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| Through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, the scenes of the long-continued conflict between good and evil have been opened to the writer of these pages. From time to time I have been permitted to behold the working, in different ages, of the great controversy between Christ, the Prince of life, the Author of our salvation, and Satan, the prince of evil, the author of sin, the first transgressor of God’s holy law. Satan’s enmity against Christ has been manifested against His followers. The same hatred of the principles of God’s law, the same policy of deception, by which error is made to appear as truth, by which human laws are substituted for the law of God, and men are led to worship the creature rather than the Creator, may be traced in all the history of the past. Satan’s efforts to misrepresent the character of God, to cause men to cherish a false conception of the Creator, and thus to regard Him with fear and hate rather than with love; his endeavors to set aside the divine law, leading the people to think themselves free from its requirements; and his persecution of those who dare to resist his deceptions, have been steadfastly pursued in all ages. They may be traced in the history of patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, of martyrs and reformers. Great Controversy, Introduction,. page x par.1 |
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| As we see the love of fashion and display among those who profess to believe present truth, we sadly ask, Will the people of God learn nothing from the history of the past? There are few who understand their own hearts. The vain and trifling lovers of fashion may claim to be followers of Christ; but their dress and conversation show what occupies the mind and engages the affections. Their lives betray their friendship for the world, and it claims them as its own. { MYP 354.3} |
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| For years a spirit of oppression has been coming into Battle Creek. The human agents are lifting up themselves unto selfishness and domination. Not a work can be published but they try to gain control of it, and if authors do not concede to their propositions, those who publish the work will exert an influence with canvassers and other agents that will hinder its sale, and this wholly irrespective of the value of the book. And when every institution is merged into the one that is greatest—that is, measured by her power of control—that one will indeed be a ruling power, and if the principles of action in the most powerful institution are corrupted, as is now the case, and as has been in the history of the past, every other institution must follow the same path, else a determined influence will be brought to bear against it. The difficulty is not in the institution, but in the members. { PM 133.1} |
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| God would have his ministers in this dispensation keep before the people, not only the mercy and love of Christ, but the doctrines of the Bible. These should be presented in simple language, adapted to the comprehension of children. Let the young be faithfully instructed in the truths of God’s word. The history of the past, the present, and the future, as revealed in the sacred Scriptures, should be taught in a pleasing, yet serious manner. Let the dealings of God with his people be rehearsed again and again, until the youth become familiar with the record. { ST May 26, 1881, par. 22 } |
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| The Lord has declared that the history of the past shall be rehearsed as we enter upon the closing work. Every truth that He has given for these last days is to be proclaimed to the world. Every pillar that He has established is to be strengthened. We cannot now step off the foundation that God has established. We cannot now enter into any new organization; for this would mean apostasy from the truth.—Manuscript 129, 1905. { 2SM 390.1} |
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| Not only has disease been transmitted from generation to generation, but parents bequeath to their children their own wrong habits, their perverted appetites, and corrupt passions. Men are slow to learn wisdom from the history of the past. The strange absence of principle that characterizes the present generation, the disregard of the laws of life and health, is astonishing. Although a knowledge of these things can be readily obtained, a deplorable ignorance prevails. With the majority, the principal anxiety is, “What shall I eat? what shall I drink? and wherewithal shall I be clothed?” Notwithstanding all that has been said and written upon the importance of health and the means to preserve it, appetite is the great law which governs men and women generally. { RH December 13, 1881, par. 5 } |
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| We are never to feel that there is no more truth to be unfolded to us. The history of the past few years has taught us that the words which Jesus spoke to his disciples are appropriate to us. He said: “I have many things to say unto you; but ye cannot bear them now.” But I trust that we shall not have the experience of those disciples who, when new truth was revealed to them, walked no more with him, but “because of the word they were offended.” Will the experience of these disciples be repeated that called forth from Christ these words: “There are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.... From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.” { ST October 29, 1894, par. 4 } |
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| history of the past will be repeated |
| It is now fully time that an advance move was made in Australia. We shall have to meet every form of opposition, and every manner of hindrance; the history of the past will be repeated. It is not evidence of the truth of our cause that our enemies want; for they are filled with fierce opposition to the truth itself, because they cannot controvert it. There are enemies without who are organized to stop the work of God; but let us move forward with well-concentrated effort, and overcome every difficulty. We must reach the people where they are; for the reproach cast upon God’s messengers must be counteracted, and it will be. { BEcho December 8, 1893, par. 10 } |
| I will not go into all the painful history; it is too much. But last January the Lord showed me that erroneous theories and methods would be brought into our camp meetings, and that the history of the past would be repeated. I felt greatly distressed. I was instructed to say that at these demonstrations demons in the form of men are present, working with all the ingenuity that Satan can employ to make the truth disgusting to sensible people; that the enemy was trying to arrange matters so that the camp meetings, which have been the means of bringing the truth of the third angel’s message before multitudes, should lose their force and influence. { 2SM 37.3} |
| Satan urges this falsehood that he may take the world captive. It is his plan to compel men to accept errors. He takes an active part in the promulgation of all false religions, and will stop at nothing in his efforts to enforce erroneous doctrines. Under a cloak of religious zeal, men, influenced by his spirit, have invented the most cruel tortures for their fellow-men, and have inflicted the most awful sufferings upon them. Satan and his agents have the same spirit still; and the history of the past will be repeated in our day. { RH March 18, 1884, par. 9 } |
| Never before was there such a general knowledge of Jesus as when he hung upon the cross. He was lifted up from the earth, to draw all unto him. Into the hearts of many who beheld the crucifixion scene, and who heard Christ’s words, was the light of truth to shine. With John they would proclaim, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” Truth is truth, and will remain truth, and in the end will triumph gloriously. The lamp of life is trimmed by the hand that lighted it. The Jewish leaders sought to remove it from the earth, but it shone on, and irradiated the world. Christ rose from the grave, and over the rent sepulcher of Joseph he proclaimed, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Men in this age will repeat the history of the past. By their falsehoods they think that they can quench the light of the world, but their efforts only make the light shine brighter. { RH December 28, 1897, par. 8 } |
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