Apr 25, 2010 Posted by JGG on Apr 25, 2010 in Three Angel's Messages | 0 comments

3 Tests and Time Prophets

Pre­sen­ta­tion Notes : Three Tests and Prophets of Time

Many excused their dis­re­gard of the tes­ti­monies by say­ing: “Sis­ter White is influ­enced by her hus­band; the tes­ti­monies are molded by his spirit and judg­ment.” Oth­ers were seek­ing to gain some­thing from me which they could con­strue to jus­tify their course or to give them influ­ence. It was then I decided that noth­ing more should go from my pen until the con­vert­ing power of God was seen in the church. But the Lord placed the bur­den upon my soul. I labored for you earnestly. How much this cost both my hus­band and myself, eter­nity will tell. Have I not a knowl­edge of the state of the church, when the Lord has pre­sented their case before me again and again for years? Repeated warn­ings have been given, yet there has been no decided change.  {5T 63.4}
I saw that the frown of God was upon His peo­ple for their assim­i­la­tion to the world. I saw that the chil­dren of Brother —– have been a snare to him. Their ideas and opin­ions, their feel­ings and state­ments, had an influ­ence upon his mind and blinded his judg­ment. These youth are strongly inclined to infi­delity. The mother’s want of faith and trust in God has been given as an inher­i­tance to her chil­dren. Her devo­tion to them is greater than her devo­tion to God. The father has neglected his duty. The result of their wrong course is revealed in their chil­dren.  {5T 64.1}
As I spoke to the church I tried to impress upon par­ents their solemn oblig­a­tion to the chil­dren, because I knew the state of these youth and what ten­den­cies had made them what they are. But the word was not received. I know what bur­dens I bore in the last of my labors among you. I would never have thus tasked my strength to the utmost had I not seen your peril. I longed to arouse you to hum­ble your hearts before God, to return to Him with pen­i­tence and faith.  {5T 64.2}
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. You know how the Lord has man­i­fested Him­self through the spirit of prophecy. Past, present, and future have passed before me. I have been shown faces that I had never seen, and years after­ward I knew them when I saw them. I have been aroused from my sleep with a vivid sense of sub­jects pre­vi­ously pre­sented to my mind; and I have writ­ten, at mid­night, let­ters that have gone across the con­ti­nent and, arriv­ing at a cri­sis, have saved great dis­as­ter to the cause of God. This has been my work for many years. A power has impelled me to reprove and rebuke wrongs that I had not thought of. Is this work of the last thirty-​​six years from above or from beneath?  {5T 64.3}
Suppose–some would make it appear, incor­rectly however–that I was influ­enced to write as I did by let­ters received from mem­bers of the church. How was it with the apos­tle Paul? The news he received through the house­hold of Chloe con­cern­ing the con­di­tion of the church at Corinth was what caused him to write his first epis­tle to that church. Pri­vate let­ters had come to him stat­ing the facts as they existed, and in his answer he laid down gen­eral prin­ci­ples which if heeded would cor­rect the exist­ing evils. With great ten­der­ness and wis­dom he exhorts them to all speak the same things, that there be no divi­sions among them.  {5T 65.1}
Paul was an inspired apos­tle, yet the Lord did not reveal to him at all times just the con­di­tion of His peo­ple. Those who were inter­ested in the pros­per­ity of the church, and saw evils creep­ing in, pre­sented the mat­ter before him, and from the light which he had pre­vi­ously received he was pre­pared to judge of the true char­ac­ter of these devel­op­ments. Because the Lord had not given him a new rev­e­la­tion for that spe­cial time, those who were really seek­ing light did not cast his mes­sage aside as only a com­mon let­ter. No, indeed. The Lord had shown him the dif­fi­cul­ties and dan­gers which would arise in the churches, that when they should develop he might know just how to treat them.  {5T 65.2}
He was set for the defense of the church. He was to watch for souls as one that must ren­der account to God, and should he not take notice of the reports con­cern­ing their state of anar­chy and divi­sion? Most assuredly; and the reproof he sent them was writ­ten just as much under the inspi­ra­tion of the Spirit of God as were any of his epis­tles. But when these reproofs came, some would not be cor­rected. They took the posi­tion that God had not spo­ken to them through Paul, that he had merely given them his opin­ion as a man, and they regarded their own judg­ment as good as that of Paul.  {5T 65.3}
So it is with many among our peo­ple who have drifted away from the old land­marks and who have fol­lowed their own under­stand­ing. What a great relief it would be to such could they quiet their con­science with the belief that my work is not of God. But your unbe­lief will not change the facts in the case. You are defec­tive in char­ac­ter, in moral and reli­gious expe­ri­ence. Close your eyes to the fact if you will, but this does not make you one par­ti­cle more per­fect. The only rem­edy is to wash in the blood of the Lamb.  {5T 66.1}