Luke 21:8

Christian, Be Not Deceived!

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4. HOW SATAN UNITES THE WORLD

Despite the fearful inroads of sin in the human family, the ordinary citizen does not at present contemplate that the time will ever come when the masses of mankind will actually attempt to slay the people of God. The thought today would be incredible to most people, and it would never come about except for the working of Satan. By false doctrines, by miracles, and by false accusations against God’s people, the whole world will be led to make war-upon the remnant of the woman’s seed (Revelation 12:17). Quoting these words, the Lord’s servant says: “In the near future we shall see these words fulfilled, as Protestant churches unite with the world and with the Papal power against commandment keepers. The same masterful mind that plotted against the faithful in ages past is still seeking to rid the earth of those who fear God and obey His law. Satan will excite indignation against the humble minority. Men of position and reputation will join with the lawless and the vile to take counsel against the people of God. Wealth, genius, education will combine to cover them with contempt. Persecuting rulers, ministers, and church members will conspire against them. With voice and pen, by boasts, threats, ridicule, they will seek to overthrow their faith. By false representations and angry appeals they will stir up the passions of the people” (5 Testimonies, page 449, 450).

“The popular ministry, like the Pharisees of old, filled with anger as their authority is questioned, will denounce the message as of Satan and stir up the sin-loving multitudes to revile and persecute those who proclaim it. The church appeals to the strong arm of civil power, and, in this work, Papists and Protestants unite” (Great Controversy, Page 607). Satan will succeed in stirring up anger against God’s people. In the Loud Cry, the people of God will declare that this is the result of the plotting of Satan, for we read concerning the angel proclaiming the loud cry: “For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication” (Revelation 18:1-3). The Lord’s servant, quoting these words, says: “It is a wrath which is created by false doctrines, and when kings and presidents drink this wine of the wrath of her fornication, they are stirred with anger against those who will not come into harmony with the false and satanic heresies which exalt the false Sabbath, and lead men to trample underfoot God’s memorial” (Testimonies to Ministers, page 62). The Lord’s servant often wrote of the uniting of the whole world against God’s people -see 6 Testimonies, page 18, 395; 7 Testimonies, page 141, 182; 9 Testimonies, page 149; Great Controversy, Page 607, 635; Prophets and Kings, Page 512. “At last a universal decree will denounce these as deserving of death” (Prophets and Kings, Page 512). “As America, the land of religious liberty, shall unite with the Papacy in forcing the conscience and compelling men to honor the false Sabbath, the people of every country on the globe will be led to follow her example” (6 Testimonies, page 18). “Foreign nations will follow the example of the United States. Though she leads out, yet the same crisis will come upon our people in all parts of the world” (6 Testimonies, page 395). “There will be, in different lands, a simultaneous movement for their destruction. It will be determined to strike in one night a decisive blow, which shall utterly silence the voice of dissent and reproof” (Great Controversy, Page 635).

“We may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan, and that the end is near” “when Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism” (5 Testimonies, page 451).

Referring again, in Great Controversy, Page 588, to the union of Protestants with Papists allied to spiritualism, the Lord’s servant says: “Through the agency of spiritualism, miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and many undeniable wonders will be performed. Papists, Protestants, and worldly people 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.”

Thus through false teachings and by the miracles of spiritualism the religious world will be led to make war upon the remnant church. Satan has also other weapons in his arsenal which he will employ so

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that the populace will join in the universal execration of the remnant and act to rid the earth of their obnoxious presence. What these weapons are we must now consider. ​