastrous destruction will be upon both man and beast.
17:00
Speaker 1: Earth mourneth and fadeth away, the haughty people do languish.
17:04
Speaker 1: The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof because
17:08
Speaker 1: they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken, the
17:11
Speaker 1: everlasting covenant. And then the great Deceiver will persuade men
17:16
Speaker 1: that those who serve God are causing these evils. The
17:20
Speaker 1: class that have provoked the displeasure of heaven will charge
17:23
Speaker 1: all their troubles upon those whose obedience to God's commandments
17:26
Speaker 1: is a perpetual reproof to transgressors. It will be declared
17:31
Speaker 1: that men are offending God by the violation of the
17:33
Speaker 1: Sunday Sabbath, that this sin has brought calamities which will
17:37
Speaker 1: not cease until Sunday observants shall be strictly enforced, and
17:41
Speaker 1: that those who present the claims of the Fourth Commandment,
17:44
Speaker 1: thus destroying reverence for Sunday, are troublers of the people,
17:48
Speaker 1: preventing their restoration to divine favor and temporal prosperity. Thus
17:53
Speaker 1: the accusation urged of old against the servant of God
17:56
Speaker 1: will be repeated, and upon grounds equally well established. And
18:00
Speaker 1: it came to pass when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab
18:03
Speaker 1: said unto him, art thou he that troubleth Israel, and
18:07
Speaker 1: he answered, I have not troubled Israel, but thou and
18:10
Speaker 1: thy father's house in that ye have forsaken the commandments
18:14
Speaker 1: of the Lord, and thou hast followed Balien. As the
18:17
Speaker 1: wrath of the people shall be excited by false charges,
18:20
Speaker 1: they will pursue a course towards God's ambassadors very similar
18:24
Speaker 1: to that which Apostate Israel pursued toward Elijah. The miracle
18:28
Speaker 1: working power manifested through spiritualism will exert its influence against
18:32
Speaker 1: those who choose to obey God rather than men. Communications
18:37
Speaker 1: from the spirits will declare that God has sent them
18:39
Speaker 1: to convince the rejectors of Sunday of their error, affirming
18:43
Speaker 1: that the laws of the land should be obeyed as
18:45
Speaker 1: the law of God. They will lament the great wickedness
18:48
Speaker 1: of the world, and second the testimony of religious teachers
18:52
Speaker 1: that the degraded state of morals is caused by the
18:55
Speaker 1: desecration of Sunday. Great will be the indignation excited against
18:59
Speaker 1: all who reis to accept their testimony. Satan's policy in
19:03
Speaker 1: this final conflict with God's people is the same that
19:06
Speaker 1: he employed in the opening of the Great controversy in heaven.
19:10
Speaker 1: He professed to be seeking to promote the stability of
19:12
Speaker 1: the divine government, while secretly bending every effort to secure
19:16
Speaker 1: its overthrow, and the very work which he was thus
19:20
Speaker 1: endeavoring to accomplish he charged upon the loyal angels. The
19:24
Speaker 1: same policy of deception has marked the history of the
19:27
Speaker 1: Roman Church. It has professed to act as the vice
19:30
Speaker 1: cherrant of Heaven while seeking to exalt itself above God
19:34
Speaker 1: and to change his law. Under the rule of Rome,
19:38
Speaker 1: those who suffered death for their fidelity to the Gospel
19:41
Speaker 1: were denounced as evil doers. They were declared to be
19:44
Speaker 1: in league with Satan, and every possible means was employed
19:47
Speaker 1: to cover them with reproach, to cause them to appear
19:50
Speaker 1: in the eyes of the people and even to themselves,
19:53
Speaker 1: as the violist of criminals. So it will be now,
19:58
Speaker 1: while Satan seeks to destroy them those who honor God's law,
20:01
Speaker 1: he will cause them to be accused as law breakers,
20:04
Speaker 1: as men who are dishonoring God and bringing judgments upon
20:07
Speaker 1: the world. God never forces the will or the conscience,
20:11
Speaker 1: but Satan's constant resort to gain control of those whom
20:15
Speaker 1: he cannot otherwise seduce is compulsion by cruelty, through fear
20:19
Speaker 1: or force. He endeavors to rule the conscience and to
20:22
Speaker 1: secure homage to himself. To accomplish this, he works through
20:27
Speaker 1: both religious and secular authorities, moving them to the enforcement
20:30
Speaker 1: of human laws in defiance of the law of God.
20:34
Speaker 1: Those who honor the Bible Sabbath will be denounced as
20:37
Speaker 1: enemies of law and order, as breaking down the moral
20:40
Speaker 1: restraints of society, causing anarchy and corruption, and calling down
20:44
Speaker 1: the judgments of God upon the earth. Their conscientious scruples
20:48
Speaker 1: will be pronounced obstinacy, stubbornness, and contempt of authority. They
20:53
Speaker 1: will be accused of disaffection toward the government. Ministers who
20:58
Speaker 1: deny the obligation of the divine law will present from
21:00
Speaker 1: the pulpit the duty of yielding obedience to the civil
21:03
Speaker 1: authorities as ordained of God. In legislative halls and courts
21:08
Speaker 1: of justice. Commandment keepers will be misrepresented and condemned. A
21:13
Speaker 1: false coloring will be given to their words. The worst
21:16
Speaker 1: construction will be put upon their motives. As the Protestant
21:20
Speaker 1: churches reject the clear scriptural arguments in defense of God's law,
21:24
Speaker 1: they will long to silence those whose faith they cannot
21:27
Speaker 1: overthrow by the Bible, though they blind their own eyes
21:30
Speaker 1: to the fact they are now adopting a course which
21:33
Speaker 1: will lead to the persecution of those who conscientiously refuse
21:37
Speaker 1: to do what the rest of the Christian world are
21:38
Speaker 1: doing and acknowledge the claims of the papal Sabbath. The
21:42
Speaker 1: dignitaries of church and state will unite to bribe, persuade,
21:46
Speaker 1: or compel all classes to honor the Sunday. The lack
21:50
Speaker 1: of divine authority will be supplied by oppressive enactments. Political
21:54
Speaker 1: corruption is destroying love of justice and regard for truth,
21:58
Speaker 1: and even in free America, rulers and legislators, in order
22:02
Speaker 1: to secure public favor, will yield to the popular demand
22:05
Speaker 1: for a law enforcing Sunday observance. Liberty of conscience, which
22:10
Speaker 1: has cost so great a sacrifice, will no longer be respected.
22:15
Speaker 1: In the soon coming conflict, we shall see exemplified the
22:17
Speaker 1: prophet's words. The dragon was wroth with the woman and
22:21
Speaker 1: went to make war with the remnant of her seed,
22:24
Speaker 1: which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony
22:27
Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ. End of Chapter thirty six