"Meet it!"

“Shortly before I sent out the testimonies regarding the efforts of the enemy to undermine the foundation of our faith through the dissemination of seductive theories, I had read an incident about a ship in a fog meeting an iceberg. For several nights I slept but little. I seemed to be bowed down as a cart beneath sheaves. One night a scene was clearly presented before me. A vessel was upon the waters, in a heavy fog. Suddenly the lookout cried, ‘Iceberg just ahead!’ There, towering high above the ship, was a gigantic iceberg. An authoritative voice cried out, ‘Meet it!’ There was not a moment’s hesitation. It was a time for instant action. The engineer put on full steam, and the man at the wheel steered the ship straight into the iceberg. With a crash she struck the ice. There was a fearful shock, and the iceberg broke into many pieces, falling with a noise like thunder to the deck. The passengers were violently shaken by the force of the collisions, but no lives were lost. The vessel was injured, but not beyond repair. She rebounded from the contact, trembling from stem to stern, like a living creature. Then she moved forward on her way.  

 

“Well I knew the meaning of this representation. I had my orders. I had heard the words, like a voice from our Captain, ‘Meet it!’ I knew what my duty was, and that there was not a moment to lose. The time for decided action had come. I must without delay obey the command, ‘Meet it!’’ Selected Messages, bk.1, p. 205,  206.

 

“Satan will work his miracles to deceive; he will set up his power as supreme. The church may appear as about to fall, but it does not fall. It remains, while the sinners in Zion will be sifted out--the chaff separated from the precious wheat. This is a terrible ordeal, but nevertheless it must take place. None but those who have been overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony will be found with the loyal and true, without spot or stain of sin, without guile in their mouths. We must be divested of our self-righteousness and arrayed in the righteousness of Christ.” Selected Messages, bk. 2, p. 380.

 

When the Advent movement will be “violently shaken by the force of the collisions…trembling from stem to stern” and “the sinners in Zion will be sifted out--the chaff separated from the precious wheat”, then it will be seen in the remnant of the Remnant that “no lives were lost”, i.e. there will be no loss of no faith in Jesus who is the precious fountain of their life and their quickening spirit. The Adventist “vessel [will be] injured, but not beyond repair. She [will rebound] from the contact” and will go sailing on her way.

 

“The vision that Christ presented to John, presenting the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, is to be definitely proclaimed to all nations, people, and tongues. The churches, represented by Babylon, are represented as having fallen from their spiritual state to become a persecuting power against those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. To John this persecuting power is represented as having horns like a lamb, but as speaking like a dragon....

 

“As we near the close of time, there will be greater and still greater external parade of heathen power; heathen deities will manifest their signal power, and will exhibit themselves before the cities of the world; and this delineation as already begun to be fulfilled. By a variety of images the Lord Jesus represented to John the wicked character and seductive influence of those who have been distinguished for their persecution of God’s people. All need wisdom carefully to search out the mystery of iniquity that figures so largely in the winding up of this earth’s history.... In the very time in which we live, the Lord has called His people and has given them a message to bear. He has called them to expose the wickedness of the man of sin who has made the Sunday law a distinctive power, who has thought to change times and laws, and to oppress the people of God who stand firmly to honor Him by keeping the only true Sabbath, the Sabbath of creation, as holy unto the Lord.

 

“The perils of the last days are upon us, and in our work we are to warn the people of the danger they are in. Let not the solemn scenes which prophecy has revealed be left untouched. If our people were half awake, if they realized the nearness of the events portrayed in the Revelation, a reformation would be wrought in our churches, and many more would believe the message. We have no time to lose; God calls upon us to watch for souls as they that must give an account. Advance new principles, and crowd in the clear-cut truth. It will be as a sword cutting both ways. But be not too ready to take a controversial attitude. There will be times when we must stand still and see the salvation of God. Let Daniel speak, let the Revelation speak, and tell what is truth. But whatever phase of the subject is presented, uplift Jesus as the center of all hope, ‘the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright and morning Star.’” Testimonies to Ministers, p. 216-219.

 

What are we going to do when legislations begin to bombard America, and then afterward the rest of the world? We will be tempted to cry, “Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me.” (Jer. 15:10). But, there’s that other ship yonder, dead in the water and empty. And that dead Vatican-complicit ship is much more peaceful than the Remnant ship. They have no internal rebukes and external protests.

 

The ghost ship will look so appealing when the distress of Hitler-like papal power is screaming in our minds. At that time will we jump ship to that dead and dark vessel rather than remain hanging on to the lively and chastising Advent movement that will sail all the way through to the end? Will we miss the electrifying Latter Rain because we left the Advent movement just as Jesus was preparing us to preach to the whole world?

 

“For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.

And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.

And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” (Matt. 24:7-14).

 

The Little, or first, Time of Trouble came, but the end was not yet. That economic besiegement upon the nations finally woke up the sleeping saints and they prepared their hearts to join their heavenly Bridegroom. He was very near to them, bringing a great refreshing from the presence of His glorified Father. Jesus empowered them to preach to the world like they never before could seem to do. The Lion of the tribe of Judah roaring behind them, they give the Loud Cry of the fourth angel of Revelation 18 and lighten the earth with glory. Every soul no matter how distant hears the truth of God and His character of justice and mercy, as seen in His Son’s truth and grace.

 

“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)…. For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” (Matt. 24:15,21). They face the towering iceberg of heathen power. “Who art thou, O great mountain? Before [Jesus] thou shalt become a plain”! (Zech. 4:7). “Thus saith the Lord God; because thine heart is lifted up, and thou has said, I am...God, I sit in the seat of God...; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God”! (Eze. 28:2). They steer their pointed, sealed, and harder-than-flint bow right into the looming giant. K-A-A-BOOOM! There’s wreckage falling around, millions of shards of ice like the falling of a glass house. The 144,000 are knocked off their feet, but they get right back up because prior to the first Time of Trouble they had made preparations to be able to stand at this time.