powerful
delusion that takes the world captive. By the Bible testimony these will
detect the deceiver in his disguise. To all, the testing time will come.
By the sifting of temptation, the genuine Christian will be revealed. Are
the people of God now so firmly established upon His word that they would
not yield to the evidence of their senses? Would they, in such a crisis,
cling to the Bible, and the Bible only? Satan will, if possible, prevent
them from obtaining a preparation to stand in that day. He will so arrange
affairs as to hedge up their way, entangle them with earthly treasures,
cause them to carry a heavy, wearisome burden, that their hearts may be
overcharged with the cares of this life, and the day of trial may come
upon them as a thief.

As the decree issued by the various rulers of Christendom against
commandment-keepers shall withdraw the protection of government, and
abandon them to those who desire their destruction, the people of God will
flee from the cities and villages and associate together in companies,
dwelling in the most desolate and solitary places. Many will find refuge
in the strongholds of the mountains. Like the Christians of the Piedmont
valleys, they will make the high places of the earth their sanctuaries,
and will thank God for the "munitions of rocks."(1068) But many of all
nations, and of all classes, high and low, rich and poor, black and white,
will be cast into the most unjust and cruel bondage. The beloved of God
pass weary days, bound in chains, shut in by prison bars, sentenced to be
slain, some apparently left to die of starvation in dark and loathsome
dungeons. No human ear is open to hear their moans; no human hand is ready
to lend them help.

Will the Lord forget His people in this trying hour? Did He forget
faithful Noah when judgments were visited upon the antediluvian world? Did
He forget Lot when the fire came down from heaven to consume the cities of
the plain? Did He forget Joseph surrounded by idolaters in Egypt? Did He
forget Elijah when the oath of Jezebel threatened him with the fate of the
prophets of Baal? Did He forget Jeremiah in the dark and dismal pit of his
prison-house? Did He forget the three worthies in the fiery furnace? or
Daniel in the den of lions?

"Zion said, Jehovah hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a
woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the
son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I