God’s Judgments; Their Object and Purpose by L. H. Proctor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Jun 18, 1914

God’s Judgments; Their Object and Purpose

By L. H. Proctor

L. H. PROCTOR

“With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. . . . Lord, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.” Isa. 26:9-16.

THE Bible and the spirit of prophecy show conclusively that in the last days there will be a great increase of calamities, or judgments, in the earth as signs of Christ’s soon coming. These judgments will turn one class of people to the Lord and salvation. They also are signs of the end. They follow the signs in sun, moon, and stars as recorded in Luke 21:25, 26. Here Christ says there will be such terrible signs in the earth and in the sea that men’s hearts will fail them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth. The stars fell in 1833. Since that time there has been a great increase of storms, floods, tidal waves, fires, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, etc.

“Acquire what you may, preserve it with all the jealous care you are capable of exercising, and yet the mandate may go forth from the Lord, and in a few hours a fire which no skill can quench, may destroy the accumulations of your entire life, and lay them in a mass of smoldering ruins. . . . He has made a beginning, but not an end. . . . Storms, earthquakes, whirlwinds, fire, and the sword will spread desolation everywhere, until men’s hearts shall fail them for fear, and for looking after those things which shall come upon the earth. You know not how small a space is between you and eternity.”—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. IV, pages 52, 53.

I quote again, from Volume V, page 136: “Already the judgments of God are abroad in the land, as seen in storms, in floods, in tempests, in earthquakes, in peril by land and by sea. The great I AM is speaking to those who make void his law. When God’s wrath is poured out upon the earth, who will then be able to stand?”

Again we read: “The great conflagrations and the disasters by sea and land that have visited our country were the special providences of God, a warning of what is about to come upon the world. God will show man that he can kindle upon his idols a fire that no man can quench. The great general conflagration is just ahead, when all this wasted labor of life will be swept away in a night and day.”

“The time is near when our large cities will be visited with the judgments of God. In a little while, these cities will be terribly shaken. No matter how large or how strong their buildings, no matter how many safeguards against fire may be provided, let God touch these buildings, and in a few minutes or a few hours they are in ruins. The ungodly cities of our world are to be swept away by the besom of destruction. In the calamities that are now befalling immense buildings and large portions of cities, God is showing us what will come on the whole world.”—Id., Vol. VII, page 83.

“I was shown that a terrible condition of things exists in our world. The angel of mercy is folding her wings, ready to depart. Already the Lord’s restraining power is being withdrawn from the earth. . . . The law of God is made void. We see and hear of confusion and perplexity, want and famine, earthquakes and floods; terrible outrages will be committed by men. . . . The wrath of God is upon the inhabitants of the world, who are fast becoming as corrupt as were the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. Already fire and flood are destroying thousands of lives.”—Id., Vol. VIII, page 49.

“As I hear of the terrible calamities that from week to week are taking place, I ask myself, What do these things mean? The most awful disasters are following one another in quick succession. How frequently we hear of earthquakes and tornadoes, of destruction by fire and flood, with great loss of life and property! . . . They are one of the means by which he seeks to arouse men and women to a sense of their danger. . . . But there are many, many in our churches who know little of the real meaning of the truth for this time. I appeal to them not to disregard the fulfilling of the signs of the times, which show so plainly that the end is near. . . . Let no one say in his heart or by his works, my Lord delayeth his coming.”—Id., page 252.

In the “Spirit of Prophecy,” Vol. I, pages 85, 82, these statements are found: “In the day of the Lord, just before the coming of Christ, God will send lightnings from heaven in his wrath, which will unite with fire in the earth. The mountains will burn like a furnace, and will pour forth terrible streams of lava, destroying gardens and fields, villages and cities.” “These wonderful exhibitions will be more numerous and terrible just before the second coming of Christ and the end of the world, as signs of its speedy destruction.”