Chapter 5: The Little Time of Trouble
What has often been the lot of God's children in the past? 2 Tim. 3: 12- "In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted..." John 15: 20- "Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. John 16: 2- "They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. Daniel 7: 25- "He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time. Revelation 13: 7- "He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.Has Satan changed or is he still a persecutor? Revelation 13: 15-17- "He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.What specific perplexities will Satan bring upon the saints in the future? Same As Above When do these troubles begin, in relationship to the close of probation? "I saw that God had children who do not see and keep the Sabbath. They have not rejected the light upon it. And at the commencement of the time of trouble, we were filled with the Holy Ghost as we went forth and proclaimed the Sabbath more fully" (EW 33). "'The commencement of the time of trouble,' here mentioned, does not refer to the time when the plagues shall begin to be poured out, but to a short period just before they are poured out, while Christ is in the sanctuary" (ibid. 85).What is one of the principal causes of this time of trouble? "God's Sabbath will be trampled under foot, and a false sabbath will be exalted. In a Sunday law there is possibility for great suffering to those who observe the seventh day. The working out of Satan's plans will bring persecution to the people of God. But the faithful servants of God need not fear the outcome of the conflict" (2SM 375). "If popery or its principles shall again be legislated into power, the fires of persecution will be rekindled against those who will not sacrifice conscience and the truth in deference to popular errors. This evil is on the point of realization" (5T 712).Will God's people be persecuted for Sunday-breaking or for Sabbathkeeping? "The Protestant world today see in the little company keeping the Sabbath a Mordecai in the gate. His character and conduct, expressing reverence for the law of God, are a constant rebuke to those who have cast off the fear of the Lord and are trampling upon His Sabbath; the unwelcome intruder must by some means be put out of the way" (ibid. 450). "God's people will feel the hand of persecution because they keep holy the seventh day" (7BC 975 [9T 229]). "Let there be a revival of the faith and power of the early church, and the spirit of persecution will be revived, and the fires of persecution will be rekindled" (GC 48).How bitter will hatred of Seventh-day Adventists become? "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 odwn 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" (GC 592 [see also PK 183, 184]). "Before the warfare shall be ended and the victory won, we as a people are to experience trials similar to those of Paul. We shall encounter the same hardness of heart, the same cruel determination, the same unyielding hatred.. ..Persecution will again be kindled agaisnt those who are true to God; their motives will be impugned, their best efforts misinterpreted, their names cast out as evil...God would have His people prepared for the soon-coming crisis. Prepared or unprepared, we must all meet it" (SLP 251, 252). "Wealth, genius education, will combine to cover them with contempt. Persecuting rulers, ministers, and church mnembers will conspire agasinst them. With voice and pen, by boasts, threats, and ridicule, they will seek to overthrow their faith: (5T 450).What organizations will make it extremely difficult for Adventists to continue their work in the cities? "The trades unions will be one of the agencies that will bring upon this earth a time of trouble such as has not been since the world began" (2SM 142). "Because of these unions and confederacies, it will soon be very difficult for our institutions to carry on their work in the cities. My warning is: Keep out of the cities. Build no sanitariums in the cities" (ibid. 142). "A few men will combine to grasp all the means to be obtained in certain lines of business. Trades unions will be formed, and those who refuse to join these unions will be marked men" (ibid. 142). "The time is fast coming when the controlling power of the labor unions will be very oppressive. Again and again the Lord has instructed that our people are to take their families away from the cities, into the country, where they can raise their own provisions; for in the future the problem of buying and selling will be a very serious one" (ibid. 141).As time progresses, what official decree will go forth concerning buying and selling? "In the last great conflict of the controversy with Satan those who are loyal to God will see every earthly support cut off. Because they refuse to break His law in obedience to earthly powers, they will be forbidden to buy or sell" (DA 121, 122). "Satan says, ....'For fear of wanting food and clothing, they will join with the world in transgressing God's law. The earth will be wholly under my dominion'" (PK 183, 184 [see also 5T 152]). "Hoarded wealth will soon be worthless. When the decree shall go forth that none shall buy or sell except they have the mark of the beast, very much means will be of no avail. God calls for us now to do all in our power to send forth the warning to the world" (RH Mar. 21, 1878). "The time is coming when we cannot sell at any price. The decree will soon go forth prohibiting men to buy or sell of any man save him that hath the mark of the beast. We came near having this realized in California a short time since; but this was only the threatening of the blowing of the four winds. As yet they are held by the four angels. We are not just ready. There is a work yet to be done, and then the angels will be bidden to let go, that the four winds may blow upon the earth. That will be a decisive time for God's children, a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation. Now is our opportunity to work" (5T 152).