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[verity83]

This chapter details the suffering and scattering of the Christians by the hand of the Roman Empire. As before, the thing that stood out to me most was this quote from the close of the chapter:

There is another and more important question that should engage the attention of the churches of today. The apostle Paul declares that "all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." 2 Timothy 3:12. Why is it, then, that persecution seems in a great degree to slumber? The only reason is that the church has conformed to the world's standard and therefore awakens no opposition. The religion which is current in our day is not of the pure and holy character that marked the Christian faith in the days of Christ and His apostles. It is only because of the spirit of compromise with sin, because the great truths of the word of God are so indifferently regarded, because there is so little vital godliness in the church, that Christianity is apparently so popular with the world. Let there be a revival of the faith and power of the early church, and the spirit of persecution will be revived, and the fires of persecution will be rekindled.

That definitely sounds like our day, and the day of Ellen White. We tend to think of the Church Back Then as being better somehow than today, but when you really stop to think about it, was it? Certainly, morality and decency still held sway and crime was less rampant. But one can have a form of godliness without the actual saving power of Jesus, and I think that's more or less what is going on here, both in her day and the present day.