shepherds . The very ones that once admired them most will pronounce the most dreadful curses upon them . The very hands that once crowned them with laurels will be raised for their destruction . The swords which were to slay God ' s people are now employed to destroy their enemies . Everywhere there is strife and bloodshed .
" A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth ; for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations , He will plead with all flesh ; He will give them that are wicked to the sword ." Jeremiah 25:31 . For six thousand years the great controversy has been in progress ; the Son of God and His heavenly messengers have been in conflict with the power of the evil one , to warn , enlighten , and save the children of men . Now all have made their decisions ; the wicked have fully united with Satan in his warfare against God . The time has come for God to vindicate the authority of His downtrodden law . Now the controversy is not alone with Satan , but with men . " The Lord hath a controversy with the nations ;" " He will give them that are wicked to the sword ."
The mark of deliverance has been set upon those " that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done ." Now the angel of death goes forth , represented in Ezekiel ' s vision by the men with the slaughtering weapons , to whom the command is given : " Slay utterly old and young , both maids , and little children , and women : but come not near any man upon whom is the mark ; and begin at My sanctuary ." Says the prophet : " They began at the ancient men which were before the house ." Ezekiel 9:1-6 . The work of destruction begins among those who have professed to be the spiritual guardians of the people . The false watchmen are the first to fall . There are none to pity or to spare . Men , women , maidens , and little children perish together .
" The Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity : the earth also shall disclose her blood , and shall no more cover her slain ." Isaiah 26:21 . " And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem ; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet , and their eyes shall consume away in their holes , and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth . And it shall come to pass in that day , that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them ; and they shall lay hold everyone on the hand of his neighbor , and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor ." Zechariah 14:12 , 13 . In the mad strife of their own fierce passions , and by the awful outpouring of God ' s unmingled wrath , fall the wicked inhabitants of the earth--priests , rulers , and people , rich and poor , high and low . " And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth : they shall not be lamented , neither gathered , nor buried ." Jeremiah 25:33 .
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