The Signs of the Times, vol. 14
February 3, 1888
“The Working of Satan” The Signs of the Times 14, 5, p. 71.
ONE of the principal truths presented by the Third Angel’s Message is the second coming of the Lord. It is the nearness of this event that makes so very urgent the necessity of obeying the truths announced by the message. And in fact the Third Angel’s Message and the events directly connected with it only close with the coming of the Lord in his glory. Immediately following the announcement of the message, the prophet says: “And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.” Revelation 14:14-16. “The harvest is the end of the world.” Matthew 13:39. SITI February 3, 1888, page 71.1
More than forty-seven years the world has been told that the Lord is coming, that his coming is at the doors, and that men must be ready to meet him in peace or they cannot be saved. But the world—the so-called Christian world as well as any other—has rejected the message of his glorious coming. ministers have put far off the day of his coming, saying it would not be for a thousand, or may be ten thousand, or even a million years. Almost all have said in their hearts, “My Lord delayeth his coming,” and some have even said openly that they did not care to have him come. The message of his coming has not only been rejected, but it has been made a subject of reproach to those who have accepted it, and have lived in the hope of seeing him, whom, having not seen, they love. SITI February 3, 1888, page 71.2
Thus it has been all these years, and in fact, thus it still is so far as the real truth of the coming of the Lord is concerned. But the signs which he has given of his coming are so abundant, and are being so rapidly and plainly fulfilled, and the message which announced the truth of his coming and the duties, which, if observed, will fit men to meet him when he comes, is so widespread over the world that the matter can be concealed no longer. It is making an impression that can no longer be resisted. And as it has gained such power that Satan can no longer blind men’s minds to it, he now whirls about and counterfeits it. Having led men to reject the truth, until, in spite of all, it has gained such power that it can no longer be hidden, he now turns about and makes the coming of the Lord almost the watch-word of the popular movements of the day; but, as is naturally to be expected, it is so wrapped about with falsehood that, in such connection, the truth itself is made in effect to serve the purposes of falsehood. SITI February 3, 1888, page 71.3
In this is another evidence that through what is called the National Reform movement, is to be developed “the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” The National Reform proposition is, by amendment to the Constitution, to turn this republic of men into a kingdom of Christ. And they declare that when that shall have been done, then Christ will come into his kingdom and reign, and the millennium will begin. In a speech in the New York National Reform Convention, 1874, “Rev.” J. P. Lytle likened that movement to a train of cars going up a grade, and said:— SITI February 3, 1888, page 71.4
“When we reach the summit, the train will move out into the mild yet glorious light of millennial days, and the cry will be raised, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ.’” SITI February 3, 1888, page 71.5
In the same convention Rev. John Hogg, of Massachusetts, said:— SITI February 3, 1888, page 71.6
“Let us acknowledge God as our Father and Sovereign and source of all good, and his blessing will be upon us, crime and corruption will come to an end, and the benign reign of Jesus, our rightful Lord will be established.” SITI February 3, 1888, page 71.7
Again in the same convention, Dr. A. M. Milligan said:— SITI February 3, 1888, page 71.8
“Either like them [the Jewish nations] we will reject him and perish, or, becoming a kingdom of our Lord and his Christ, we shall fill the earth and endure forever.” SITI February 3, 1888, page 71.9
They claim that they will thus make this nation the kingdom of Christ, that then he will come into his kingdom here, and from this the other nations of earth will acknowledge him, and so they say will be fulfilled the words, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.” Therefore, at noon of every day, the National Reformers repeat the words, “Thy kingdom come.” But the word of God says that when Jesus comes it will be with “flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 1:8), and that when the God of Heaven sets up his kingdom “it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms.” Daniel 2:44. SITI February 3, 1888, page 71.10
The National Reform Association is anxious to secure the support of the “working men.” We are fully assured that the movement will yet be heartily supported by that whole element. And their minds too are being prepared for it on the very point that we are now showing. Dr. McGlynn starts out as the champion of the “workingmen,” bearing, as he says, “the cross of a new crusade.” And in a speech last May, in Pittsburg, to the thousands of those whose champion he is, he said: “It shall be the high and holy purpose of this crusade to prepare the world for the coming of the Lord.” SITI February 3, 1888, page 71.11
As this matter of the counterfeit coming of the Lord is Satan’s device to oppose the Third Angel’s Message, it might very naturally be supposed that Spiritualism, being one of his very chiefest instruments of evil, would also be active in favor of it. And such is precisely the case. Spiritualism promises a new messiah, and announces his coming “to this very generation.” The World’s Advance-Thought is the avant-courier of the new spiritual dispensation, and in its issue of April 5, 1886, says:— SITI February 3, 1888, page 71.12
“Another Sun of righteousness is called for on earth, and the messenger cannot be far off whose life mission it shall be to practically illustrate the new truths that will be vouchsafed. He will not be a mere racial messiah nor a half-world messiah as was the great Nazarene; but steam locomotion and lightning communication, and the harmonizing influences of commercial intercourse, have made a whole-world messiah possible, and such the next one shall be. Though themselves ignorant of the fact, as a body, the great and multiplying army of mediums are his avant-couriers.” “The unanimity of the immortals’ answers may thrill the world with the promise of a new messiah.” SITI February 3, 1888, page 71.13
Thus through counterfeiting the doctrines of the coming of the Lord, Satan is preparing the world to receive a false Christ who will show great signs and wonders, insomuch that if it were possible he will deceive the very elect. Matthew 24:24. It is high time that every soul should study the word of God as never before, to know the truth concerning the coming of the Lord, and then to receive such a love of that truth as shall resist all the deceptions of Satan, whatever they may be. He will deceive all but the very elect. Who will be of the elect? Who will be faithful? SITI February 3, 1888, page 71.14
J.