More and more, as the days go by, it is becoming apparent that God’s judgments are in the world. In fire and flood and earthquake He is warning the inhabitants of this earth of His near approach. 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! There are many who have not yet heard the testing truth for this time. There are many with whom the Spirit of God is striving. The time of God’s destructive judgments is the time of mercy for those who have had no opportunity to learn what is truth. Tenderly will the Lord look upon them. His heart of mercy is touched; His hand is still stretched out to save, while the door is closed to those who would not enter.” {9 Testimonies for the Church, pg. 97.2}.
“Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah. Plead with your mother, plead: for she [is] not my wife, neither [am] I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts; Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst… And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they [be] the children of whoredoms Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. ..” Hosea 2:1-4, 14, 15.
Hosea also got a glimpse of this impending judgment. In Hosea’s prophecy there is a symbolization of God’s church committing spiritual whoredom (uniting with the world) during this adulterous relationship. The church begat many bastard children (the tares, the flood, the Edomites etc.). This situation tarnishes the purity of the church.
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The only hope for God’s church during this period of spiritual whoredom is the “Valley of Achor. What is the Valley of Achor?
“When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they [are] hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it. And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day.” Joshua 7:21, 25, 26.
“In the case of Achan’s sin God said to Joshua: “Neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.” How does this instance compare with the course pursued by those who will not raise their voice against sin and wrong, but whose sympathies are ever found with those who trouble the camp of Israel with their sins? Said God to Joshua: “Thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.” He pronounced the punishment which would follow the transgression of His covenant. {3 Testimonies to the Church, pg. 267.3}.
Here we have evidence after evidence that God will physically cleanse His church before the “Loud Cry” begins. Now we can better appreciate Joel 2:1, 2.
To reiterate: The four angels of Revelation 7:1-4 are now holding back the four winds until the 144,000 are sealed. According to 5T:152 the four winds represent the Mark of the Beast system. When the 144,000 are sealed, and after they are rescued from the tragedy of Revelation 12:16, the Sunday blue law will then be enforced, and that will bring the “Time of Trouble” such as never was. Probation will then be closed for the SDA church, but will still be opened for the churches in Babylon and the world at large. The 144,000 will then receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and give the final call for God’s people to separate from Babylon and join the then exalted remnant church before the seven last plagues.
“ I saw that God had children who do not see and keep the Sabbath. They have not rejected the light upon it. And at the commencement of the time of trouble, we were filled with the Holy Ghost as we went forth and proclaimed the Sabbath more fully.”…. “The commencement of that time of trouble,” here mentioned does not refer to the time when the plagues shall begin to be poured out, but to a short period just before they are poured out, while Christ is in the sanctuary. At that time, while the work of salvation is closing, trouble will be coming on the earth, and the nations will be angry, yet held in check so as not to prevent the work of the third angel. At that time the “latter rain,” or refreshing from the presence of the Lord, will come, to give power to the loud voice of the third angel, and prepare the saints to stand in the period when the seven last plagues shall be poured out.” {Early Writings, pg. 85.3}.