Very interesting quotes about Armageddon.  I always thot it was referring to after the 3rd Coming, but these quotes show quite strongly that it, or at least a part of it, is before the 2nd Coming.

hit 11 of 22

" The agency of the Holy Spirit is to combine with human effort and all heaven is engaged in the work of preparing a people to stand in these last days. The end is near and we want to keep the future world in view. . . .  {3SM 425.2}  

     In this last conflict the Captain of the Lord's host [Joshua 5:15] is leading on the armies of heaven and mingling in the ranks and fighting our battles for us. We shall have apostasies, we expect them. "They will go out from us because they were not of us" (see 1 John 2:19). "Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up" (Matthew 15:13).  {3SM 425.3}  

     The angel, the mighty angel from heaven, is to lighten the earth with His glory (Revelation 18:1), while he cries mightily with a loud voice, "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen" (verse 2). . . . We would lose faith and courage in the conflict, if we were not sustained by the power of God.  {3SM 425.4} 

     Every form of evil is to spring into intense activity. Evil angels unite their powers with evil men, and as they have been in constant conflict and attained an experience in the best modes of deception and battle and have been strengthening for centuries, they will not yield the last great final contest without a desperate struggle and all the world will be on one side or the other of the question. 

                                                                           426

 {3SM 425.5}  

     The battle of Armageddon will be fought. And that day must find none of us sleeping. Wide awake we must be, as wise virgins having oil in our vessels with our lamps. The power of the Holy Ghost must be upon us and the Captain of the Lord's host will stand at the head of the angels of heaven to direct the battle. Solemn events before us are yet to transpire. Trumpet after trumpet is to be sounded; vial after vial poured out one after another upon the inhabitants of the earth. Scenes of stupendous interest are right upon us and these things will be sure indications of the presence of Him who has directed in every aggressive movement, who has accompanied the march of His cause through all the ages, and who has graciously pledged Himself to be with His people in all their conflicts to the end of the world. He will vindicate His truth. He will cause it to triumph. He is ready to supply His faithful ones with motives and power of purpose, inspiring them with hope and courage and valor in increased activity as the time is at hand.  {3SM 426.1}  

     One Fierce Last Struggle.--Deceptions, delusions, impostures will increase. The cries will come in from every quarter, "Lo, here is Christ! Lo, there is Christ!" "But," said Christ, "Go ye not . . . after them" (Luke 21:8). There will be one fierce struggle before the man of sin shall be disclosed to this world--who he is and what has been his work.  {3SM 426.2}  

     While the Protestant world is becoming very tender and affectionate toward the man of sin (2 Thessalonians 2:3), shall [not] God's people take their place as bold and valiant soldiers of Jesus Christ to meet the issue which must come, their lives hid with Christ in God? Mystic Babylon has not been sparing in the blood of the saints and shall we [not] be wide awake to catch the beams of light which have been shining from the light of the angel who is to brighten the earth with his glory.-- Letter 112, 1890.  {3SM 426.3}  

     Our Lives and the Final Preparation 

     God Will Try Us.--Before giving us the baptism 

                                                                           427

of the Holy Spirit, our heavenly Father will try us, to see if we can live without dishonoring Him.--Letter 22, 1902.  {3SM 426.4}  

     Everything Imperfect Will Be Put Away.-- When our earthly labors are ended, and Christ shall come for His faithful children, we shall then shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of our Father. But before that time shall come, everything that is imperfect in us will have been seen and put away. All envy and jealousy and evil surmising and every selfish plan will have been banished from the life.--Letter 416, 1907.  {3SM 427.1}  

     When Perfection of Character Is Reached.--Are we striving with all our God-given powers to reach the measure of the stature of men and women in Christ? Are we seeking for His fullness, ever reaching higher and higher, trying to attain to the perfection of His character? When God's servants reach this point, they will be sealed in their foreheads. The recording angel will declare, "It is done." They will be complete in Him whose they are by creation and by redemption.-- Manuscript 148, 1899.  {3SM 427.2}  

     We Shall Be Gifted With a Higher Nature.-- When Christ comes, He takes those who have purified their souls by obeying the truth. . . . This mortal shall put on immortality, and these corruptible bodies, subject to disease, will be changed from mortal to immortal. We shall then be gifted with a higher nature. The bodies of all who purify their souls by obeying the truth shall be glorified. They will have fully received and believed in Jesus Christ.--Manuscript 36, 1906.  {3SM 427.3} 

        A Vivid View of Coming Events 

     Friday [Jan. 18, 1884] night several heard my voice exclaiming, "Look, Look!" Whether I was dreaming or in vision I cannot tell. I slept alone.  {3SM 427.4}  

     The time of trouble was upon us. I saw our people in great distress, weeping and praying, pleading the sure promises of God, while the wicked were all around us mocking us and threatening to destroy us. They ridiculed 

                                                                           428

our feebleness, they mocked at the smallness of our numbers, and taunted us with words calculated to cut deep. They charged us with taking an independent position from all the rest of the world. They had cut off our resources so that we could not buy or sell, and they referred to our abject poverty and stricken condition. They could not see how we could live without the world. We were dependent on the world, and we must concede to the customs, practices, and laws of the world, or go out of it. If we were the only people in the world whom the Lord favored, the appearances were awfully against us.  {3SM 427.5}  

     They declared that they had the truth, that miracles were among them; that angels from heaven talked with them and walked with them, that great power and signs and wonders were performed among them, and that this was the temporal millennium they had been expecting so long. The whole world was converted and in harmony with the Sunday law, and this little feeble people stood out in defiance of the laws of the land and the law of God, and claimed to be the only ones right on the earth. . . .  {3SM 428.1}  

     "Look Up! Look Up!"--But while anguish was upon the loyal and true who would not worship the beast or his image and accept and revere an idol sabbath, One said, "Look up! Look up!" Every eye was lifted, and the heavens seemed to part as a scroll when it is rolled together, and as Stephen looked into heaven, [so] we looked. The mockers were taunting and reviling us, and boasting of what they intended to do to us if we continued obstinate in holding fast our faith. But now we were as those who heard them not; we were gazing upon a scene that shut out everything else.  {3SM 428.2}  

     There stood revealed the throne of God. Around it were ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands upon thousands, and close about the throne were the martyrs. Among this number I saw the very ones who were so recently in such abject misery, whom the world knew not, whom the world hated and despised. 

                                                                           429

 {3SM 428.3}  

     A voice said, "Jesus, who is seated upon the throne, has so loved man that He gave His life a sacrifice to redeem him from the power of Satan, and to exalt him to His throne. He who is above all powers, He who has the greatest influence in heaven and in earth, He to whom every soul is indebted for every favor he has received, was meek and lowly in disposition, holy, harmless, and undefiled in life.  {3SM 429.1}  

     "He was obedient to all His Father's commandments. Wickedness has filled the earth; it is defiled under the inhabitants thereof. The high places of the powers of earth have been polluted with corruption and base idolatries, but the time has come when righteousness shall receive the palm of victory and triumph. Those who were accounted by the world as weak and unworthy, those who were defenseless against the cruelty of men, shall be crowned conquerors and more than conquerors." [Revelation 7:9-17 quoted.]  {3SM 429.2}  

     They are before the throne enjoying the sunless splendors of eternal day, not as a scattered, feeble company, to suffer by the satanic passions of a rebellious world, expressing the sentiments, the doctrines, and the counsels of demons.  {3SM 429.3}  

     Now the Saints Have Nothing to Fear.--Strong and terrible have become the masters of iniquity in the world under the control of Satan, but strong is the Lord God who judgeth Babylon. The just have no longer anything to fear from force or fraud as long as they are loyal and true. A mightier than the strong man armed is set for their defense. All power and greatness and excellence of character will be given to those who have believed and stood in defense of the truth, standing up and firmly defending the laws of God.  {3SM 429.4}  

     Another heavenly being exclaimed with firm and musical voice, "They have come out of great tribulation. They have walked in the fiery furnace in the world, heated intensely by the passions and caprices of men who would enforce upon them the worship of the beast and his image, who would compel them to be disloyal to the 

                                                                           430

God of heaven.  {3SM 429.5}  

     "They have come from the mountains, from the rocks, from the dens and caves of the earth, from dungeons, from prisons, from secret councils, from the torture chamber, from hovels, from garrets. They have passed through sore affliction, deep self-denial, and deep disappointment. They are no longer to be the sport and ridicule of wicked men. They are to be no longer mean and sorrowful in the eyes of those who despise them.  {3SM 430.1} 

     "Remove the filthy garments from them, with which wicked men have delighted to clothe them. Give them a change of raiment, even the white robes of righteousness, and set a fair mitre upon their heads."  {3SM 430.2}  

     There They Stand Victors in the Great Conflict.-- They were clothed in richer robes that earthly beings had ever worn. They were crowned with diadems of glory such as human beings had never seen. The days of suffering, of reproach, of want, of hunger, are no more; weeping is past. Then they break forth in songs, loud, clear, and musical. They wave the palm branches of victory, and exclaim, "Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb" (Revelation 7:10).  {3SM 430.3}  

     Oh, may God endue us with His Spirit and make us strong in His strength! In that great day of supreme and final triumph it will be seen that the righteous were strong, and that wickedness in all its forms and with all its pride was a weak and miserable failure and defeat. We will cling close to Jesus, we will trust Him, we will seek His grace and His great salvation. We must hide in Jesus, for He is a covert from the storm, a present help in time of trouble.--Letter 6, 1884.  {3SM 430.4}  

We are for sure headed into the perilous times that Peter has predicted,

2Ti 3:1 ¶ This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.