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"God's
temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant could be seen. And
there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of
thunder, earthquakes, and severe storms.
A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon
under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars."
"...Surely, there is at this day a confederacy of evil, marshalling its hosts from all parts of the world,
organizing itself, taking its measures, enclosing the church of Christ as in
a net, and preparing the way for a general apostasy from it. Whether this
very apostasy is to give birth to Antichrist, or whether he is still to be
delayed, we cannot know; but at any rate this apostasy, and all its tokens,
and instruments, are of the Evil One and saviour of
death.
Far be it from any of us to be of those simple ones, who are taken in that
snare which is circling around us! Far be it from us to be seduced with the
fair promises in which Satan is sure to hide his poison!
Do you think he is so unskillful in his craft, as to ask you openly and
plainly to join him in his warfare against the truth? No; he offers you baits
to tempt you. He promises you civil liberty; he promises you equality; he
promises you trade and wealth; he promises you a remission of taxes; he
promises you reform.
This is the way in which he conceals from you the kind of work to which he is
putting you; he tempts you to rail against your rulers and superiors; he does
so himself, and induces you to imitate him; or he promises you illumination,
he offers you knowledge, science, philosophy, enlargement of mind. He scoffs
at times gone by; he scoffs at every institution which reveres them.
He prompts you what to say, and then listens to you, and praises you, and
encourages you. He bids you mount aloft. He shows you how to become as gods.
Then he laughs and jokes with you, and gets intimate with you; he takes your
hand, and gets his fingers between yours, and grasps them, and then you are
his."
J.H.Newman, The
Times of Antichrist
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