Impending Destruction of the Cities
by Ellen White
While at Loma Linda, California, April 16, 1906, there passed before me a most
wonderful representation. During a vision of the night, I stood on an eminence, from which
I could see houses shaken like a reed in the wind. Buildings, great and small, were
falling to the ground. Pleasure resorts, theatres, hotels, and the homes of the wealthy
were shaken and shattered. Many lives were blotted out of existence, and the air was
filled with the shrieks of the injured and the terrified.
The destroying angels of God were at work. One touch, and buildings so thoroughly
constructed that men regarded them as secure against every danger, quickly became heaps of
rubbish. There was no assurance of safety in any place. I did not feel in any special
peril, but the awfulness of the scenes that passed before me I cannot find words to
describe. It seemed that the forbearance of God was exhausted, and that the judgement day
had come.
The angel that stood by my side then instructed me that but few have any conception of
the wickedness existing in our world today, and especially the wickedness in the large
cities. He declared that the Lord has appointed a time when He will visit transgressors in
wrath for persistent disregard of His law.
Terrible as was the representation that passed before me, that which impressed itself
most vividly upon my mind was the instruction given in connection with it. The angel that
stood by my side declared that God's supreme rulership, and the sacredness of His law,
must be revealed to those who persistently refuse to render obedience to the King of
kings. Those who choose to remain disloyal must be visited in mercy with judgements, in
order that, if possible, they may be aroused to a realisation of the sinfulness of their
course. 9T 92
I am bidden to declare the message that cities full of transgression, and sinful in the
extreme, will be destroyed by earthquakes, by fire, by flood. All the world will be warned
that there is a God who will display His authority as God. His unseen agencies will cause
destruction, devastation, and death. All the accumulated riches will be as nothingness. .
. .
Calamities will come--calamities most awful, most unexpected; and these destructions
will follow one after another. If there will be a heeding of the warnings that God has
given, and if churches will repent, returning to their allegiance, then other cities may
be spared for a time. But if men who have been deceived continue in the same way in which
they have been walking, disregarding the law of God and presenting falsehoods before the
people, God allows them to suffer calamity, that their senses may be awakened. . . .
The Lord will not suddenly cast off all transgressors or destroy entire nations; but He
will punish cities and places where men have given themselves up to the possession of
Satanic agencies. Strictly will the cities of the nations be dealt with, and yet they will
not be visited in the extreme of God's indignation, because some souls will yet break away
from the delusions of the enemy, and will repent and be converted, while the mass will be
treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath.-- Manuscript 35, 1906. EV 27
While at Loma Linda, California, April 16, 1906, there passed before me a most
wonderful representation. During a vision of the night, I stood on an eminence, from which
I could see houses shaken like a reed in the wind. Buildings, great and small, were
falling to the ground. Pleasure resorts, theatres, hotels, and the homes of the wealthy
were shaken and shattered. Many lives were blotted out of existence, and the air was
filled with the shrieks of the injured and the terrified.
The destroying angels of God were at work. One touch, and buildings so thoroughly
constructed that men regarded them as secure against every danger, quickly became heaps of
rubbish. There was no assurance of safety in any place. I did not feel in any special
peril, but the awfulness of the scenes that passed before me I cannot find words to
describe. It seemed that the forbearance of God was exhausted, and that the judgement day
had come.
The angel that stood by my side then instructed me that but few have any conception of
the wickedness existing in our world today, and especially the wickedness in the large
cities. He declared that the Lord has appointed a time when He will visit transgressors in
wrath for persistent disregard of His law.
Terrible as was the representation that passed before me, that which impressed itself
most vividly upon my mind was the instruction given in connection with it. The angel that
stood by my side declared that God's supreme rulership, and the sacredness of His law,
must be revealed to those who persistently refuse to render obedience to the King of
kings. Those who choose to remain disloyal must be visited in mercy with judgements, in
order that, if possible, they may be aroused to a realisation of the sinfulness of their
course.-- Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 92. (1909) EV 28
As I consider the conditions in the cities that are so manifestly under the power of
Satan, I ask myself the question, What will be the end of these things? The wickedness in
many cities is increasing. Crime and iniquity are at work on every hand. New species of
idolatry are continually being introduced into society. In every nation the minds of men
are turning to the invention of some new thing. Rashness of deed and confusion of mind are
everywhere increasing. Surely the cities of the earth are becoming like Sodom and
Gomorrah.
As a people we need to hasten the work in the cities, which has been hindered for lack
of workers and means and a spirit of consecration. At this time, the people of God need to
turn their hearts fully to Him; for the end of all things is at hand. They need to humble
their minds, and to be attentive to the will of the Lord, working with earnest desire to
do that which God has shown must be done to warn the cities of their impending doom. RH
JAN.25,1912
Everywhere there are men who should be out in active ministry, giving the last message
of warning to a fallen world. The work that should long ago have been in active operation
to win souls to Christ has not been done. The inhabitants of the ungodly cities so soon to
be visited by calamities have been cruelly neglected. The time is near when large cities
will be swept away, and all should be warned of these coming judgements. But who is giving
to the accomplishment of this work the wholehearted service that God requires? . . .
O that God's people had a sense of the impending destruction of thousands of cities,
now almost given to idolatry. RH SEP.10,1903
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