Those who separate from God will call darkness light, and error truth. But darkness will never prove itself to be light, nor will error become truth.(56)... The minds of many have been so darkened and confused by worldly customs, worldly practices, and worldly influences that all power to discriminate between light and darkness, truth and error, seems destroyed. I had little hope that my words would be understood; but when the Lord moved upon me so decidedly, I could not resist His Spirit. Knowing that you were involving yourselves in the snares of Satan, I felt that the danger was too great for me to keep silent.... That God who knows their spiritual condition declares: They have cherished evil and separated from Me. They have gone astray, every one of them. Not one is guiltless. They have forsaken Me, the Fountain of living waters, and have hewed out to them broken cisterns that can hold no water....And they will not heed the testimony that I send them. They will not see their perverse ways and be converted, that I should heal them.... I saw that the frown of God was upon His people for their assimilation to the world.(57)...Yet now when I send you a testimony of warning and reproof, many of you declare it to be merely the opinion of Sister White. You have thereby insulted the Spirit of God.... While standing over the dying bed of my husband, I knew that had the church heeded the testimony given them, he would have been spared. Had others borne their part of the burdens, he might have lived. I then pleaded, with agony of soul, that those present might no longer grieve the Spirit of God by their hardness of heart.... What voice will you acknowledge as the voice of God? What power has the Lord in reserve to correct your errors, and show you your course as it is? What power to work in the church? You have, by your own course, closed every avenue whereby the Lord would reach you. Will He raise one from the dead to speak to you? If you refuse to believe until every shadow of uncertainty, and every possibility of doubt is removed(58) you will never believe. The doubt that demands perfect knowledge, will never yield to faith....We must resist and conquer inclination, and obey the voice of conscience without parleying or compromise, lest its promptings cease, and will and impulse control. The word of the Lord comes to us all who have not resisted His Spirit by determining not to hear and obey. This voice is heard in warnings, in counsels, in reproof.(59) It is the Lords message of light to His people. If we wait for louder calls or better opportunities, the light may be withdrawn, and we left in darkness.... I have been shown that painful and contagious disease is upon you, which will produce spiritual death unless it is arrested. This is terrible, right in the heart of the work, where health and vitality are so essential for health of the body.... It pains me to say to you in Battle Creek that your sinful neglect to walk in the light, has enshrouded you in darkness....I can but exclaim, how could you do just what the voice of God forbade you doing? The Lord is testing and proving you. He has warned and counseled, admonished and entreated. All these solemn admonitions will either make the church better or decidedly worse.... The great sin of the Jews was that of neglecting and rejecting present opportunities. As Jesus views the state of His professed followers today, He sees base ingratitude, hollow formalism,(60) hypocritical insincerity, Pharisaical pride and apostasy.(61)... I have been shown that the spirit of the world is fast leavening the church. You are following the same path as did ancient Israel.(62)...Your neglect to follow the light will place you in a more unfavorable position than the Jews upon whom Christ pronounced a woe....But few know what our churches are to experience. I saw that at present we are under divine forbearance, but no one can say how long this will continue. No one knows how great the mercy that has been exercised towards us.... Many of our people are lukewarm. They occupy the position of Meroz,(63) neither for nor against, neither cold nor hot. They hear the words of Christ, but do them not. If they remain in this state, He will reject them with abhorrence.... I seldom weep, but now I find my eyes blinded with tears; they are falling upon my paper as I write. It may be that ere long all prophesyings among us will be at an end, and the voice which has stirred the people may no longer disturb their carnal slumbers....when holy hands bear the ark no longer, woe will be upon the people. Oh, that thou hadst known, even thou, in this thy day, the things that belong unto thy peace. Oh, that our people may, as did Nineveh, repent with all their might and believe with all their heart, that God may turn away His fierce anger from them.... What can I say to arouse our people? I tell you not a few ministers who stand before the people to explain the Scriptures are defiled. Their hearts are corrupt, their hands unclean.(64) Yet many are crying, `Peace, peace [Jeremiah 6:14]; and the workers of iniquity are not alarmed. The Lords hand is not shortened that He cannot hear; but it is our sins that have separated us from God. The church is corrupt because of her members who defile their bodies and pollute their souls. If all of those who come together for meetings of edification and prayer, could be regarded as true worshippers, then we might have hope, though much would still remain to be done for us. But it is vain to deceive ourselves....The prevailing spirit of our time is that of infidelity(65) and apostasy(66)...There is a spirit of idolatrous exaltation of mere human reason above the revealed wisdom of God.(67) There are men among us in responsible positions who hold that the opinions of a few conceited philosophers, so called, are more to be trusted than the truth of the Bible, or the testimonies of the Holy Spirit.(68)...It is taught in most of our schools and comes into the lessons of the nurseries.(69)... God has promised that where the shepherds are not true He will take charge of the flock Himself.(70) God has never made the flock wholly dependent upon human instrumentalities. But the days of purification of the church are hastening on apace.(71) God will have a people pure and true. In the mighty sifting soon to take place, we shall be better able to measure the strength of Israel. The signs reveal that the time is near when the Lord will manifest that His fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor.... The time is not far distant when the test will come to every soul. The mark of the beast will be urged upon us. Those who have step by step yielded to worldly demands, and conformed to worldly customs, will not find it a hard matter to yield to the powers that be, rather that subject themselves to derision, insult, threatened imprisonment, and death. The contest is between the commandments of God and the commandments of men. In this time the gold will be separated from the dross in the church.... Satan will sorely harass the faithful;(72) but in the name of Jesus, they will come off more than conquerors. Then will the church of Christ appear `fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners [Song of Solomon 6:10].... God will work a work in our day that but few anticipate....God will manifest that He is not dependent on learned, self-important mortals.... We cannot be half the Lords and half the worlds. We are not Gods people unless we are such entirely. Every weight, every besetting sin, must be laid aside. Gods watchmen will not cry, `Peace, peace, when God has not spoken peace. The voice of the faithful watchman will be heard; `Go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her;(73) be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord [Isaiah 52:11]. The church cannot measure herself by the world, nor by the opinion of men, nor by what she once was. Her faith and her position in the world as they now are, must be compared with what they would have been if her course had been continually onward and upward. The church will be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary. If her moral character and spiritual state do not correspond with the benefits and blessings God has conferred upon her, she will be found wanting. The light has been shining clear and definite upon her pathway, and the light of 1882 calls her to an account. If her talents are unimproved, if her fruit is not perfect before God, if her light becomes darkness, she is indeed found wanting.(74) The knowledge of our state as God views it, seems to be hidden from us....We profess to know God, and to believe the truth; but in works deny Him. Our deeds are directly adverse to the principles of truth and righteousness, by which we profess to be governed. Special Testimony, p 41-66, June 20, 1882. (Edited version in Testimonies, vol 5, p 62-84)
Posted on: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 04:31:57 +0000
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