Present Truth for These Last Days
Present Truth
“There are many precious truths contained in the Word of God, but it is "present truth" that the flock needs now.”
“I have seen the danger of the messengers running off from the important points of present truth, to dwell upon subjects that are not calculated to unite the flock and sanctify the soul. Satan will here take every possible advantage to injure the cause.
“But such subjects as the sanctuary, in connection with the 2300 days, the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, are perfectly calculated to explain the past Advent movement and show what our present position is, establish the faith of the doubting, and give certainty to the glorious future.
These, I have frequently seen, were the principal subjects on which the messengers should dwell.”
{Early Writings, 63}
“"I will not be negligent," the apostle continued, "to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth….” 2 Pet. 1:12; {AA 534}
“As the right hand of the third angel's message,
God's methods of treating disease will open doors
for the entrance of present truth.”
{7T p. 59}
Present Truth:
The Sanctuary Message
The 2300 days
The Commandments of God
The faith of Jesus
THE SHAKING TIME
“Science, so-called, and religion will be placed in opposition to each other because finite men do not comprehend the power and greatness of God. These words of Holy Writ were presented to me, "Of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them" [Acts 20:30]. This will surely be seen among the people of God.--Ev 593 (1890).
“When the shaking comes, by the introduction of false theories, these surface readers, anchored nowhere, are like shifting sand. They slide into any position to suit the tenor of their feelings of bitterness. -- TM 112 (1897).
“Not having received the love of the truth, they will be taken in the delusions of the enemy; they will give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils and will depart from the faith.--6T 401 (1900).
“The enemy will bring in false theories, such as the doctrine that there is no sanctuary. This is one of the points on which there will be a departing from the faith. -- Ev 224 (1905).
“One thing is certain: Those Seventh-day Adventists who take their stand under Satan's banner will first give up their faith in the warnings and reproofs contained in the Testimonies of God's Spirit. -- 3 SM 84 (1903).
“The very last deception of Satan will be to make of none effect the testimony of the Spirit of God. "Where there is no vision, the people perish" (Prov. 29:18). Satan will work ingeniously, in different ways and through different agencies, to unsettle the confidence of God's remnant people in the true testimony. -- 1 SM 48 (1890).
“The enemy has made his masterly efforts to unsettle the faith of our own people in the Testimonies. . . . This is just as Satan designed it should be, and those who have been preparing the way for the people to pay no heed to the warnings and reproofs of the Testimonies of the Spirit of God will see that a tide of errors of all kinds will spring into life.--3SM 83 (1890).
“It is Satan's plan to weaken the faith of God's people in the Testimonies. Next follows skepticism in regard to the vital points of our faith, the pillars of our position, then doubt as to the Holy Scriptures, and then the downward march to perdition. When the Testimonies, which were once believed, are doubted and given up, Satan knows the deceived ones will not stop at this; and he redoubles his efforts till he launches them into open rebellion, which becomes incurable and ends in destruction.”--4T 211.
{LDE 177-178}
Friends, how we need to heed these solemn warnings! Failure to do so will inevitably end in eternal loss! May the dear Lord bless and keep you this day!
"Four mighty angels hold back the powers of this earth till the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads. The nations of the world are eager for conflict, but they are held in check by the angels. When this restraining power is removed there will come a time of trouble and anguish. Deadly instruments of warfare will be invented.
Vessels with their living cargo will be entombed in the great deep. All who have not the spirit of truth will unite under the leadership of Satanic agencies, but they are to be kept under control till the time shall come for the great battle of Armageddon."—The S.D.A. Bible Commentary 7:967 (1900). {LDE 238.3}
The Whole World Will Be Involved in Ruin
Angels are now restraining the winds of strife that they may not blow until the world shall be warned of its coming doom, but a storm is gathering, ready to burst upon the earth, and when God shall bid His angels loose the winds there will be such a scene of strife as no pen can picture.—Education, 179, 180 (1903). {LDE 239.1}
The Saviour’s prophecy concerning the visitation of judgments upon Jerusalem is to have another fulfillment, of which that terrible desolation was but a faint shadow. In the fate of the chosen city we may behold the doom of a world that has rejected God’s mercy and trampled upon His law.—The Great Controversy, 36 (1911). {LDE 239.2}
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.—The Great Controversy, 614 (1911). {LDE 239.3}
Why should those of the world who do not know these things that we believe and have been told of in the Spirit of Prophecy;-why should they have to be warning others about making the preparation that WE SHOULD BE TELLING THEM TO MAKE, BUT ARE NOT, OR SCARCELY SO AT BEST?
IS IT A CASE OF THE STONES CRYING OUT {Luke 19: 40} BECAUSE OF US HOLDING OUR PEACE?
SHAME ON US BRETHREN! SHOULD NOT WE BE THE ONES TO BE FOREMOST IN TELLING THE WORLD OF THEIR DANGER?
ARE WE NOT LIVING NOW ON BORROWED TIME SINCE PIONEER DAYS?
Our Pioneers believed these things and didn't hesitate to tell those around them.
WE ARE NOW MANY, MANY YEARS PAST PIONEER DAYS, AND HAVE GROWN LUKEWARM;-TRULY THE CHURCH OF LAODICEA, AS SPOKEN OF IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION {Ch. 3: 14-22}
God has been good to us in giving us extra time to warn the world, especially since the world changing events of 2001 and what we call 9/11, when those great towers in New York exploded in fire and fell to the ground.
It is mentioned in Testimonies vol. 9, and begins on page 11 (9/11!!) through to page 13 when during those several days at least, the news was full of the story. It has been truly said that our world has not been the same world since that fearful event.
We are told in the Spirit of Prophecy that there is no preparation possible for the Great Time of Trouble, when God's angels will care for us.
COMING! -- The End of Religious Liberty
The law of God, through the agency of Satan, is to be made void. In our land of boasted freedom Religious Liberty will come to an end. The contest will be decided over the Sabbath question, which will agitate the whole world.—Evangelism, 236 (1875). {LDE 144.1}
A great crisis awaits the people of God. Very soon our nation will attempt to enforce upon all the observance of the first day of the week as a sacred day. In doing this they will not scruple to compel men against the voice of their own conscience to observe the day the nation declares to be the Sabbath. — The Review and Herald Extra, December 11, 1888. {LDE 144.2}
Seventh-day Adventists will fight the battle over the seventh-day Sabbath. The authorities in the United States and in other countries will rise up in their pride and power and make laws to restrict Religious Liberty. — Manuscript 78, 1897. {LDE 144.3}
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.—The Great Controversy, 588 (1911). {LDE 144.4}
"The authorities in the United States and in other countries will rise up in their pride and power and make laws to restrict religious liberty."—Manuscript 78, 1897. {LDE 144.3}
End-Time Conflict
{AA 219-220}
“Terrible is the struggle that takes place between the forces of good and of evil in important centers where the messengers of truth are called upon to labor. "We wrestle not against flesh and blood," declares Paul, "but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world." Ephesians 6:12.
Till the close of time there will be a conflict between the church of God and those who are under the control of evil angels.
The early Christians were often called to meet the powers of darkness face to face. By sophistry and by persecution the enemy endeavored to turn them from the true faith. At the present time, when the end of all things earthly is rapidly approaching, Satan is putting forth desperate efforts to ensnare the world. He is devising many plans to occupy minds and to divert attention from the truths essential to salvation.
In every city his agencies are busily organizing into parties those who are opposed to the law of God. The archdeceiver is at work to introduce elements of confusion and rebellion, and men are being fired with a zeal that is not according to knowledge.
Wickedness is reaching a height never before attained, and yet many ministers of the gospel are crying, "Peace and safety."
But God's faithful messengers are to go steadily forward with their work. Clothed with the panoply of heaven, they are to advance fearlessly and victoriously, never ceasing their warfare until every soul within their reach shall have received the message of truth for this time.” AA 219-220
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Daniel and the Revelation - Uriah Smith
[ Excerpt ]
Revelation Chapter XVII
A World Union Of Church and State
Verse 1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: 2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. 3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 5 and upon her forehead was a name written,
MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
In verse 19 of the preceding chapter, we are informed that "Great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath." The prophet now takes up more particularly the subject of this great Babylon. In order to give a full presentation of it, he goes back to recount some of the facts of her history. That this apostate woman as presented in this chapter is a symbol of the Roman Catholic Church, is generally believed by Protestants. Between this Church and the kings of the earth there has been illicit connection. With the wine of her fornication, her false doctrines, the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk.
Church and State. -- This prophecy is more definite than others applicable to the Roman power in that it distinguishes between Church and State. We have here the woman, the Church, seated upon a scarlet-colored beast, the civil power, by which she is upheld, and which she controls and guides to her own ends, as a rider controls the animal upon which he is seated.
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The vesture and decorations of this woman, as brought to view in verse 4, are in striking harmony with the application made of this symbol. Purple and scarlet are the chief colors in the robes of Popes and Cardinals. Among the myriads of precious stones which adorn her service, according to eyewitnesses, silver is scarcely known, and gold itself is less noticeable than are costly gems. From the golden cup in her hand -- symbol of purity of doctrine and profession, which should have contained only that which is unadulterated and pure, or only that which is in full accordance with truth -- there came forth only abominations, and the wine of her fornication, fit symbol of her abominable doctrines and still more abominable practices.
The symbol of a woman with a cup in her hand is said to have been used at a Papal Jubilee.
"In 1825, on the occasion of the Jubilee, Pope Leo XII struck a medal, bearing on the one side his own image, and on the other, that of the Church of Rome symbolized as a 'Woman,' ( 'FIDES' ) holding in her left hand a Cross and in her right a cup, with the legend around her, 'Sede Super Universum', 'The whole world is her seat.' " [1]
This woman is explicitly called 'Babylon'. Is Rome, then, Babylon, to the exclusion of all other religious bodies? -- No, she cannot be, from the fact that she is called the' Mother of Harlot's as already noticed, which shows that there are other independent religious organizations that constitute the apostate daughters, and belong to the same great family.
Verse 6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. 7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
A Cause of Wonder. -- Why should John "wonder with great wonder," as it reads in the original, when he saw the woman drunken with the blood of saints? Was the persecution of the
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people of God any strange in his day? Had he not seen Rome launch its most fiery anathemas against the church, himself being in banishment under its cruel power at the time he wrote? Why, then, should he be astonished, as he looked forward, and saw Rome still persecuting the saints? The secret of his wonder was this: All the persecution he had witnessed had been from pagan Rome, the open enemy of Christ. It was not strange that pagans should persecute Christ's followers. But when he looked forward and saw a Church [that is] professedly Christian persecuting the followers of the Lamb, and drunk with their blood, he could but wonder with great amazement.
Verse 8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. 9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. 10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. 11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
Rome in Three Phases. -- The beast of which the angel here speaks is evidently the scarlet-colored beast. A wild beast, like the one thus introduced, is the symbol of an oppressive and persecuting power. While the Roman power as a nation had a long, interrupted existence, it passed through certain phases during which this symbol would not be applicable to it, and during which time the beast, in such prophecies as the present, might be said not to be, or not to exist. Thus Rome in its pagan form was a persecuting power in its relation to the people of God, during which time it constituted the beast that was. But when the Empire was nominally converted to Christianity, there was a transition from paganism to another phase of religion falsely called Christian. During a brief period, while this transition was going on, it lost its ferocious and persecuting character, and then it could be said of the beast that it was not. As time passed, it developed into the Papacy, and
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again assumed its bloodthirsty and oppressive character.
The Seven Heads. -- The seven heads are explained to be first, seven mountains, and then seven kings. The expression in verse 10, "and there are seven kings," reads in the original, "and are seven kings." This makes the sentence read: "The seven heads are seven mountains . . . and are seven kings," thus identifying heads, mountains, and kings.
The angel says further, "five [kings] are fallen," or passed away. Again he says, "one [king] is" -- the sixth was then reigning. "The other is not yet come; and when he cometh he must continue a short space." Last of all, "the Beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven."
From this account of the seven kings, we understand that when the one that had "not yet come" at the time of which John was writing, appears on the scene, he is here called an eighth, though he is really "of the seven," in the sense that he absorbed and exercised their power. It is this one whose career we are interested to follow. Of this one it is said that his destiny was to go "into perdition," that is, to perish utterly. This repeats the affirmation made in verse 8 concerning "the beast that thou sawest," which in turn is the "scarlet colored beast," on which the woman sat. We have shown that this beast symbolizes civil power, which according to the narrative before us, passes through seven phases represented also in the leopard beast of Revelation 13, until an eighth appears and continues to the end. Since we have already shown that Papal Rome grew out of and succeeded pagan Rome, we must conclude that the eighth head, which was of the seven and ultimately exercised their power, represents the Papacy, with all its mixture of so-called Christian doctrines with pagan superstitions and observances.
Verse 12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. 13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. 14 These shall make war
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with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
The Ten Horns. -- On this subject see remarks on Daniel 7: 7, where the ten horns are shown to represent the ten kingdoms that rose out of the Roman Empire. They receive power one hour, (hora, an indefinite space of time) with the beast. That is, they reign a length of time contemporaneously with the beast, during which time they give to it their power and strength.
Croly offers this comment on verse 12: "The prediction defines the epoch of the Papacy by the formation of the Ten Kingdoms of the Western [Roman] Empire. "They shall receive power one hour with the beast.' The translation should be, 'in the same era , (mian horan). The ten kingdoms shall be contemporaneous in contradistinction to the 'seven heads,' which were successive." [2]
This language doubtless refers to the past, when the kingdoms of Europe were unanimous in giving their support to the Papacy. The treatment which these kingdoms are finally to give the Papacy is expressed in verse 16, where it is said that they shall hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. A part of this work the nations of Europe have been doing for years. The completion of it, burning her with fire, will be accomplished when Revelation 18: 8 is fulfilled.
"These shall make war with the Lamb." Verse 14. Here we are carried into the future, to the time of the great and final battle, for at this time the Lamb bears the title King of kings and Lords of lords, a title which He assumes when He ceases His intercessory priesthood at the close of probation. (Revelation 19: 11-16.)
Verse 15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. 16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and
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naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. 17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil His will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. 18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
Destiny of the Harlot.--In verse 15 we have a plain definition of the Scripture symbol of waters; they denote peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. The angel told John, while calling his attention to this subject, that he would show him the judgment of this great harlot. In verse 16 that judgment is specified. This chapter has naturally more especial referenda to the Mother, or Catholic Babylon. The next chapter, if we mistake not, deals with the character and destiny of another great branch of Babylon, the harlot daughters.
[1] Revd. Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 6.
[2] George Croly, The Apocalypse of St. John, p. 264, 265.
[ Daniel and the Revelation - Uriah Smith - Excerpt ]