By Pastor Hal Mayer
Dear Friends,
Welcome to Keep the Faith Ministry once again. Thank you for joining me today as we study the changing landscape of freedom and liberty. Today, we are again going to take a break from the series on the Illegal Trial of Christ and try to understand what the government was like in Jesus day. For it will be the same in our day at the end of time. It is actually a related topic. We’re going to examine the many and varied experiences that God’s people will likely go through. Today, we’re going to look at some of the developments that are taking place in Western countries to resurrect the principles of the inquisition and restore Papal attitudes in the common citizens, protestants and others. So, fasten your seat belts.
Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we are grateful that you have strength and power far above earthly powers and that you can deliver your people out of the most difficult circumstances. Please show us today how we are to understand the forces and power of the Jesus as You allow the enemy to take control of earthly governments and institutions, including churches. Help us to see clearly that we must depend on Christ to shield us by His divine power in the midst of the most evil type of treatment. Please open our eyes today, in Jesus name, amen.
Turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Peter 4:12-16.
“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf… “Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.”
This instruction is very relevant to our time and speaks of our need to have the Spirit of Christ and to glorify God in any trial that comes to us. Instead of complaining or getting angry we should commit the keeping of our souls to Him. Satan is working to do many things to try to terrify God’s people. We can see them in this society today. But listen to this statement from Great Controversy, page 622.
“The ‘time of trouble such as never was,’ is soon to open upon us; and we shall need an experience which we do not now possess, and which many are too indolent to obtain. It is often the case that trouble is greater in anticipation than in reality; but this is not true of the crisis before us. The most vivid presentation cannot reach the magnitude of the ordeal. In that time of trial, every soul must stand for himself before God. Though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in the land, “as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.” [Ezekiel 14:20.]
Though we don’t fully understand the emotional and physical trial that God’s people will face, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t consider the events that are taking place around us and try and comprehend them. We have to prepare our minds to be ready to receive abuse and injustice. At a time when the society is being stoked to become more and more extreme, when governments are actually working to create extremism so that they can more easily control the masses and their leaders can more easily act like dictators, God’s people have to show the peace of Christ on their countenances under very intense circumstances. Today, people are being manipulated more than ever. And many are being deceived into thinking that they can rely on governments to tell them the truth. But there is only one truth, and that can be found only in the Bible, the Holy Scriptures.
Most of you have never heard of Doctor Reiner Fuellmich. He is known and respected internationally for his work as a consumer defense lawyer and for winning major lawsuits against corporate giants such as Volkswagen, Kühne & Nagel, and Deutsche Bank. He was one of the first individuals to recognize that the COVID mandates constituted crimes against humanity and decided, along with three other lawyers, to create the Corona Investigative Committee, which aimed to shed light on the actions of governments, public institutions, and the medical community in the context of the so-called “pandemic.”
Thanks to his investigative work, and after consulting more than 150 scientists and experts in all fields around the world, as well as numerous whistleblowers (from Pfizer, the WHO, CDC and UN), he was able to collect an abundance of evidence of what he calls “the biggest crime ever perpetrated against humanity.”
Just when he was ready to take action, the German secret services, in cooperation with Göttingen public prosecutor Simon Phillip John and Fuellmich’s accusers, had already decided to construct a case against Fuellmich, aimed at stopping him.
They falsely accused him of having embezzled 700,000 euros. When his defense team successfully demonstrated that the accusation was erroneous the judge invented a new accusation. Judges are not supposed to invent accusations, they are to judge between the prosecution and the defense. Take lesson #1. We can expect even judges to invent accusations in courts of justice just like in the trial of Jesus.
Though the previous Göttingen lead prosecutor Reinicke, who had been asked by the secret services to open an investigation on Fuellmich, had clearly stated that there were no grounds upon which to investigate him, a young, inexperienced prosecutor by the name of Simon Phillip John was transferred from Hanover to Göttingen and given the task of doing the dirty work that Reinicke had previously deemed unjustified. Göttingen, by the way, is the home of the very influential scientific research center called Max Plank Institute, which is famous for medical research, and was, no doubt, involved in the COVID and the vaccine cover-up. Lesson #2. They will change around personnel to accomplish what they want to accomplish even though it is not justified.
Fuellmich was lured under false pretenses to Mexico and subsequently abducted, and then deported to Germany without an international arrest warrant nor a formal extradition order, where he was then arrested by the German authorities and imprisoned. Fuellmich was unlawfully held in pre-trial detention in the German maximum-security prison in Rosdorf for 18 months. The maximum term for pre-trial detention in Germany is 6 months. Lessons #3 and #4. They will lure target individuals into some place on false pretenses where they can quietly abduct, or arrest those individuals. They will violate their own rules of detention or of trial to achieve their purposes.
From June 2024 until December 2024, Reiner Fuellmich was placed in solitary confinement. The official reason was that he was providing fellow inmates with legal advice. Fuellmich was also subjected to various forms of abuse, in clear violation of his human rights: physical and psychological mistreatment including prolonged solitary confinement, deprived of sunlight, deprived of outdoor physical activity, deprived of sleep, forced to choose between taking a shower or having his one-hour outdoor activity, and even prohibited from calling his lawyers. Aside from their brief (and monitored) telephone calls on Skype, he has not seen his wife since his arrest. Lesson #5. Your human rights will be violated. You will have physical and psychological torture and mistreatment using the methods described.
He is only permitted three hours per month of visits and telephone calls. He has been denied adequate medical care, including simple access to vitamins. Reiner was not allowed to visit his dying mother, nor attend her funeral. Lessons #6 and #7. You won’t have access to adequate medical care. You’ll be isolated from your family and all that you hold dear.
From June 10, 2024, to at least the end of April 2025, Reiner Fuellmich is brought to the court and back to prison in shackles and handcuffs, escorted by armed security officers in armored vehicles, as if he were a serial killer! Lesson #8. You will be treated like the worst criminal, so that those that see you will assume that you are guilty.
He is being denied a fair trial. Any motions presented by his defense lawyers are rejected without explanation. As of July 2024, the judge ordered that the defense motions and arguments, instead of being read aloud to the court as they are usually presented, were from then on to be presented in writing only, thus impeding court observers from understanding and properly documenting the proceedings. These same court observers, as have Fuellmich’s defense lawyers, have been subject to threats. Also, the judge did not permit the defense witnesses to take the stand. The defense lawyers had a time limit imposed on their closing statements, forcing them to shorten them. When Fuellmich made his final, closing statement before the court, he was interrupted and admonished at least 12 times. The proceedings were a “kangaroo court” similar to what you see in North Korea or Iran. Lessons #9 and #10. Legal maneuvers to be used to make sure that you don’t have a fair trial. Your defense team will be threatened and intimidated.
One of Fuellmich’s defense lawyers presented a dossier to the court that was obtained by a whistleblower. It specified that Fuellmich was to be stopped “at all costs;” that “it is necessary to prepare a criminal case against Fuellmich, [including the] collaboration of prosecutors and suitable third parties;” and recommending “the recruitment and involvement of trusted persons amongst Fuellmich’s closest circle.” It was also their stated objective to convict Fuellmich; that “the possibility of [him] obtaining a politically exposed position must be prevented by any means.” The dossier demonstrates that Reiner Fuellmich was under special surveillance as far back as 2021. Reiner Fuellmich had to be prevented from continuing his investigative work and exposing the truth regarding the “pandemic” as well as the “vaccines.” Fuellmich was and is being punished for speaking the truth. Lessons #11 and #12. They will penetrate your closest friends and former colleagues to try to use them to accuse you and convict you. You will be placed under special surveillance well in advance of any trial.
Indefinite detention is used as an instrument to defer, suppress, or completely substitute the justice system and is being legitimized as a punishment without a sentence. Justice, freedom of speech, and respect for fundamental human rights are the pillars of a free people, especially for those who raise uncomfortable questions and dare to speak up.
Do you think that the last message to the world will create such a necessity as to overthrow due process? Do you think that governments will have to stop you from exposing and revealing the truth of God to the last generation of mankind? Even CHAT-GPT3 writes that the treatment of Dr. Fuellmich is indefensible.
“The treatment of Dr. Reiner Fuellmich is not defensible under normal German legal standards. His prolonged solitary confinement, excessive security measures, and extended pre-trial detention are all highly unusual and have prompted widespread concern and condemnation from legal experts, human rights advocates, and international observers. The available evidence suggests that his case is an outlier and may be politically motivated, rather than a routine application of German justice.”
When the CHAT-GPT3, an AI summarizer that supports the administrative state, doesn’t back up the German government, you know things are bad… While you and I may feel outraged by this, please think about this statement from Desire of Ages page 509 as prophetic to our own times.
“The government under which Jesus lived was corrupt and oppressive; on every hand were crying abuses, —extortion, intolerance, and grinding cruelty. Yet the Saviour attempted no civil reforms. He attacked no national abuses, nor condemned the national enemies. He did not interfere with the authority or administration of those in power. He who was our example kept aloof from earthly governments. Not because He was indifferent to the woes of men, but because the remedy did not lie in merely human and external measures. To be efficient, the cure must reach men individually, and must regenerate the heart.”
What happened to Dr. Fuellmich in the political realm will happen to God’s people in the religious realm. Satan is preparing the tools necessary in the political realm to severely oppress God’s people in the religious realm with injustice, abuse and mistreatment of their civil and religious rights. But we are to have the same attitude that Jesus had. Great Controversy, page 581, says.
“God’s word has given warning of the impending danger; let this be unheeded, and the Protestant world will learn what the purposes of Rome really are, only when it is too late to escape the snare. She is silently growing into power. Her doctrines are exerting their influence in legislative halls, in the churches, and in the hearts of men. She is piling up her lofty and massive structures in the secret recesses of which her former persecutions will be repeated. Stealthily and unsuspectedly she is strengthening her forces to further her own ends when the time shall come for her to strike. All that she desires is vantage ground, and this is already being given her. We shall soon see and shall feel what the purpose of the Roman element is. Whoever shall believe and obey the word of God will thereby incur reproach and persecution.”
These tactics are being developed right under our noses. They are being guided by a power from beneath using the powers of earth to accomplish evil purposes. The enemy is using the Papacy as well as the “kings of the earth” to create a worldwide system of injustice and oppression to force anyone who has convictions of the truth and lives by the truth to suffer the consequences of disobeying laws that remove freedom of conscience.
What is the back story in this? Why do these things happen? Why do people get abused like this? Turn with me in your Bibles to Daniel 7:1-7.
“In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters. Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it. And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it. After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.”
Each of these beasts represent consecutive nations. They are not unlike nations today, for every national leader does not want to be challenged. And if they have limited power, they work to get unlimited power. They work at it and work at it, until they have it. And when one person is the controlling power over a nation, he is considered an autocrat or a dictator. This is the way nations are and this is the way rulers are. America has been so long a Republic because it was designed to have checks and balances. The head of state is checked by the courts. If he tries to exercise too much power the courts stop him from doing it. And if the courts become too domineering, the legislative bodies can put a check on their power. It’s all about the balance of power. But that balance is being shaken up today in very obvious ways. Inevitably, America too, will succumb to a dictatorship if left to go the way it is going at the present. It’s the nature of nations. And it’s the nature of rulers of nations.
If you study the Roman Republic, it just so happens that just before the time of Christ it went from a Republic to an empire, meaning a military dictatorship. Caesar Augustus was the first of the dictators. Of course, he tried to couch it as the first among equals to have an appearance of power sharing with the senate. But in the end Caesar Augustus was the sole decision maker on all the important decisions that were made.
And Rome descended into a cruel and oppressive regime. Caesar Augustus needed money, so he commanded that everyone be taxed in his own city. So, Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem and the rest is history that we know very well. So, Jesus was going to do a mighty work. He was going to save the human race. Satan was determined to stop him if possible. He knew that if he made the Roman government a dictatorship it would create circumstances that would make Jesus’ life and ministry very difficult. And when the enemy thinks about the future, he knows about the latter rain that is going to be poured out on God’s true people. He is aware of the power that they will have to convert many to Christ and salvation. Likewise, he is planning to make it very difficult for God’s people at the end of time as he did in the time of Christ.
Most of God’s people don’t understand this. Most of them are just thinking superficially about what is going to take place. Most of them align with one political party or another, and it causes division in society and in the church. And they get offended and injured in heated political debates. They cannot seem to transcend these issues and think about the prophecies behind them. The rulers of this world play into the hands of the Papacy. And they take on that which is politically expedient and support those who support them.
This is not a good sign for God’s people. They’ll be caught in an overwhelming surprise. I want you to think for a few minutes about what is happening in America. The “Make America Great Again” slogan is not unconnected to prophecy at all. It’s too bad most of God’s people cannot see this. It is a theme that runs through the latter part of Revelation 13, especially verses 11-17. Let’s look at it.
“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. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.”
This is describing a dictatorship, because if he exercises all the power of the first beast, which represents Catholic Rome, who persecuted the people of God for centuries. And if he causes all that dwell on the earth to worship the first beast, that is describing an autocratic power that is exercised by this beast. So, America is going to become a dictatorship. Let’s read on.
“And he doeth great wonders, (Matthew 24:24; 2 Thessalonians 2:9) so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.”
The second beast of Revelation 13 makes fire come down from heaven through deception. This tells you that this is the power of Satan because he is the first liar there ever was. He convinces the nations of the earth that they should make an image to the first beast, meaning that they would act in the same manner and enforce the same decrees, especially worship decrees. Let’s read some more.
“And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
This beast is also going to become coercive. In fact, the United States has already been coercive during the pandemic to take the jabs. But it will become more coercive as time goes on, even to the point of forcing people to worship the first beast or be killed. If you think you know how this is going to unfold before it actually happens you are kidding yourself. But you can see it coming. You can see the steps that nations are taking leading up to the Sunday law and the persecution that is predicted to come upon the whole world. And you can see it after the fact very clearly, but by then it’ll be too late.
The way the United States is treating people it thinks are bad people, is the way they will treat God’s people in the final crisis. For example, the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, was being rounded up and sent to the El Centro Prison in El Salvador. Regardless of your political views, there is a significant prophetic issue here. And it’s coming, thanks to the enthusiastic support of half of the American citizens.
Right now, the issue is not obvious to most of God’s people. These gang members are generally criminals who came into the United States illegally. The administration can justify deportations because they say that these people don’t have a right to due process. They don’t have a right to protection under the law. They are not citizens; they are illegal aliens. And they are very bad people who take over motels and hotels and terrorize the people. I know that there are different political views on that, but that isn’t the scope of our discussion today.
So, these people were deported. We saw pictures of planes offloading them under heavy guard and under severe stress. We saw pictures of them having their heads shaven. They are sent to El Centro, a notorious prison in El Salvador, who welcomed America’s money to house and feed them and to treat them as they would treat any other serious criminal, in a state that doesn’t have the same constitutional protections and restrictions as the United States. They don’t have access to family and friends. They don’t have access to legal support or defense. And they can be treated anyway that the government in El Salvador wants them to be treated. Governments can be very cruel to those it deems as serious criminals.
Do you think God’s people will be sent to prisons in other nations than in their own country? Think about that. Do you think Tren de Aragua will get due process in a country that is not their own? Do you think they will have access to lawyers and judges that have jurisdiction over their case to defend themselves? Do you think they’ll be there for a long time just rotting in prison?
But these were illegal aliens you say, they wouldn’t do that to citizens, would they? It’s been done before. What did the Nazis do to German Sabbath keepers in World War II? They deported them and left them to rot in concentration prisons or killed them according to their wishes, even Seventh-day Adventists. History will repeat itself. The US president made a comment that shocked me. Here are the president’s remarks to the president of El Salvador.
“We always have to obey the laws, but we also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways, that hit elderly ladies on the back of the head with a baseball bat when they’re not looking, that are absolute monsters. I’d like to include them in the group of people to get them out of the country, but you’ll have to be looking at the laws on that.”
Imagine if you, as a Sabbath keeper, were demonized as the cause of all the devastating natural disasters that are worse than what could possibly be a result of climate change, you know, obviously, supernatural disasters. Suppose you were accused of criminal behavior because you keep the Sabbath of the Lord. And a majority, probably a supermajority of the population supported the government in prosecuting you similar to the way they support the government in deporting Tren de Aragua to maximum security prisons outside of the country, like El Salvador, South Sudan or other far-flung places and black op sites around the world, out of range of legal services to defend themselves, far away from friends and support?
President Trump said that he would like to send US citizens to these places if they are bad enough. Other countries haven’t had the constitution like the United States to hold them back from such a thing. But now that the principles of the United States are being threatened and will eventually be removed, there is a rise in alternative treatment of criminals. And governments will also become more aggressive and unjust in their behavior toward God’s people. Remember, the time is coming when every principle of the US Constitution will be repudiated. Let’s read it from Testimonies for the Church, Vol 5, page 451.
“By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. 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.”
So, the enemy is now rapidly transforming the laws and constitution of the United States to look less and less like a republic in order that papal falsehoods can be more effectively implemented in the land of the free and the home of the brave. You need to develop a sense of freedom and religious liberty that is watertight. You can’t be wishy washy about religious freedom. And you must have the courage to be brave to withstand the onslaught.
Consider the deportations that are taking place right now. Anyone who came into the United States illegally, or overstayed their visa is frightened now, because the deportations separate families and friends and create circumstances that cause pain and hardship to them. Suppose you were deported to prisons in foreign nations. Who would you relate to? Who would you get help from? You couldn’t call your relatives. You couldn’t email or text for help. And since you are universally demonized and despised, you would be physically and psychologically abused. You would only be able to depend on God. Friends, we have to develop the dependence on God now, not then. Listen to this statement from Great Controversy, page 616 about when Jesus leaves the Most Holy Place of the Heavenly Sanctuary.
“The people of God will then be plunged into those scenes of affliction and distress described by the prophet as the time of Jacob’s trouble. ‘Thus saith the Lord: We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace…. All faces are turned into paleness. Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.’ Jeremiah 30:5-7.”
At the end of time all governments will become dictatorships because the United States will become a dictatorship. The United States leads the way. Other nations follow her lead. There will be no place of refuge on this earth for God’s people. They will be hunted like animals. They will be cast into maximum security prisons. They will be given survival rations to eat, if anything at all. They will not be given any consideration for age or sex. They will be abandoned by their families and friends. Their churches will distance themselves from them, or even “through them under the bus,” like they did to church members of Jewish descent during World War II in Germany. They will be left to their own devices and left alone to suffer at the hands of abusive prison guards. Some will be killed or martyred. Listen to this from the 1888 Materials, page 484.
“The two armies will stand distinct and separate, and this distinction will be so marked that many who shall be convinced of truth will come on the side of God’s commandment-keeping people. When this grand work is to take place in the battle, prior to the last closing conflict, many will be imprisoned, many will flee for their lives from cities and towns, and many will be martyrs for Christ’s sake in standing in defense of the truth. They will be brought before kings and rulers, and before councils to meet the false, absurd, and lying accusations brought against them, but they must stand firm as a rock to principle, and the promise is, ‘As thy days so shall thy strength be.’ (Deuteronomy 33:25). You will not be tempted above what you are able to bear. Jesus bore all this and far more. The express command of God must be obeyed, for God has been working. Luke 21:8-19.”
All of it is ordained of God to show His power to keep a soul under severe provocation. And when they are arraigned before courts, God will use that opportunity to reveal His grace and power to sustain His chosen ones in their time of need. And the larger picture will be that all of society will make the times oppressive, something like around the time of the fall of Jerusalem. Let’s read Great Controversy, pages 28, 29.
“The long-suffering of God toward Jerusalem only confirmed the Jews in their stubborn impenitence. In their hatred and cruelty toward the disciples of Jesus they rejected the last offer of mercy. Then God withdrew His protection from them and removed His restraining power from Satan and his angels, and the nation was left to the control of the leader she had chosen. Her children had spurned the grace of Christ, which would have enabled them to subdue their evil impulses, and now these became the conquerors. 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.
“The leaders of the opposing (political) factions at times united to plunder and torture their wretched victims, and again they fell upon each other’s forces and slaughtered without mercy. 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 (will there be dead bodies in the sanctuaries of Sabbath keeping churches). 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. (Will it be that way for the SDA church?) But Israel had spurned the divine protection, and now she had no defense. Unhappy Jerusalem! rent by internal dissensions (Are we the anti-type of this?), the blood of her children slain by one another’s hands crimsoning her streets (Will this be literally fulfilled in the anti-type), while alien armies beat down her fortifications and slew her men of war!
“All the predictions given by Christ concerning the destruction of Jerusalem were fulfilled to the letter. The Jews experienced the truth of His words of warning: ‘With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.’ Matthew 7:2.”
All the predictions of Christ for the God’s end-time church will likewise come to pass. People will experience the same or similar things to the time when Jesus was on earth. God’s church, like in Christ’s day cannot be criticized. You cannot say anything negative and still be perceived as supportive. You cannot denounce evil in the church or say anything against the leaders. Let’s read what it was like in Christ’s day from Great Controversy, pages 26, 27.
“In the reign of Herod, Jerusalem had not only been greatly beautified, but by the erection of towers, walls, and fortresses, adding to the natural strength of its situation, it had been rendered apparently impregnable. He who would at this time have foretold publicly its destruction, would, like Noah in his day, have been called a crazed alarmist. But Christ had said: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.” Matthew 24:35. Because of her sins, wrath had been denounced against Jerusalem, and her stubborn unbelief rendered her doom certain…”
“These words faithfully described the corrupt and self-righteous inhabitants of Jerusalem. While claiming to observe rigidly the precepts of God’s law, they were transgressing all its principles. They hated Christ because His purity and holiness revealed their iniquity; and they accused Him of being the cause of all the troubles which had come upon them in consequence of their sins. Though they knew Him to be sinless, they had declared that His death was necessary to their safety as a nation. ‘If we let Him thus alone,’ said the Jewish leaders, ‘all men will believe on Him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.’ John 11:48. If Christ were sacrificed, they might once more become a strong, united people. Thus they reasoned, and they concurred in the decision of their high priest, that it would be better for one man to die than for the whole nation to perish.”
Unfortunately, many people just cannot accept that today’s public church will not support them in the time of trouble. Many people cannot see that the institutional church cannot last and that it is already compromised and has been for many years. Thus, the crisis will blast upon them as an overwhelming surprise. One more point from Great Controversy, page 615.
“When God’s presence was finally withdrawn from the Jewish nation, priests and people knew it not. Though under the control of Satan, and swayed by the most horrible and malignant passions, they still regarded themselves as the chosen of God. The ministration in the temple continued; sacrifices were offered upon its polluted altars, and daily the divine blessing was invoked upon a people guilty of the blood of God’s dear Son and seeking to slay His ministers and apostles. So when the irrevocable decision of the sanctuary has been pronounced and the destiny of the world has been forever fixed, the inhabitants of the earth will know it not. The forms of religion will be continued by a people from whom the Spirit of God has been finally withdrawn; and the satanic zeal with which the prince of evil will inspire them for the accomplishment of his malignant designs, will bear the semblance of zeal for God.”
Jerusalem was a type of the destruction and ruin that will come upon the world at the end of time. Let’s read more of the description of the destruction of Jerusalem in Great Controversy, pages 28-32.
“Signs and wonders appeared, foreboding disaster and doom. In the midst of the night an unnatural light shone over the temple and the altar. Upon the clouds at sunset were pictured chariots and men of war gathering for battle. The priests ministering by night in the sanctuary were terrified by mysterious sounds; the earth trembled, and a multitude of voices were heard crying: ‘Let us depart hence.’ The great eastern gate, which was so heavy that it could hardly be shut by a score of men, and which was secured by immense bars of iron fastened deep in the pavement of solid stone, opened at midnight, without visible agency. —Milman, The History of the Jews, Book 13.
“For seven years a man continued to go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, declaring the woes that were to come upon the city. By day and by night he chanted the wild dirge: ‘A voice from the east! a voice from the west! a voice from the four winds! a voice against Jerusalem and against the temple! a voice against the bridegrooms and the brides! a voice against the whole people!’—Ibid. This strange being was imprisoned and scourged, but no complaint escaped his lips. To insult and abuse he answered only: ‘Woe, woe to Jerusalem!’ ‘woe, woe to the inhabitants thereof!’ His warning cry ceased not until he was slain in the siege he had foretold.
“Terrible were the calamities that fell upon Jerusalem when the siege was resumed by Titus. The city was invested at the time of the Passover, when millions of Jews were assembled within its walls. Their stores of provision, which if carefully preserved would have supplied the inhabitants for years, had previously been destroyed through the jealousy and revenge of the contending factions, and now all the horrors of starvation were experienced. A measure of wheat was sold for a talent. So fierce were the pangs of hunger that men would gnaw the leather of their belts and sandals and the covering of their shields. Great numbers of the people would steal out at night to gather wild plants growing outside the city walls, though many were seized and put to death with cruel torture, and often those who returned in safety were robbed of what they had gleaned at so great peril. The most inhuman tortures were inflicted by those in power, to force from the want-stricken people the last scanty supplies which they might have concealed. And these cruelties were not infrequently practiced by men who were themselves well fed, and who were merely desirous of laying up a store of provision for the future.
“Thousands perished from famine and pestilence. Natural affection seemed to have been destroyed. Husbands robbed their wives, and wives their husbands. Children would be seen snatching the food from the mouths of their aged parents. The question of the prophet, “Can a woman forget her sucking child?” received the answer within the walls of that doomed city: “The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.” Isaiah 49:15; Lamentations 4:10. Again was fulfilled the warning prophecy given fourteen centuries before: “The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter, … and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.” Deuteronomy 28:56, 57.
“The Roman leaders endeavored to strike terror to the Jews and thus cause them to surrender. Those prisoners who resisted when taken, were scourged, tortured, and crucified before the wall of the city. Hundreds were daily put to death in this manner, and the dreadful work continued until, along the Valley of Jehoshaphat and at Calvary, crosses were erected in so great numbers that there was scarcely room to move among them. So terribly was visited that awful imprecation uttered before the judgment seat of Pilate: “His blood be on us, and on our children.” Matthew 27:25.
Will SDA churches be burned and destroyed, or at least confiscated. Those that stay there to protect themselves may lose their lives by the angry mobs that attack. What about our schools and hospitals and other institutions? What will happen to them? What about Self-Supporting institutions? Will they be treated in the same way?
Friends, we can’t ignore the testimony of scripture and the Spirit of Prophecy. We must pray that we will not be caught up in the maelstrom. We must plead with God to assure us that He will protect us. And we must plead with God to forgive our sins and make us like Himself. Let us pray.
Our Father in heaven, we realize that we are facing an impossible situation that only Christ can deliver us from. We see a church that is heading for destruction. We see the people of God as unready and unwilling to prepare for the great and terrible day of the Lord. So, we plead for them. We ask you to enlighten them and wake them up. And we pray that you will prepare us for what is coming at the end. Please sustain us in the oppression and the abuse that will be heaped upon God’s people. And please, save us in your kingdom. In Jesus name, amen.