Of all the subjects we like to hear and study, it is the Second Coming of Christ that brings us the most thrilling joy of anticipation. The next most exciting subject, I believe, is the Loud Cry. It stirs our hearts for the climax of victory. Surrounding the Loud Cry is a cluster of events that begin with the national Sunday law and end with the close of probation.
Revelation 18 contains the Loud Cry, which is to be given to the whole world. “And after these things, I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.” Revelation 18:1–5.
This most powerful message of the Loud Cry will begin as soon as the United States enacts the national Sunday law. Immediately, every nation on earth will be forced by Rome to follow the United States and declare Sunday the universal day of worship.
“Foreign nations will follow the example of the United States. Though she leads out, yet the same crisis will come upon our people in all parts of the world . . . All nations and tongues and peoples will be commanded to worship this spurious Sabbath. This is Satan’s plan to make of no account the day instituted by God, and given to the world as a memorial of creation. The decree enforcing the worship of this day is to go forth to all the world.” Maranatha, 214.
It is at this time that the loyal Sabbath-keepers will face the crisis of their lives and make the final decision that they would rather die than sin. By refusing to worship the beast and accept the mark of apostasy, this small remnant will receive the seal of God, and the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon them in the latter rain, enabling them to give the Loud Cry quickly to all the world.
The sealing is a progressive work, and as men and women throughout this planet come to understand what is taking place in the Loud Cry, they will make their decisions in response to the Three Angels’ Messages to accept or reject God’s final appeal. A divine power will be in their lives by words spoken. It will be at this time that Satan will also manifest himself by appearing as though he is Christ returning to the earth. “Satan sees that he is about to lose his case. He cannot sweep in the whole world. He makes one last desperate effort to overcome the faithful by deception. He does this in personating Christ. He clothes himself with the garments of royalty, which have been accurately described in the vision of John. He has power to do this. He will appear to his deluded followers, the Christian world who receive not the love of the truth but have pleasure in unrighteousness (transgression of the law), as Christ coming the second time.
“He proclaims himself Christ, and he is believed to be Christ, a beautiful, majestic being clothed with majesty and, with soft voice and pleasant words, with glory unsurpassed by anything that mortal eye had yet beheld. Then his deceived, deluded followers set up a shout of victory, ‘Christ has come the second time! Christ has come! He has lifted up His hands just as He did when He was upon this earth and blessed us.’ ” The Last Day Events, 164.
I believe this to be Satan’s attempt to counterfeit the mighty work of the fourth angel. First, comes the national Sunday law, which is followed by a universal Sunday law. Then come the sealing and the latter rain, which make possible the Loud Cry that Satan tries to counterfeit with his satanic manifestations. But God sends the fourth angel to empower the Loud Cry so that nothing on earth can stop it. Babylon is revealed as fallen, her sins are unmasked, and God calls His people to come out of her that they receive not of her plagues.
Let’s look carefully at eleven points I have compiled about the Loud Cry.
- “The Lord has His representatives in all churches. These persons have not had the special testing truths for these last days presented to them under circumstances that brought conviction to heart and mind; therefore they have not, by rejecting light, severed their connections with God.” Testimonies, vol. 6, 70.
“Notwithstanding the spiritual darkness and alienation from God that exist in the churches which constitute Babylon, the great body of Christ’s true followers are still to be found in their communion.” The Great Controversy, 390.
We are not to be discouraged, when we see so many within Adventism being captivated by false teachings. Though they may leave the truth by the millions, there are millions in other churches who will heed the Loud Cry and come out of Babylon to take their place on God’s side with His people.
- How are God’s people to react to this Sunday law? First, we must never give the impression that we are resting on Sunday in honor of the Sunday sabbath. We may quietly work within our home on Sunday. We may quietly rest during part of Sunday, as we do on any other day, remembering that it is a workday as God has spoken, “Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work.”
We should spend most of Sunday visiting and giving Bible studies. “We must take a firm stand that we will not reverence the first day of the week as the Sabbath, for it is not the day that was blessed and sanctified by Jehovah, and in reverencing Sunday we should place ourselves on the side of the great deceiver.” Selected Messages, vol. 3, 388.
“The people will soon find out what you believe about Sunday and the Sabbath for they will ask questions. Then you can tell them, but not in such a manner as to attract attention to your work. You need not cut short your work by yourself laboring on Sunday . . . Refraining from work on Sunday is not receiving the mark of the beast . . . In places where the opposition is so strong as to arouse persecution, if work is done on Sunday, let our brethren make that day an occasion to do genuine missionary work.” Last Day Events, 139.
“At one time those in charge of our school at Avondale inquired of me, saying: ‘What shall we do? The officers of the law have been commissioned to arrest those working on Sunday.’ I replied: It will be very easy to avoid that difficulty. Give Sunday as a day for doing missionary work. Take the students out to hold meetings in different places, and to do medical missionary work. They will find the people at home and will have a splendid opportunity to present the truth. This way of spending Sunday is always acceptable to the Lord.” Testimonies, vol. 9, 238.
We may conduct Sunday Schools for the children on Sunday, but never a worship service on Sunday. There is a vast difference between these two programs. “When the practices of the people do not come in conflict with the law of God, you may conform to them. If the workers fail to do this, they will not only hinder their own work, but they will also place stumbling blocks in the way of those for whom they labor, and hinder them from accepting the truth. On Sunday there is the very best opportunity for those who are missionaries to hold Sunday Schools, and come to the people in the simplest manner possible, telling them of the love of Jesus for sinners, and educating them in the Scriptures.
“The light that I have is that God’s servants should go quietly to work, preaching the grand, precious truths of the Bible—Christ and Him crucified, His love and infinite sacrifice—showing that the reason why Christ died is because the law of God is immutable, unchangeable, eternal. The Sabbath must be taught in a decided manner. But be cautious how you deal with the idol Sunday. A word to the wise is sufficient.” Maranatha, 177.
Counsel has been clearly given to us about how we are to relate to the human laws of the earthly government and to God’s Law. “The people of God will recognize human government as an ordinance of divine appointment and will by precept and example teach obedience to it as a sacred duty so long as its authority is exercised within its legitimate sphere. But when its claims conflict with the claims of God we must choose to obey God rather than men. The Word of God must be recognized and obeyed as an authority above that of all human legislation. ‘Thus saith the Lord’ is not to be set aside for a ‘Thus saith the church or the state.’ The crown of Christ is to be uplifted above all the diadems of earthly potentates.” Last Day Events, 142.
- The Loud Cry is the Three Angels’ Messages of Revelation 14:9–12. It warns of a fearful judgment to come upon those who will worship the beast and his image. This test is to prepare a people to obey God in the final conflict. “This warning is brought to view in Revelation 14. Here is a threefold message represented as proclaimed by heavenly beings and immediately followed by the coming of the Son of man to reap ‘the harvest of the earth.’ ” The Great Controversy, 311.
Please notice what makes the Loud Cry so different from what the men of God had preached for years. “Heretofore, those who presented the truth of the Third Angel’s Message have often been regarded as mere alarmists. Their predictions that religious intolerance would gain control in the United States, that church and state would unite to persecute those who keep the commandments of God, have been pronounced groundless and absurd . . . But as the question of enforcing Sunday observance is widely agitated, the event so long doubted and disbelieved is soon to be approaching, and the third message will produce an effect which it could not have had before.
“Men of faith and prayer will be constrained to go forth with holy zeal, declaring the words which God gives them. The sins of Babylon will be laid open. The fearful results of enforcing the observance of the church by civil authority, the inroads of spiritualism, the stealthy but rapid progress of the Papal power—all will be unmasked. By these solemn warnings the people will be stirred.” The Great Controversy, 605, 606.
- The Loud Cry is a mighty appeal to the message of obedience to the Law of God, made possible by the enabling grace of Christ. It is a message of righteousness by faith and justification by faith. Revelation 14:12 says, “Here is the patience of the saints. Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”
“The time of test is just before us, for the Loud Cry of the third angel has already begun in the revelation of the righteousness of Christ, the sin-pardoning Redeemer. This is the beginning of the light of the angel whose glory shall fill the whole earth.” Selected Messages, vol. 1, 363.
The message is to be a revelation of how God’s love can lift a man out of the pit of sin and give him complete victory over every sin. “The last message of mercy to be given to the world is a revelation of His character of love. The children of God are to manifest His glory. In their own life and character they are to reveal what the grace of God has done for them.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 415.
“The message of Christ’s righteousness is to sound from one end of the earth to the other to prepare the way of the Lord. This is the glory of God, which closes the work of the third angel.”Testimonies, vol. 6, 19.
- When will this glory of God be manifested? Revelation 18 tells us it is when the sins of Babylon have reached unto heaven. “When do her sins reach unto heaven? When the law of God is finally made void by legislation.” Last Day Events, 198. This clearly reveals that this is the result of the universal Sunday law.
- Now is the time for God to act in which He will commission the fourth mighty angel to join with the Third Angel’s Message. “Then I saw another mighty angel commissioned to descend to the earth, to unite his voice with the third angel, and give power and force to his message. Great power and glory were imparted to the angel, and as he descended, the earth was lightened with his glory. The light which attended this angel penetrated everywhere, as he cried mightily, with a strong voice, ‘Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen.’ ” Early Writings, 277.
- The Loud Cry will penetrate the deepest darkness. “Amid the deepening shadows of earth’s great crises, God’s light will shine brightest, and the song of hope and trust will be heard in clearest and loftiest strains.” Education, 166.
- “During the Loud Cry, the church, aided by providential interposition of her exalted Lord, will diffuse the knowledge of salvation so abundantly that light will be communicated to every city and town.” Evangelism, 694. “In every city in America the truth is to be proclaimed. In every country of the world the warning message is to be given.” Last Day Events, 208.
“In heathen Africa, in the Catholic lands of Europe and South America, in China, in India, in the isles of the sea, and in all the dark corners of the earth, God has in reserve a firmament of chosen ones that will yet shine forth amidst the darkness, revealing clearly to an apostate world the transforming power of obedience to His law.” Prophets and Kings, 188.
- The whole earth is to be enlightened. “Servants of God with their faces lighted up and shining with holy consecration, will hasten from place to place to proclaim the message from heaven. By thousands of voices all over the earth, the warning will be given. Miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and signs and wonders will follow the believers. Satan also works with lying wonders, even bringing down fire from heaven in the sight of men. Revelation 13:13. Thus the inhabitants of the earth will be brought to take their stand.
“The message will be carried not so much by argument as by the deep conviction of the Spirit of God. The arguments have been presented. The seeds have been sown, and now it will spring up and bear fruit. The publications distributed by missionary workers have exerted their influence, yet many whose minds were impressed have been prevented from fully comprehending the truth or yielding obedience. Now the rays of light penetrate everywhere, the truth is seen in its clearness, and the honest children of God sever the bands which have held them. Family connections, church relations, are powerless to stay them now. Truth is more precious than all besides. Notwithstanding the agencies combined against the truth, a large number take their stand upon the Lord’s side.” The Great Controversy, 612.
- The results will be enormous. Conversions will be by the thousands. “The time is coming when there will be as many converted in a day as there were on the day of Pentecost, after the disciples had received the Holy Spirit.
“The safeguards which false shepherds had thrown around their flocks will become as nought; thousands will set out into the light, and work to spread the light. Heavenly intelligences will combine with human agencies. Thus encouraged, the church will indeed arise and shine, throwing all her sanctified energies into the contest; thus the design of God is accomplished; the lost pearls are recovered.” Evangelism, 692.
“When the storm of persecution really breaks . . .many who have strayed from the fold will come back to follow the Great Shepherd. The people of God will draw together and present to the enemy a united front.” Testimonies, vol. 6, 401.
- The Loud Cry message will be given rapidly. “The bright light going among the living creatures with the swiftness of lightening represents the speed with which this work will finally go forward to completion.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 754. “When divine power is combined with human effort, the work will spread like fire in the stubble. God will employ agencies whose origin men will be unable to discern; angels will do a work which men might have had the blessing of accomplishing, had they not neglected to answer the claims of God.” Selected Messages, vol. 1, 118.
The prophet Amos describes the finishing of the work like this: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth the seed.” Amos 9:13. “These conversions to the truth will be made with a rapidity that will surprise the church and God’s name alone will be glorified.” Selected Messages, vol. 2, 16. “The final movements will be rapid ones.” Testimonies, vol. 9, 11. This is just what God said in Romans 9: 28, “For He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.”
There is a reason for this wonder. The Loud Cry comes with ten times the power of the Midnight Cry that was given in 1844. “I saw the Latter Rain was coming as the Midnight Cry with ten times the power.” Spaulding Magan Collection, 2.
“Souls that were scattered all through the religious bodies answered to the call, and the precious were hurried out of the doomed churches, as Lot hurried out of Sodom before her destruction.” Early Writings, 279. But the vast majority will reject the message. “Some will listen to these warnings, but by the vast majority they will be disregarded.” In Heavenly Places, 343. There will be opposers of the message who will try to persuade the people not to accept the message. “The popular ministry, like the Pharisees of old, filled with anger as their authority is questioned, will denounce the message as of Satan and stir up the sin-loving multitudes to revile and persecute those who proclaim it.” The Great Controversy, 607.
What a thrill to our souls is the knowledge that the laymen of faith and prayer will be largely used to finish the work of the Loud Cry. “As the time comes for it to be given with greatest power, the Lord will work through human instruments, leading the minds of those who consecrate themselves to His service. The laborers will be qualified rather by the unction of His Spirit than by the training of literary institutions. Men of faith and prayer will be constrained to go forth with holy zeal, declaring the words which God gives them.” The Great Controversy, 606.
Uneducated men and even children will finish the work. “Many . . . will be seen hurrying hither and thither, constrained by the Spirit of God to bring the light to others. The truth, the Word of God, is as a fire in their bones, filling them with a burning desire to enlighten those who sit in darkness. Many, even among the uneducated, now proclaim the words of the Lord. Children are impelled by the Spirit to go forth and declare the message of heaven. The Spirit is poured out upon all who will yield to its promptings, and casting off all man’s machinery, his binding rules and cautious methods, they will declare the truth with the might of the Spirit’s power. Multitudes will receive the faith and join the armies of the Lord.” Evangelism, 700.
“Let me tell you that the Lord will work in this last work in a manner very much out of the common order of things, and in a way that will be contrary to any human planning. There will be those among us who will always want to control the work of God, to dictate even what movements should be made when the work goes forward under the direction of the angel who joins the third angel in the message to be given to the world. God will use ways and means by which it will be seen that He is taking the reins in His own hands. The workers will be surprised by the simple means that He will use to bring about and perfect His work of righteousness.” Testimonies to Ministers, 300.
“Those who receive Christ as a personal Saviour, will stand the test and trials of the last days. Strengthened by unquestioned faith in Christ, even the illiterate disciple will be able to withstand the doubts and the questions that infidelity can produce, and put to blush the sophistries of scorners. The Lord Jesus will give the disciples a tongue of wisdom that their adversaries can neither gainsay nor resist. Those who could not by reasoning overcome satanic delusions, will bear an affirmative testimony that will baffle supposedly learned men. Words will come from the lips of the unlearned with such convincing power and wisdom that conversions will be made to the truth. Thousands will be converted under their testimony.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 8, 187.
We are told that the angels of God will join with us in giving this message to men. “There are many men in our world who are like Cornelius. As God worked with Cornelius, so He worked for those true standard bearers. They will obtain a knowledge of God as Cornelius did through the visitation of angels from heaven.” Last Day Events, 207.
Praise God, the work will be finished and Jesus will come! The question is, will you and I be a part of giving the Loud Cry? Today God is calling you—will you answer?