Chapter 18—(1869) A Year to Regroup and Prepare to Advance

If the title of this chapter carries a battlefield overtone it is because the Seventh-day Adventist Church was suffering the buffeting of the adversary brought to view in Revelation 12:17:2BIO 266.1

And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.2BIO 266.2

The 1860s marked relentless conflict; Satan exercised his wrath in a number of ways. He attacked the lives of some involved in the advancement of the cause. He attempted to overwhelm prime leaders through whispering campaigns in which false reports were widely circulated by adversaries of Seventh-day Adventists and, at times, by church members themselves. During much of 1866, while James White was incapacitated and kept almost entirely from the field, the enemy did not have that forceful leader to combat, but as James and Ellen again took to the field, Satan renewed his attacks with even greater intensity.2BIO 266.3