Royalty and Ruin: Foreword

 An adaptation in today’s language of Prophets and Kings.

    Does history have meaning? Does human life have lasting significance? Is God involved in events on earth?

    To these questions the author of this book answers Yes. Then, with deep insight into providential workings, she draws the curtain aside and reveals a philosophy of history which shows that events among the nations have eternal significance.

    This volume is an adaptation of From Splendor to Shadow, a 1984 condensed edition of Ellen G. White’s classic volume, Prophets and Kings. The condensed volume included all the chapters of the original, using only Mrs. White’s own words but shortening the account.

    The current adaptation goes a step beyond this, using some words, expressions, and sentence constructions more familiar to twenty-first century readers. Most of the Bible quotations are taken from the New King James Version, which sounds much like the King James Version that Mrs. White used most often. It is hoped that readers who are new to Mrs. White’s writings will enjoy this adaptation and will develop a desire to read the original editions of her works.

    Royalty and Ruin begins with the account of Solomon’s glorious reign over Israel. Here we review the history of a favored and chosen people, wavering between allegiance to God and to the gods of the nations around them. More importantly, in fascinating character studies of the kings, leaders, and prophets of a turbulent age, we find dramatic evidences of the raging conflict between Christ and Satan for the hearts of men and women. The book’s final chapters tell of Christ’s coming to the Jewish nation and the world as their true Royalty and of His reign that will finally undo all the ruin that humanity—royal or not—has brought on the earth through sin.

    There are five powerful volumes in the “Conflict of the Ages” series, this book being condensed and adapted from the second of the five. That many more readers may be drawn to God through these books and their presentation of Bible themes is the hope and prayer of

The Trustees of the

Ellen G. White Estate.