A Fulfilled Prophecy by L. A. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Dec 8, 1904

A Fulfilled Prophecy

By L. A. S.

“In the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves,” “having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” Testimony that we are in the time when this language of the apostle Paul to Timothy is being fulfilled, is coming from many sources. An exchange quotes the Rev. Russell H. Conwell, the well-known clergyman and lecturer, as having recently said:—

The Christian church is being submerged because of laxity. Pastors are growing indifferent, and congregations are all the time becoming smaller. There are too many movements, too many office holders and differing phases of creed. The result is the parent church is dying. The only reason that a young man goes to church nowadays is because he knows that his best girl is there.

The same paper quotes this further and stronger testimony on the same point from the Christian Witness:—

Every earnest soul, seeking his own salvation and that of others, finds himself brought face to face with an awful wall of indifference that is widespread and alarming. We know that there are eminent authorities who are seeking to make us believe that everything is progressing gloriously. But the people who are really burdened for the salvation of souls are staggered at an alarming indifference, which they find in the way of the salvation of men.

They are puzzled to know how it can be said that things are hopeful when few of the young men of the day are found in the house of God, and thousands

every Sunday in the ball field and Sunday theater; when this Christian land contains three hundred thousand fallen women, and there are annually thirty thousand cases of divorce; when family worship is on the decline, and the theater is largely supported by the church; when intemperance runs riot, and revivals of religion are on the decline in number.

It is customary to dismiss these facts by saying, “Pessimism,” and declaring we must be optimistic and look on the bright side. There has been so much of this kind of “optimism” that black is being called white.

In the face of such conditions, what message is there that expresses the world's hope like that which proclaims, “The coming of the Lord draweth nigh”? “Joy to the world, the Lord will come.” This is the message which every true optimist should now be giving. L. A. S.