Chap. 1. - Earth's Last Crisis

Widespread Apprehension About the Future

The present is a time of overwhelming interest to all living. Rulers
and statesmen, men who occupy positions of trust and authority, thinking men and women of all classes, have their attention fixed upon the events taking place about us. They are watching the relations that exist among the nations

They observe the intensity that is taking possession of every earthly
element and they recognize that something great and decisive is about to
take place--that the world is on the verge of a stupendous crisis.--PK 537
(c. 1914). {LDE 11.1}

The calamities by land and sea, the unsettled state of society, the
alarms of war, are portentous. They forecast approaching events of the
greatest magnitude. The agencies of evil are combining their forces and
consolidating. They are strengthening for the last great crisis. Great
changes are soon to take place in our world, and the final movements will be rapid ones.--9T 11 (1909). {LDE 11.2}

Troublous Times Soon to Come

The time of trouble, which is to increase until the end, is very near
at hand. We have no time to lose. The world is stirred with the spirit of
war. The prophecies of the eleventh of Daniel have almost reached their
final fulfillment.--RH Nov. 24, 1904. {LDE 12.1}

The time of trouble--trouble such as was not since there was a nation
[Dan. 12:1]--is right upon us, and we are like the sleeping virgins. We are
to awake and ask the Lord Jesus to place underneath us His everlasting arms, and carry us through the time of trial before us.--3MR 305 (1906). {LDE 122}

The world is becoming more and more lawless. Soon great trouble will
arise among the nations--trouble that will not cease until Jesus comes.--RH
Feb. 11, 1904. {LDE 12.3}

We are on the very verge of the time of trouble, and perplexities that
are scarcely dreamed of are before us.--9T 43 (1909). {LDE 12.4}

We are standing on the threshold of the crisis of the ages. In quick
succession the judgments of God will follow one another--fire, and flood,
and earthquake, with war and bloodshed.--PK 278 (c. 1914). {LDE 12.5}

There are stormy times before us, but let us not utter one word of
unbelief or discouragement.--ChS 136 (1905). {LDE 12.6}

[/b]God Has Always Warned of Coming Judgments [/b]

God has always given men warning of coming judgments. Those who had faith in His message for their time, and who acted out their faith in
obedience to His commandments, escaped the judgments that fell upon the disobedient and unbelieving. {LDE 13.1}

The word came to Noah, "Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for
thee have I seen righteous before Me." Noah obeyed and was saved. The
message came to Lot, "Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will
destroy this city" (Gen. 7:1; 19:14). Lot placed himself under the
guardianship of the heavenly messengers and was saved. So Christ's disciples were given warning of the destruction of Jerusalem. Those who watched forthe sign of the coming ruin, and fled from the city, escaped the destruction So now we are given warning of Christ's second coming and of the destruction to fall upon the world. Those who heed the warning will be saved--DA 634 (1898). {LDE 13.2}

God Has Told Us What to Expect in Our Day

Before His crucifixion the Saviour explained to His disciples that He
was to be put to death and to rise again from the tomb, and angels were
present to impress His words on minds and hearts. [SEE MARK 8:31, 32; 9:31; 10:32-34.] But the disciples were looking for temporal deliverance from the Roman yoke, and they could not tolerate the thought that He in whom all their hopes centered should suffer an ignominious death. The words which they needed to remember were banished from their minds, and when the time of trial came it found them unprepared. The death of Jesus as fully destroyed their hopes as if He had not forewarned them. {LDE 13.3}

So in the prophecies the future is opened before us as plainly as it
was opened to the disciples by the words of Christ. The events connected
with the close of probation and the work of preparation for the time of
trouble, are clearly presented. But multitudes have no more understanding of these important truths than if they had never been revealed.--GC 594 (1911). {LDE 14.1}

Last Day Prophecies Demand Our Attention

I then saw the third angel [Rev. 14:9-11]. Said my accompanying angel, Fearful is his work. Awful is his mission. He is the angel that is to select the wheat from the tares and seal, or bind, the wheat for the heavenly garner. These things should engross the whole mind, the whole attention. --EW 118 (1854). {LDE 14.2}

We shall have to stand before magistrates to answer for our allegiance
to the law of God, to make known the reasons of our faith. And the youth
should understand these things. {LDE 14.3}

They should know the things that will come to pass before the closing
up of the world's history. These things concern our eternal welfare, and
teachers and students should give more attention to them.--6T 128, 129
(1900). {LDE 14.4}

We should study the great waymarks that point out the times in which we are living.--4MR 163 (1895). {LDE 14.5}

Those who place themselves under God's control, to be led and guided by Him, will catch the steady tread of the events ordained by Him to take place--7T 14 (1902). {LDE 15.1}

We are to see in history the fulfillment of prophecy, to study the
workings of Providence in the great reformatory movements, and to understand the progress of events in the marshaling of the nations for the final conflict of the great controversy.--8T 307 (1904). {LDE 15.2}

Study the Books of Daniel and Revelation Especially


There is need of a much closer study of the Word of God; especially
should Daniel and the Revelation have attention as never before. . . . The
light that Daniel received from God was given especially for these last days--TM 112, 113 (1896). {LDE 15.3}

Let us read and study the twelfth chapter of Daniel. It is a warning
that we shall all need to understand before the time of the end.--15 MR 228(1903). {LDE 15.4}
The last book of the New Testament scriptures is full of truth that we
need to understand.--COL 133 (1900). {LDE 15.5}

The unfulfilled predictions of the book of Revelation are soon to be
fulfilled. This prophecy is now to be studied with diligence by the people
of God and should be clearly understood. It does not conceal the truth; it
clearly forewarns, telling us what will be in the future.--1NL 96 (1903).
{LDE 15.6}

The solemn messages that have been given in their order in the Revelation are to occupy the first place in the minds of God's people.--8T 302 (1904). {LDE 16.1}

~Ren