Twenty-eight years ago, when many were predicting that nation should never again lift up sword against nation, neither should there be war any more, looking into the future Sister White made this startling prediction: ‘The tempest is coming, 11and we must get ready for its fury, by having repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord will arise to shake terribly the earth. We shall see troubles on all sides. Thousands of ships will be hurled into the depths of the sea. Navies will go down, and human lives will be sacrificed by the millions. Fires will break out unexpectedly, and no human efforts will be able to quench them. The palaces of the earth will be swept away in the fury of the flames. Disasters by rail will become more and more frequent; confusion, collision, and death without a moment’s warning will occur on the great lines of travel. The end is near, and probation is closing.”
(PH120 10.3)
Sixteen years ago, she said: “The time is nearing when the great crisis in the history of the world will have come, when every movement in the government of God will be watched with intense interest and inexpressible apprehension. In quick succession the judgments of God will follow one another—fire and flood and earthquake with war and bloodshed. Oh, that the people might know the time of their visitation.”
(PH120 11.1)
Again, in the year 1904, the prediction was made, “Soon grievous troubles will arise among the nations, troubles that will not cease until Jesus comes.... The judgments of God are in the land. The wars and rumors of wars, the destruction by fire 12and flood, say clearly that the time of trouble, which is to increase until the end, is very near at hand. We have no time to lose. The world is stirred with the spirit of war.”
(PH120 11.2)
Five years later, or in the year 1909, she solemnly charged the representatives at the General Conference assembly to prepare their hearts for the terrible scenes of strife and oppression beyond anything they had conceived of, soon to be witnessed among the nations of the earth. She said, “Very soon the strife and oppression of foreign nations will break forth with an intensity that you do not now anticipate.” Five years after this prediction was made, the great World War was precipitated.
(PH120 12.1)
In referring to this same time, we were told, “The passage from place to place to spread the truth will soon be hedged with dangers on the right hand and on the left. Everything will be placed to obstruct our way, so we shall not be able to do that which is possible now.” Then followed the admonition, “We must look our work fairly in the face, and advance as fast as possible in aggressive warfare.... We have warnings now which we may give, a work now which we may do, but soon it will be more difficult than we can imagine.”—Special Testimonies, Series A 7: 64.
(PH120 12.2)
“The work which the church has failed to do in a time of peace and prosperity, 13she will have to do in a terrible crisis, under most discouraging, forbidding circumstances. The warnings that worldly conformity has silenced or withheld, must be given under the fiercest opposition from enemies of the faith.... The members of the church will individually be tested and proved. They will be placed in circumstances where they will be forced to bear witness for the truth.”—“Testimonies for the Church 5:463.
(PH120 12.3)
“A trial is before the young which they have not anticipated. They are to be brought into most distressing perplexity. The genuineness of their faith is to be proved.”—Testimonies for the Church 1:269.
(PH120 13.1)