America’s Unsavory Destiny
By Pastor Hal Mayer
Dear Friends,
I am so thankful you are joining me this month for another look at end-time prophecy. I want to thank you for your support and prayers. As we near the end of time we are also near the end of America as a freedom loving nation.
Americans have just been through a very divisive election cycle with disturbing elements surrounding it and it behooves us to take another look at the predictions of the Bible and consider the prophetic destiny to which America is headed.
As we begin, let us bow our heads in prayer. Our Father, we see the ominous signs of the times showing us how near we are to the end. America has been a beacon of light for more than two centuries of freedom and liberty. But its storied history has been all but forgotten. Its founding principles are about to be overthrown. Every freedom is going to be repudiated. We don’t want to be caught up in the conflict even emotionally. We want to live in such a way as to be available to the Holy Spirit during the latter rain to lead people to Jesus, not to political or social solutions, for these will never be the answer to this world’s problems. So, please be with us today as we study. In Jesus’ name, amen.
America is on the precipice of major changes that will take your breath away. But it has all been foretold in prophecy, not in every detail, but in principles, types and symbols. But we need wisdom to understand our times. So, let us begin by reading a familiar scripture. Daniel 12:3. “And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.”
The times are very dark and getting darker. The darkness of night is stealing upon us. Isaiah 60:2 tells us what to expect from this world. “For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people…”
Friends, people identified with this world are going to grope around in confusion and disappointment, and they will become anxious and violent. We are entering that darkness now. Expect strange and unprecedented things to happen. But, be careful. Don’t get caught up in the conflict. Don’t cast your lot in with either side, for they are both controlled by Satan. Don’t let your emotions be controlled by either side either. For both will end up fighting God and His law. That’s the real issue. God’s holy law is being trampled under the feet of wicked men and women. Every principle of the law is being rejected with a determined spirit by rulers and statemen as well as the population. And time is short. We don’t have much time to work for the Lord.
You can see the stars when it is dark. And God is going to allow wicked and satanic forces to create deep spiritual darkness over the whole world so His people can shine more brightly amid the darkness. Notice too, from Daniel 12:3 that these are the wise that shine brightly. So, we need heavenly wisdom to navigate these dark times. God’s true people are not taken in by political partisanship. They are not on one side or the other of a divisive social conflict. They don’t get involved in the contentious clashes of the day. They ride above the conflicts and shine a light on God’s law. The reprove the sins of Babylon and her daughters. They pay attention to prophecy. They watch the signs of the times so they can avoid the calamities and escape the coming disasters. They only want to be in the place where God wants them to be.
Revelation 13:11 talks about America and its role in end-time prophecy.
“And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.”
America, the lamblike beast, was mild and gentle when it was founded, giving liberties and freedoms to all, especially religious liberty. But a change is rapidly coming. Indeed, already the first wave of it is upon us.
And this is a big change. America has long been “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” No other nation has equaled it in terms of freedom of religion and economic boon. For over two centuries it has been a bulwark of freedom that has echoed and re-echoed around the world. It has been a shining light to lead the way for other nations to follow in its steps. And it has been the place God has chosen to nurture and develop the glorious last message to a fallen world; the three angels messages.
But American freedom has many enemies, not the least of which is the Vatican, which professes great friendship to America, its presidents and other dignitaries of state. Rome has quietly and stealthily revised Americans thinking and attitudes. Rome has fostered conflict and division until today we are almost at strife because of the polarization. But her enemies also hail from within. Slowly, pressing a liberal agenda, America has departed from God and has adopted principles that will remove God’s protection and will give the enemy far more power to cause division and disunity. A divided country is perfectly suited to cause its ruin. As the old saying goes, “divide and conquer.”
Senator Chuck Schumer recently made a chilling statement. Anticipating Democratic control of the Senate, he said, “We will change America!” What did he mean by that? Did he mean that America would lose its freedoms guaranteed in its constitution? That’s what Rome wants to achieve. And the more conflict there is, the easier it will be accomplished. Nancy Pelosi, as I’ve documented before, is a friend of the Jesuits, who stand on both sides of any conflict, and she courts their favor. Others want to change America too. Antifa wants to change America. Black Lives Matter wants to change America. It seems like half the country want to change America and the other half want it to remain the same.
Schumer: If Democrats Win The Senate Through Georgia Races, We Will ‘Change America’
Ben Franklin famously opined to Elizabeth Willing Powel, who asked him, “what have we got a republic or a monarchy?”
“A republic,” replied the Doctor, “if you can keep it.”
“A Republic, If You Can Keep It”
This was not an idle statement. In recent years we have heard over and over again that America is a democracy, which is a totally different thing from a republic. Democracy is the rule of the majority. A republic protects the voice and opinions of the minority from persecution and marginalization, especially religious and political opinions.
But Americans and others have lost sight of this and have just gone along with the idea that America is a democracy and opened the door to the dictatorship of the majority, which is what a democracy really is. And it’s already in play. Most people couldn’t tell you what the difference is between a democracy and a republic, much less tell you what they mean in terms of religious liberty. Most people join the conflicts of society without realizing what they are doing.
Ben Franklin would be shocked if he saw what the United States looks like today. He understood that there are many foes to American freedom, and he foresaw that it would be a hard job to hold on to the republic that emphasizes freedom, requiring vigilance and fortitude and stamina.
Democracy, or the rule of the majority, leads to persecution of the minority. And it starts with stifling the minority opinions and viewpoint, or narrative. Marginalizing it and suppressing it. The dominant narrative against the alternative narrative. This is done by shaming, sidelining, and even physical violence in the more advanced stages. In short, you are persecuted if you hold a politically incorrect idea, or the alternate narrative.
But America has been on a persecution trajectory for quite some time. Those who take a different position than the controlling narrative are marginalized and, in some cases, forced to comply with laws that are repugnant to their convictions. Issues such as abortion rights and gay rights, the legalization of gay marriage, and adoption rights, to restriction of religious speech and conscience, all these and more are liberal issues and have created a dominant narrative that increasingly pressures conservatives to comply or be sidelined from the marketplace of ideas. And this has created so much anger, that some are openly advocating violence on both sides.
And what is going to transform America into a dragon, or a persecuting power? A democracy. Yes, a democracy or the tyranny of the majority. Bold national sins are leading America away from its founding principles to a far more persecuting beast that speaks like a dragon. And the legal precedents are already making their way into the laws of the land.
Make no mistake, President Biden and Vice-president Harris, if confirmed, will take these things much further than you can imagine. Socialism had no place in the American founder’s vision. They were watching as the French Revolution unfolded and the resulting Marxism. They saw the effects of secularism on society. And they rejected it as a despicable and violent political movement that destroyed liberty and destroyed the French nation and impoverished her people. Do not be deceived, democracy and its attendant socialism will do the same to America. France later backed away from the principles of the Revolution and regained some of its footing. But it was never the same again. Even today France is still affected by its fall into the chaos of the Revolution. But America can’t go back to what it was either. It has served its purpose as the bulwark and vanguard of liberty. I’m sorry to tell you, the American era of liberty is over. Yes, it’s over. Gradually, imperceptively to many, it has been changing and will change more.
Today, because of its national sins, and because of the rise of secularism, God is withdrawing His protection from America, making it vulnerable to the winds of change and to further undermining of its constitution and its demise.
Listen to this statement from Education, page 228. “At the same time anarchy is seeking to sweep away all law, not only divine, but human. The centralizing of wealth and power; the vast combinations for the enriching of the few at the expense of the many; the combinations of the poorer classes for the defense of their interests and claims; the spirit of unrest, of riot and bloodshed; the world-wide dissemination of the same teachings that led to the French Revolution—all are tending to involve the whole world in a struggle similar to that which convulsed France.”
That sounds like today’s news, doesn’t it? And it isn’t just America that’s experiencing this. But America is going to lead the way in becoming a persecuting nation guided by the dragon, or Satan. America is currently the focal point of the battle between socialism and freedom. And with socialism comes loss of freedom. It has many names or labels including progressivism, liberalism, neo-Marxism, and so on, but the bottom line is the same. We are on the cusp of losing our liberties.
People that voted for socialism, whether they knew it or not, sold their birthright for a mess of pottage. But you can’t blame them. They see capitalism’s abuse. And they think socialism is better. They think government welfare for all is good. But they don’t know the history of America, or they ignore the history of socialism, for that matter. Capitalism has its faults, but socialism is not better, especially for religious liberty.
God raised up America as a unique and powerful, freedom-loving nation for the purpose of providing a nursery for the three angels messages. A place where the message of the sanctuary and the high priestly ministry of Christ, the Sabbath doctrine, the teaching of the non-immortality of the soul, and many kindred doctrines could grow and flourish without crippling opposition. These were strange and unusual ideas and doctrines that would have had crippling opposition in the old world. But God saw to it that His last generation truth had a place of freedom where these doctrines could get a foothold and expand so His whole truth could be released on the world. It was a glorious beginning! Yes, America had its faults, but it was a nation guided by the divine hand to provide religious liberty so that the three angels messages, which is a summery of the whole scripture applied to the end times, could be developed.
But America has served that prophetic purpose and now the era of freedom is almost over. And because of her rejection of God in much of society, and government sanction of various sins that have become the law of the land, we are now on the brink of losing all we have come to appreciate about America, including its economic prosperity.
The time has come for the prophecy connecting the French Revolution with our own time to be fulfilled. Henceforth, we shall see the evil one stirring up the worst passions of the people, especially in the big cities. Listen to this statement about the fall of Jerusalem found in Great Controversy, page 36.
“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.”
Did you hear that?! The destruction of Jerusalem was a faint shadow of our times. What does that mean? It means that the chaos and destruction in our time will be far worse than in theirs.
Listen to it from Great Controversy, pages 28 and 29, “Satan aroused the fiercest and most debased passions of the soul. Men did not reason; they were beyond reason—controlled by impulse and blind rage. They became satanic in their cruelty. In the family and in the nation, among the highest and the lowest classes alike, there was suspicion, envy, hatred, strife, rebellion, murder. There was no safety anywhere. Friends and kindred betrayed one another. Parents slew their children, and children their parents. The rulers of the people had no power to rule themselves. Uncontrolled passions made them tyrants. The Jews had accepted false testimony to condemn the innocent Son of God. Now false accusations made their own lives uncertain. By their actions they had long been saying: ‘Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.’ Isaiah 30:11. Now their desire was granted. The fear of God no longer disturbed them. Satan was at the head of the nation, and the highest civil and religious authorities were under his sway.”
Do you think this is the way it will be in our day? Will Satan control religious and secular authorities like he did back then? We should not be surprised in the least when these very ones who are highly respected, will oppress and seek to destroy those who are loyal to Christ.
It was the time of Passover and millions of Jews were crammed into the city. Once the Roman armies locked down the city, all of them were trapped. Warring political factions within the city each had their leaders and like gangs of thieves and robbers violently asserted their power and control over the people.
Listen to what Josephus says. “And now there were three treacherous factions in the city, the one parted from the other… [one faction] plundered the populace… and sallied out in great number upon [the other party]… and… set on fire those houses that were full of corn and of all other provisions.”
Does that sound something like the mobs in the streets today?
The other party did the same thing. Reading on, “Accordingly, it so came to pass, that all the places that were about the temple were burnt down, and were become an intermediate desert space, ready for fighting on both sides of it and that almost all the corn was burnt, which would have been sufficient for a siege of many years.” The Works of Flavius Josephus, Book V, Chapter One.
Jerusalem was actually overthrown by their own violent hands, which burned the stores of food and made the whole city vulnerable to the famine.
But that was only the beginning. There was fighting in the streets. Everyone lived in fear of his neighbor. Reading on from Josephus, “And now, as the city was engaged in a war on all sides, from these treacherous crowds of wicked men, the people of the city, between them, were like a great body torn in pieces. The aged men and the women were in such distress by their internal calamities that they wished FOR the Romans, and earnestly hoped for an external war, in order to [be delivered] from their [domestic] miseries. The citizens themselves were under a terrible consternation and fear… nor could such as had a mind flee away; for guards were set at all places, and the heads of the robbers although they were [against one another], yet did they agree in killing those that were for peace with the Romans, or were suspected of an inclination to desert them…” The Works of Flavius Josephus, Book V, Chapter One.
Have we begun to see the fighting in the streets? Friends, do you understand what this is saying? There were violent gangs at war with each other, something like the mobs in the streets of America today. But it hasn’t yet become that which will make the destruction of Jerusalem a “faint shadow” of our time, yet. But it will.
The gangs in Jerusalem refused to let the innocent citizens leave. Instead, even on mere suspicion of intent to leave the city, they would kill them in cold blood. The time, my friends, will come when it will be impossible to even physically leave a big city. And in some places, it may already be past time to sell up and buy a home in the country, unless you take a huge loss on your home. My friend, I am appealing to you if you live in a city. If you have an opportunity to sell your house, do so as soon as possible and move to the country. You will not regret it.
But the bosses of the mobs in Jerusalem gave execution orders for those that try to leave the city. This is extra-judicial killing, assassination, and murder all wrapped up in one. We will see this today as things get worse and worse. People living in the city, may see a similar situation where they can’t leave.
When the Holy Spirit is finally withdrawn from the wicked, and the worst time of trouble comes, people will take matters into their own hands to defend themselves, provide for themselves or to seek personal gain. They have the example of the highest leaders of state, who “are on the take” from foreign governments and they see ways to do likewise to their fellow citizens. So why would they hesitate to murder others in cold blood whom they think are worthy of death.
Under that kind of pressure, the definition of what is worthy of death becomes very shallow and superficial. The smallest things, or mere suspicion, could trigger a summary death sentence. When worse chaos breaks upon the major cities of the western, high-tech world, the definition of what crimes are worthy of death will become very broad and shallow, and probably very inconsistent from place to place. The “rule of the street” will overthrow the rule of law. Its already starting to happen. And the police can do little about it. Military forces, designed to prevent civilian unrest and chaos will be brought in to restore law and order, but chances are they will not be able to do much. When police or the military arrives the mobs simply disperse and switch locations. They are already preparing for this and testing it.
It is also clear that Jerusalem was in lock-down both from inside and then from outside. Anyone who was suspected of planning escape was cut down in cold blood, instilling fear in the rest of the populace. Josephus says that they “omitted no method of torment or barbarity.” Torture was common. Today, cities can easily be locked down so that no one can come in and no one can go out. This is one of the reasons why God tells us to live outside the cities. That way you won’t be caught up in the chaos and be trapped. There were so many dead bodies in Jerusalem that they were piled up in the streets and were trampled upon by the warring parties.
Great Controversy, page 29 adds some shocking details to the saga. “Even the sanctity of the temple could not restrain their horrible ferocity. The worshipers were stricken down before the altar, and the sanctuary was polluted with the bodies of the slain. Yet in their blind and blasphemous presumption the instigators of this hellish work publicly declared that they had no fear that Jerusalem would be destroyed, for it was God’s own city. To establish their power more firmly, they bribed false prophets to proclaim, even while Roman legions were besieging the temple, that the people were to wait for deliverance from God. To the last, multitudes held fast to the belief that the Most High would interpose for the defeat of their adversaries. But Israel had spurned the divine protection, and now she had no defense. Unhappy Jerusalem! rent by internal dissensions, the blood of her children slain by one another’s hands crimsoning her streets, while alien armies beat down her fortifications and slew her men of war!”
What happened in Jerusalem gives us a prophetic picture of what will happen in the last days. Can you imagine the chaos and bloodshed when there will be shortages of food, fuel and other basic items? People will panic. Gangs and thieves will plunder those who live among them, and men’s hearts will fail them for fear. Luke 21:26. This is fear that will drive the people to extreme and desperate measures.
Starvation will plague the cities in countries where there is now plenty of food. Listen to this statement from the Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. 4, page 446. “While God’s judgments are visited upon the earth, and the wicked are dying from hunger and thirst, angels provide the righteous with food and water.”
Just like in ancient Jerusalem, the people in the cities will be dying from hunger and thirst. They won’t be able to get food there. If transportation is disrupted by fuel shortages or some other cause, people will not be able to just go to the supermarket and buy food. Besides, if they did, it would be stolen from them by thieves and gangs. In spite of the violence we see today, things are relatively calm compared to what they will be when it all breaks loose.
Titus besieged the city forcing a famine on them. Reading from Josephus, “The madness of the [gangs and thieves] did also increase together with their famine, and both those miseries were every day inflamed more and more; for there was no corn which anywhere appeared publicly, but the robbers came running into, and searched men’s private houses; and then if they found any, they tormented them, because they had denied they had any; and if they found none, they tormented them worse, because they supposed they had more carefully concealed it.” The Works of Flavius Josephus, Book V, Chapter Ten.
The chaos spread and increased as the famine got worse. Torture was one of the key tools to extract hidden food. The only ones left alone by the thieves and gangs were those that were already giving physical evidence that they were near the point of starvation. Anyone who still had flesh on their bones were under suspicion that they had food stored secretly somewhere. They were the ones that suffered the most cruelly.
“Many there were indeed,” says Josephus, “who sold what they had for one measure; it was of wheat if they were of the richer sort; but of barley if they were poorer. When these had so done, they shut themselves up in the inmost rooms of their houses, and ate the corn they had gotten; some did it without grinding it, by reason of the extremity of the [hunger] they were in, and others baked bread of it, according as necessity and fear dictated to them: a table was no where laid for a distinct meal, but they snatched the bread out of the fire, half-baked, and ate it very hastily.
“It was now a miserable case, and a sight that would justly bring tears into our eyes, how men stood as to their food, while the more powerful had more than enough, and the weaker were lamenting [for want of it]… Children pulled the very morsels that their fathers were eating out of their very mouths… So did the mothers do… to their infants; and when those that were most dear were perishing under their hands, they were not ashamed to take from them the very last drops that might preserve their lives… When [the gangs] saw any house shut up, this was to them a signal that the people within had gotten some food; whereupon they broke open the doors, and ran in, and took pieces of what they were eating almost up out of their very throats, and this by force: the old men, who held their food fast, were beaten; and if the women hid what they had within their hands, their hair was torn for so doing; nor was there any commiseration shown either to the aged or to the infants, but they lifted up children from the ground as they hung upon the morsels they had gotten, and shook them down upon the floor. But still they were more barbarously cruel to those that had prevented them coming in, and had actually swallowed down what they were going to seize upon, as if they had been unjustly defrauded of their right…The Works of Flavius Josephus, Book V, Chapter X.
“So fierce were the pangs of hunger that men would gnaw the leather of their belts and sandals and the covering of their shields.” That’s Great Controversy, page 31.
Can you imagine, my friends, the terrible calamity that fell upon these poor souls? This was primarily due to their disobedience of God and disregard of His law. When the Holy Spirit is withdrawn from man, he will stop at nothing to get his way. Human life becomes meaningless.
They also invented the most terrible and cruel tortures to discover where any food was… inflicting pain on the most sensitive parts of the body, “in order to make [a man] confess that he had but one loaf of bread, or that [the thief] might discover a handful of barley-meal that was concealed.”
“These men went also to meet those that had crept out of the city by night, as far as the Roman guards, to gather some plants and herbs that grew wild; and when these people thought they had gotten clear of the enemy, the [gangs] snatched from them what they had brought [back] with them, even while they had frequently entreated them… to give them back some part of [it]; though these would not give them the least crumb.” They were to be glad that they were only relieved of their food and not their lives.
Terrible are the results of rejecting the authority of heaven. The determined unbelief and stubborn rejection of God’s law today is open and defiant, and America is as doomed as Jerusalem was. The judgments of God will be just as certain to come upon the nation in our day as it was in the days of Jerusalem’s overthrow.
We need to understand these judgments however as there is much danger of misunderstanding them. God’s judgments are primarily a result of the withdrawing of protection. The enemy comes in and wreaks confusion, disunity, war, and destruction.
Keep the Faith has predicted for many years that this day would come. Listen to this prophetic statement from Testimonies to the Church, Vol. 5, page 541. “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, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near.”
We are going to see the same things happen in America very soon. That’s what we are told through the pen of inspiration. And look who is the catalyst for this repudiation? Rome. The Bible says in Revelation 18:4 that Rome is guilty of “the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.” So, we see then that it is America’s friendship with the Papacy, something that God has forbidden, that gives rise to the constitutional chaos and socialism. Rome is the sponsor of both.
Actually, Rome has fostered division, and is in control of both sides of the conflict. America is getting ready to set up the image of the beast, the image of the Papacy. Even religious laws will be enacted at a time when it looks like it is impossible with secularism on the rise. America has been treading closer to Rome year by year. Step by step. Day by day.
Great Controversy, pages 563-566 say, “Romanism is now regarded by Protestants with far greater favor than in former years. In those countries where Catholicism is not in the ascendancy, and the papists are taking a conciliatory course in order to gain influence, there is an increasing indifference concerning the doctrines that separate the reformed churches from the papal hierarchy; the opinion is gaining ground that, after all, we do not differ so widely upon vital points as has been supposed, and that a little concession on our part will bring us into a better understanding with Rome. The time was when Protestants placed a high value upon the liberty of conscience which had been so dearly purchased. They taught their children to abhor popery and held that to seek harmony with Rome would be disloyalty to God. But how widely different are the sentiments now expressed…!”
By now, though, there is a full-scale retreat to the Papacy of churches all around Protestantism. And it is considered politically correct to be in ecumenical dialog with Rome. Or to be hobnobbing with papal representatives at ecumenical meetings in various parts of the world, even from God’s remnant church.
Here is more of Great Controversy, “‘There are many who are disposed to attribute any fear of Roman Catholicism in the United States to bigotry or childishness. Such see nothing in the character and attitude of Romanism that is hostile to our free institutions, or find nothing portentous in its growth…
“The pacific tone of Rome in the United States does not imply a change of heart. She is tolerant where she is helpless. Says Bishop O’Connor: ‘Religious liberty is merely endured until the opposite can be carried into effect without peril to the Catholic world.’… The archbishop of St. Louis once said: ‘Heresy and unbelief are crimes; and in Christian countries, as in Italy and Spain, for instance, where all the people are Catholics, and where the Catholic religion is an essential part of the law of the land, they are punished as other crimes.’…
“Romanism as a system is no more in harmony with the gospel of Christ now than at any former period in her history. The Protestant churches are in great darkness, or they would discern the signs of the times. The Roman Church is far-reaching in her plans and modes of operation. She is employing every device to extend her influence and increase her power in preparation for a fierce and determined conflict to regain control of the world, to re-establish persecution, and to undo all that Protestantism has done. Catholicism is gaining ground upon every side. See the increasing number of her churches and chapels in Protestant countries. Look at the popularity of her colleges and seminaries in America, so widely patronized by Protestants. Look at the growth of ritualism in England and the frequent defections to the ranks of the Catholics. These things should awaken the anxiety of all who prize the pure principles of the gospel.”
“Protestants have tampered with and patronized popery; they have made compromises and concessions which papists themselves are surprised to see and fail to understand. Men are closing their eyes to the real character of Romanism and the dangers to be apprehended from her supremacy. The people need to be aroused to resist the advances of this most dangerous foe to civil and religious liberty.”
And now America is beginning to speak as a dragon using force to get compliance in conscience matters. First, it is in areas that aren’t that closely related to worship, like anti-LGBTQ speech, or laws against conversion therapy for gays that want to change. But once the precedent is set, then it will change to other speech such as anti-hate laws, for instance, anti-religious bigotry laws against the Papacy. Once and for all the glory that America once had is almost departed and “Ichabod” is written against her in the books of heaven.
At this time, as the nation is being pulled apart, God’s people need to be pulling together like never before. We only have seen a small token of the disruption that lies ahead. Like never before we are to depend on God and trust Him for safety and sustenance.
If we think that human power can restore what we had, or save us from some overwhelming catastrophe, either political or social, we are deceived and will be overcome by the power of the enemy that will destroy us. We often think that God has delivered us from some natural disaster, and we thank Him for His deliverance. But we turn to political or social saviors to save us from human or earthly threats. But both sides are going to join in persecution of God’s people. Like Jerusalem of old the enemy is now at the head of the nation and in control of both sides and will stir up the worst passions in his agents.
But, my friends, we ought to forget the arm of flesh! It can no more help us than a mouse can. Turn to the arm of omnipotence for all things, both temporal and spiritual. That’s the only way to survive and arrive at our heavenly home.
Patriarchs and Prophets, page 717 says, “The tenor of the Bible is to inculcate distrust of human power and to encourage trust in divine power.”
Thus, we are to overcome the enemy, even the enemy who has conspired with worldly powers to destroy us with a massive worldwide system of control calibrated to force compliance. God is capable of delivering you and of standing by you, and will give you strength to go through to the end. America is never going to recover from the confusing and overwhelming onslaught of conflicts. In fact, we are going to see worse things happen to our freedoms and the once free nation. Get ready, get ready. Follow the Lord’s counsel. He will help you.
Great Controversy, page 571 reveals what is going on behind the scenes. “The Roman Church now presents a fair front to the world, covering with apologies her record of horrible cruelties. She has clothed herself in Christlike garments; but she is unchanged. Every principle of the papacy that existed in past ages exists today. The doctrines devised in the darkest ages are still held. Let none deceive themselves. The papacy that Protestants are now so ready to honor is the same that ruled the world in the days of the Reformation, when men of God stood up, at the peril of their lives, to expose her iniquity. She possesses the same pride and arrogant assumption that lorded it over kings and princes, and claimed the prerogatives of God. Her spirit is no less cruel and despotic now than when she crushed out human liberty and slew the saints of the Most High.”
There is hatred and seething hostility on both the liberal and the conservative side. Satan has been responsible for creating this caldron of hate. But like the pharisees and Sadducees of old who were united against Christ, the left and the right, even though they hate each other, they will unite against Sabbath keepers.
When that time comes, and it is near, what shall we do? Desire of Ages, page 89 tells us what Jesus did. “Jesus did not contend for His rights. Often His work was made unnecessarily severe because He was willing and uncomplaining. Yet He did not fail nor become discouraged. He lived above these difficulties, as if in the light of God’s countenance. He did not retaliate when roughly used, but bore insult patiently.”
He is our example. Let us follow in the steps of the meek and lowly Jesus.
Let us pray. Dear Father, we see that the end is near. We ask forgiveness for our efforts to depend on the arm of flesh. We pray that as the end approaches, You will stand by our side. When the whole world hates us, please give us the assurance of Your love. When the chaos and disruption seems to overwhelm us, give us Your peace. When threats assail us from enemies within and without please assure us of Your presence. Thank You for a few more moments of unsettled peace, and for this opportunity to learn to trust You completely. Keep us by Your power until Jesus comes, we pray, amen.