harvest , and famine and distress follow . He imparts to the air a deadly taint , and thousands perish by the pestilence . These visitations are to become more and more frequent and disastrous . Destruction will be upon both man and beast . " The earth mourneth and fadeth away ," " the haughty people . . . do languish . The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof ; because they have transgressed the laws , changed the ordinance , broken the everlasting covenant ." Isaiah 24:4 , 5 .
And then the great deceiver will persuade men that those who serve God are causing these evils . The class that have provoked the displeasure of Heaven will charge all their troubles upon those whose obedience to God ' s commandments is a perpetual reproof to transgressors . It will be declared that men are offending God by the violation of the Sunday sabbath ; that this sin has brought calamities which will not cease until Sunday observance shall be strictly enforced ; and that those who present the claims of the fourth commandment , thus destroying reverence for Sunday , are troublers of the people , preventing their restoration to divine favour and temporal prosperity . Thus the accusation urged of old against the servant of God will be repeated and upon grounds equally well established : " And it came to pass , when Ahab saw Elijah , that Ahab said unto him , Art thou he that troubleth Israel ? And he answered , I have not troubled Israel ; but thou , and thy father ' s house , in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord , and thou hast followed Baalim ." 1 Kings 18:17 , 18 .
As the wrath of the people shall be excited by false charges , they will pursue a course toward God ' s ambassadors very similar to that which apostate Israel pursued toward Elijah . The miracleworking power manifested through spiritualism will exert its influence against those who choose to obey God rather than men . Communications from the spirits will declare that God has sent them to convince the rejecters of Sunday of their error , affirming that the laws of the land should be obeyed as the law of God . They will lament the great wickedness in the world and second the testimony of religious teachers that the degraded state of morals is caused by the desecration of Sunday . Great will be the indignation excited against all who refuse to accept their testimony .
Satan ' s policy in this final conflict with God ' s people is the same that he employed in the opening of the great controversy in heaven . He professed to be seeking to promote the stability of the divine government , while secretly bending every effort to secure its overthrow . And the very work which he was thus endeavouring to accomplish he charged upon the loyal angels . The same policy of deception has marked the history of the Roman Church . It has professed to act as the vicegerent of Heaven , while seeking to exalt itself above God and to change His law . Under the rule of Rome , those who suffered death for their fidelity to the gospel were denounced as evildoers ; they were declared to be in league with Satan ; and every possible means was employed to cover them with reproach , to cause them to appear in the eyes of the people and even to themselves as the vilest of criminals . So it will be now . While Satan seeks to destroy those who honour God ' s law , he will cause them to be accused as lawbreakers , as men who are dishonouring God and bringing judgments upon the world .
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