The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 4

VI. Troubles and Disasters Predicted for Cities

From 1902 onward Mrs. White warned repeatedly of disasters destined to come upon the great cities of earth. Many of these admonitory predictions are on record. Spiritual darkness covering the earth was portrayed as intensified in the great centers of population. Crime, corruption, capital-labor tensions, disease, epidemics, disasters through earthquake, fire, and flood, as well as the cataclysm of war, were frequently portrayed as impending events soon to strike the great metropolitan centers of earth. A great crisis was nearing. There would be resultant destruction, devastation, and death. ¹⁹ PFF4 1003.1

The rising power of labor unions and the approaching time of trouble-which form part of the picture-were emphasized in 1903 and 1904. ²⁰ “Gigantic monopolies” will be formed, Mrs. White wrote, to rob the poor. And in retaliation, she said, the working men “will bind themselves together in unions.” Strife, confusion, and bloodshed will result. Here are three terse expressions of a general character, penned in 1903, 1906, and 1910 respectively: PFF4 1003.2

“O that God’s people had a sense of the impending destruction of thousands of cities.” ²¹ PFF4 1004.1

“I am bidden to declare the message that cities full of transgression, and sinful in the extreme, will be destroyed by earthquakes, by fire, by flood. All the world will be warned that there is a God who will display His authority as God.” ²² PFF4 1004.2

“The time is near when large cities will be swept away, and all should be warned of these coming judgments.” ²³ PFF4 1004.3

The terrors of Revelation 18 form the background of the picture, “warning of what is coming on. the earth.” ²⁴ And these startling events are all presented so as to speed on the messengers of the gospel to the millions now living in the shadow of impending doom. Their primary purpose was to hasten the evangelization of the cities in the light of increasing difficulties and coming judgments. PFF4 1004.4

In 1900 Mrs. White had written: PFF4 1004.5

“Calamities, earthquakes, floods, disasters by land and by sea will increase. God is looking upon the world today as He looked upon it in Noah’s time. He is sending His message to people today as He did in the days of Noah.” ²⁵ PFF4 1004.6

From these general admonitory predictions we note one particular fulfillment-the San Francisco earthquake. Back in 1902 Mrs. White wrote: PFF4 1004.7

“Not long hence these cities will suffer under the judgments of God. San Francisco and Oakland are becoming as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the Lord will, visit them in wrath.” ²⁶ PFF4 1004.8

And again on April 20, 1903, the specific word was penned: PFF4 1004.9

“Not far hence they [San Francisco and Oakland] will suffer under His judgments.” ²⁷ PFF4 1004.10

Then, on April 16, 1906, just two days before that dread disaster came, Mrs. White was given a view of— PFF4 1005.1

“houses shaken like a reed in the wind. Buildings, great and small, were falling to the ground. Pleasure resorts, theaters, hotels, and the homes of the wealthy were shaken and shattered. Many lives were blotted out of existence, and the air was filled with the shrieks of the injured and the terrified.” ²⁸ PFF4 1005.2

The predicted quake came. But again it is to be noted that these predictions were not presented as something new or outside the purview of Scripture prophecy, but as specific applications of the long-recorded, inspired forecast of Christ Himself. Christ foretold that “great earthquakes shall be in divers places,” along with the “distress of nations,” the violence of the sea, destruction, floods, and the tearfulness of men’s hearts before they see Christ returning “with power and great glory.” (Luke 21:10, 11, 25-28.) The fulfillments that have already taken place are obvious. PFF4 1005.3

Mrs. White wrote specifically of coining devastation of cities and the destruction of supposedly fireproof buildings. ²⁹ And in another place she described “great balls of fire” wreaking devastation in every direction, with indescribable terror resulting.” ³⁰ To one who has visited the war-ruined cities of Europe, or atom-bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, following World War II, the fulfillment is inescapably visible. But irrespective of detailed application, her vivid descriptions of unspeakably destructive wars have been fulfilled to a degree and on a scale no one at the time envisioned. And her hints that the “civilized world” would become a “horde of robbers and assassins” ³¹ if God’s restraint were withdrawn, instinctively bring to mind the dread concentration camp horrors and other barbarities that, until recently, many thought mankind had outgrown. PFF4 1005.4

The intense anxiety on the part of world leaders and this distress of entire nations that have already come to mark this Atomic Age, seem destined to continue and perhaps to increase ³² despite any peace compacts that may be achieved. These declarations are explicit predictions recorded in advance in cold type. There may be further and more dreadful developments. But, placed alongside the fulfillments that have already taken place, it must be admitted that the test of fulfillment is already fully met. ³³ PFF4 1005.5