The Bible Echo
January 25, 1897
An Age of Intensity
Intensity is taking possession of everything upon the earth. Pleasure-lovers are intensely in earnest to secure all that is possible in that line. Gamblers are intensely in earnest. The betting, the horse-racing, and various games create great enthusiasm, and engross the powers of those interested as if the reward of the victor was to be an eternity of bliss. What terrible infatuation! What madness and folly! An intense life is moving all the powers from beneath, and permeating all the schemes which the arch deceiver can invent through the agency of all the fallen order. Satanic agencies unite with the youth, and with men of all ages, to crowd life with spurious pleasure and attraction which shall defile the whole mind, and corrupt the whole man. It is Satan's purpose that man shall have no thought of God, no fear of God, no restraint received from God. BEcho January 25, 1897, par. 1
And how is this matter to end? The Satanic agencies are to combine with, and inspire, the professedly Christian world. Those who have the form of godliness without the power, will rank under Satan's banner, and will display their zeal in making void the law of God. The whole world will have the opportunity of choosing between Christ and Barabbas. Men who have perverted truth, misapplied Scripture, and who have become blinded by resisting the word which is truth, form the great apostate power of the last day. It belongs to the same order as the power which the Lord Jesus revealed to John as drunken with the blood of saints. It is to pursue the same line of action, determined to rule or ruin. The crisis is right upon us, and many will be deceived. Men who have all their life had opportunity to learn of Christ, but who have tenaciously clung to their own habits and practices, unwilling to change their own course of action and walk in the light, will act like blind men. They will accept everything that will coincide with their own ideas. BEcho January 25, 1897, par. 2
There are thousands upon thousands, millions upon millions, who are now making their decision for eternal life or eternal death. The man who is wholly absorbed in his counting-room; the man who finds pleasure at the gambling table; the man who loves to indulge perverted appetite; the amusement lover; the frequenters of the theatre and the ball-room, put eternity out of their reckoning. The whole burden of their life is, What shall we eat? what shall we drink? and wherewithal shall we be clothed? They are not in the procession that is moving heavenward. They are led by the great apostate, and will with him be destroyed, both root and branch. BEcho January 25, 1897, par. 3
No man stumbles into heaven. No man goes there blindfold. If he will take time to consider, every man may know whether he is in the straight and narrow path, or in the broad road that leads to death and hell. Let every soul inquire, Is my heart renewed by the grace of Christ? Is it transformed by the Holy Spirit? Have I repented of my sins and confessed them? Are my sins forgiven? Am I a new creature in Christ Jesus? Do I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus? Am I willing to make an entire consecration of every hour that remains, to do service for the Saviour? He gave His life for me; He is risen from the dead, and has brought life and immortality to light, that I might be a partaker of the divine nature. Will I purify my soul by obeying the truth, and becoming complete in Him? BEcho January 25, 1897, par. 4
I beseech you not to risk your hope of heaven on a possibility or a probability. You have now an opportunity to make your calling and election sure. The question for you to settle is, Am I willing to keep the way of the Lord? The path He marks out is not for women and children alone, but for man, for the youth, the middle-aged, and the aged. It is a narrow, self-denying path. To enter that path and press on through all obstacles and discouragements, requires men who are more than weaklings. It requires those who have moral courage, firmness, perseverance, and faith. These will have heavenly intelligences as their companions. Will you live as for God? Will you humble your heart before God, and at every step inquire, Is this the way of the Lord? Will you teach your family to keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment? O, take the Saviour as your pattern. Follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. BEcho January 25, 1897, par. 5
Mrs. E. G. White