This October marks 150 years since the investigative judgment began in heaven. The faithful ones that passed through the great disappointment on October 22nd, 1844, did not think that the world would last this long. During the first and second world war, our members expected the Lord to come, yet today we are still here.
The Advent Pioneers as well as the pioneers of the Reform Movement have since been laid to rest. Most of them expected to see the second coming of the Lord in their lifetime, but this has past. Now it is up to us to hasten the coming of the Lord. This we can do by personal preparation and involving ourselves in active missionary work.
Only five years are left before the year 2000. Many students of prophesy believe that we may not reach that year before the end comes. A quick review will show that all the particular prophesies have been fulfilled. Even the prophesy in Volume 5 of the Testimonies to the Church is being fulfilled:
“When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the Gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the Abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for propagation of Papal falsehood and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvellous working of Satan and that the end is near”. p. 451.
How earnestly were the believers in 1844 preparing for the coming of the Lord. How much more in earnest should we be since we are now 150 years closer to the end. May the Lord help each member to realize the seriousness of the time in which we live. Let us therefore plan more for eternity than for this world.
Timo Martin