p. 11 | The Hour of Trial - the Shaking Time

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 8, 1908

The Hour of Trial — the Shaking Time

By A. E. HASSELL

A. E. HASSELL

There will be a time of trial for the people of God before the appearing of Christ in the clouds of heaven. Rev. 3: 10. It will try all on the earth; and when it is ended, the declaration is: “I come quickly.” We are entering upon that time now; already is the beginning of the shaking, or sifting, time. “Intensity” has “taken hold of everything.” The powers from beneath are indeed exerting their baneful influence, and will continue to do so more and more powerfully until the time comes for the climax of the controversy. Who will be able to survive the deadly influences of such a time?—God alone can tell. The whole world is contaminated. Would that it could be said of those who have professed this truth that they are free indeed; but such a declaration can not be made of them at present. “To our people, ministers and lay-members, I am instructed to say: ‘Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord,’—for many ministers and people are walking in strange paths,—‘and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.’” Isa. 55: 6, 7. Let every soul be on the alert. The adversary is on your track. Be vigilant, watching diligently lest some carefully concealed and masterly snare shall take you unawares. Let the careless and indifferent beware lest the day of the Lord come upon them as a thief in the night. Many will wander from the path of humility, and, casting aside the yoke of Christ, will walk in strange paths. Blinded and bewildered, they will leave the narrow path that leads to the city of God.”—Testimonies for the Church, Vol. VIII, pages 99, 100.

It is sad indeed that any of us should walk in strange paths, but sadder still that we should fail to listen to this merciful call to return and be healed, until, blinded and bewildered, we lose the path to the city of the living God. Because of our blindness and self-satisfaction, Satan will come in—yea, is even now coming in—with his subtle and pleasing theories and fables in one form or another, picking us off, one by one, thinning out our ranks, even as a sharpshooter picks off his victim. Pantheistic and spiritualistic theories are doing their deadly work, and other, if possible more subtle, deceptions will follow.

“The experience of the past will be repeated. In the future Satan’s superstitions will assume new forms. Errors will be presented in a pleasing and flattering manner. False theories, clothed with garments of light, will be presented to God’s people. Thus Satan will try to deceive, if possible, the very elect. Most seducing influences will be exerted; minds will be hypnotized.”—Testimonies for the Church, Vol. VIII, page 293. “The hypnotic influence of Satan will rest upon those who turn from the plain Word of God to pleasing fables.”—Ib., page 294.

“It is those who have had the most light that Satan most assiduously seeks to ensnare. He knows that if he can deceive them, they will, under his control, clothe sin with garments of righteousness, and lead many astray. I say to all, Be on your guard; for as an angel of light Satan is walking in every assembly of Christian workers, and in every church, trying to win the members to his side. I am bidden to give to the people of God the warning, ‘Be not deceived; God is not mocked.’ God has not laid upon any one the burden of encouraging an appetite for speculative doctrines and theories. . . . He [Satan] will employ the power of mind over mind to carry out his designs.”—Ib., pages 295, 294.

We must awake to the danger, and put on the whole armor of God, that we may be able to stand in this evil day against the wiles of the devil. We need to clear the King’s highway by repentance, confession, and earnest prayer; and if we do this, the power of the Spirit will be ours to strengthen and protect. This power is what we stand in need of now, but it will not come to us by accepting wild theories concerning God, or other theories that tend to disestablish the great principles of present truth. Let us take heed to the light already given us in his Word and through his Spirit, and humble ourselves before the Majesty of the universe, seeking his loving face with all our hearts. Then we shall see his glory among us as never before; the enemy will be defeated in his purpose concerning us, and we shall shout for joy over the victory gained. But if we do not take heed now, we shall have to experience sad things among ourselves according to these infallible Testimonies from the Spirit of God.

“Unless the church, which is now being leavened with her own backsliding, shall repent and be converted, she will eat of the fruit of her own doing, until she shall abhor herself. When she resists the evil and chooses the good, when she seeks God with all humility, and reaches her high calling in Christ, standing on the platform of eternal truth, and by faith laying hold upon the attainments prepared for her, she will be healed. She will appear in her God-given simplicity and purity, separate from earthly entanglements, showing that the truth has made her free indeed. Then her members will indeed be the chosen of God, his representatives.”—Id., page 250.

Shall we heed these warnings, and live? or shall we refuse to heed, and join at last the hosts outside the city? When we think of the infinite price paid for our redemption, how can we afford to be indifferent? How can we cling to anything that will jeopardize our salvation? Wrong decisions or indecision are alike fatal in such a time as this. Let us each decide as did one of old, “Cost what it may, I will serve the Lord.”

Seattle, Wash.