From Splendor to Shadow

We Are Entering the Last Battle of the Controversy

We are now entering on the last great battle of the controversy between truth and error—a battle not between rival churches but between the religion of the Bible and the religions of tradition. God's Holy Word, which has been handed down to us at so great a cost of suffering and bloodshed, is little valued. Creation as presented by the inspired writers, the fall of man, the atonement, the perpetuity of the law—these doctrines are practically rejected by a large share of the professedly Christian world. Thousands regard it as weakness to place implicit confidence in the Bible, and a proof of learning to spiritualize and explain away its most important truths. SS 323.1

God calls for a revival and a reformation. The words of the Bible alone should be heard from the pulpit. In many sermons today there is not that divine manifestation which awakens the conscience and brings life to the soul. The hearers cannot say, “Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?” Luke 24:32. Let the word of God speak to the heart. Let those who have heard only tradition and human theories hear the voice of Him who can renew the soul unto eternal life. SS 323.2

The Reformers, whose protest has given us the name of Protestant, felt that God had called them to give the gospel to the world, and to do this they were ready to sacrifice possessions, liberty, even life itself. In the face of persecution and death, the Word of God was carried to all classes, high and low, rich and poor, learned and ignorant. Are we, in this last conflict of the great controversy, as faithful as the early Reformers? SS 323.3

“Blow the trumpet in Zion ... . Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, ‘Spare Thy people, O Lord, and make not Thy heritage a reproach.’” Joel 2:15-17, RSV. SS 324.1