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