Ellen White Compares Those Who Will Not Sigh and Cry With Achan
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Dear Reader, The following article states that those who
refuse to sigh and cry for all the abominations in the church are like Achan’s
in the camp and the church will not be blessed by retaining such members, and
will be corporately responsible for so doing. Thus, any church
that retains those who will not sigh and cry is just as cursed as was the
camp of Israel until Achan and his family were put out of the camp. Here is Ellen White’s article: June 8, 1886 Faithfulness in Reproving Sin The true people
of God, who have the spirit of the work of the Lord and the salvation of
souls at heart, will ever view sin in its real, sinful character. They will
always be on the side of faithful and plain dealing with sins which easily
beset the people of God. Especially in the closing work for the church, in
the sealing time of the one hundred and forty-four thousand, who are to stand
without fault before the throne of God, will they feel most deeply the wrongs
of God's professed people. This is forcibly set forth by the prophet's
illustration of the last work, under the figure of the men, each having a
slaughter weapon in his hand. One man among them was clothed with linen, with
a writer's inkhorn by his side. "And the Lord said unto him, Go through
the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon
the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for the abominations
that be done in the midst thereof." {RH, June 8, 1886 par. 1} Who are standing
in the counsel of God at this time? Is it those who virtually excuse wrongs
among the professed people of God, and murmur in their hearts, if not openly,
against those who would reprove sin? It is those who take their stand against
them, and sympathize with those who commit wrong?--No, indeed! These, unless
they repent, and leave the work of Satan in oppressing those who have the
burden of the work, and in holding up the hands of sinners in Zion, will
never receive the mark of God's sealing approval. They will fall in the
general destruction of all the wicked, represented by the five men bearing
slaughter weapons. Mark this point with care; those who receive the pure mark
of truth, wrought in them by the power of the Holy Ghost, represented by the
man in linen, are those "that sigh and cry for all the abominations
that are done" in the church. Their love for purity and the honor and
glory of God is such, and they have so clear a view of the exceeding
sinfulness of sin, that they are represented as being in an agony, even
sighing and crying. {RH, June 8, 1886 par. 2} But the general
slaughter of all those who do not thus see the wide contrast between sin and
righteousness, and do not feel as those do who stand in the counsel of God
and receive the mark, is described in the order to the five men with
slaughter weapons: "Go ye after him through the city, and smite; let not
your eye spare, neither have ye pity; slay utterly old and young, both maids,
and little children, and women; but come not near any man upon whom is the
mark; and begin at my sanctuary." {RH, June 8, 1886 par. 3} God said to
Joshua (in the case of Achan's sins), "Neither will I be with you any
more except ye destroy the accursed from among you." How does this instance compare with the
course pursued by those who will not raise their voice against sin and wrong;
but whose sympathies are ever found with those who trouble the camp of Israel
with their sins? Said God to Joshua, "Thou canst not stand before thine
enemies until ye take away the accursed thing from among you." He
pronounced the punishment which should follow the transgression of his
covenant. {RH, June 8, 1886 par. 4} Ron’s Commentary: Those who will not sigh
and cry for all the abominations in the church will not be able to stand
before their enemies, and the church will not stand by being corporately
responsible for retaining such “Achan’s” within her borders. End comment. Joshua then
began a diligent search to find out the guilty one. He took Israel by their
tribes, and then by their families, and next, individually. Achan was
designated as the guilty one. But that the matter might be plain to all
Israel, that there should be no occasion given them to murmur, and to say
that the guiltless was made to suffer, Joshua used policy. He knew that Achan
was the transgressor, and that he had concealed his sin, and provoked God
against his people. Joshua discreetly induced Achan to make confession of his
sin, that God's honor and justice should be vindicated before Israel:
"And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the
Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou
hast done. Hide it not from me. {RH, June 8, 1886 par. 5} "And Achan
answered Joshua, and said, Indeed, I have sinned against the Lord God of
Israel, and thus and thus have I done: When I saw among the spoils a goodly
Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of
fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they
are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it. So
Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold, it was hid
in his tent, and the silver under it. And they took them out of the midst of
the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, and unto all the children of Israel,
and laid them out before the Lord. And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took
Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of
gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his
sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the
valley of Achor. And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the Lord shall
trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them
with fire, after they had stoned them with stones." {RH, June 8, 1886
par. 6}
God holds his people, as a body, responsible for sins existing in individuals
among them. If there is a neglect with the leaders of the church to
diligently search out the sins which bring the displeasure of God upon his
people as a body, they become responsible for these sins. But this is the nicest work that men
ever engaged in, to deal with minds. All are not fitted to correct the
erring. They have not wisdom to deal justly, while loving mercy. They will
not be inclined to see the necessity of mingling love and tender compassion
with faithful reproof of wrongs. Some will ever be needlessly severe, and
will not feel the necessity of the injunction of the apostle, "And of
some have compassion, making a difference; and others save with fear, pulling
them out of the fire." There are many who do not have the discretion of
Joshua, and who have no special duty to search out wrongs, and to deal
promptly with the sins existing among them. Let not such hinder those who have
the burden of this work upon them. Let them not stand in the way of those who
have this duty to do. Some make it a point to question, and doubt, and find
fault, because others do the work that God has not laid upon themselves.
These stand directly in the way to hinder those upon whom God has laid the
burden of reproof, and of correcting the sins that are prevailing, that his
frown may be turned away from his people. Should a case like Achan's be among
us, there are many who would accuse those who might act the part of Joshua in
searching out the wrong, of having a fault-finding, wicked spirit. God is not
to be trifled with, and his warnings disregarded with impunity by a perverse
people. {RH, June 8, 1886 par. 7} Ron’s Commentary: We should always reprove
in a spirit of loving rebuke, but regardless, we will be hate by those we
reprove. Regarding severity in reproving God’s people, we must also consider
the following statement: “Reproofs always hurt human nature. Many are the souls that have
been destroyed by the unwise sympathy of their brethren; for, because the
brethren sympathized with them, they thought they must indeed have been
abused, and that the reprover was all wrong and had a bad spirit. The only
hope for sinners in Zion is to fully see and confess their wrongs, and put
them away. Those who step in to destroy the edge of sharp reproof that God
sends, saying that the reprover was partly wrong and the reproved was not
just right, please the enemy. “Any way that Satan can devise to make the reproofs of none
effect will accomplish his design. Some will lay blame upon the one whom God
has sent with a message of warning, saying, He is too severe; and in so doing
they become responsible for the soul of the sinner whom God desired to save,
and to whom, because He loved him, He sent correction, that he might humble
his soul before God and put his sins from him. These false sympathizers will
have an account to settle with the Master by-and-by for their work of
death.”—3 Testimonies, 328-329. The manner of
Achan's confession is similar to the confessions that some have made, and
will make, among us. They hide their wrongs, and refuse to make a voluntary
confession, until God searches them out, and then they acknowledge their
sins. A few persons pass on in a course of wrong, until they become hardened.
They may even know that the church is burdened, as Achan knew that Israel
were made weak before their enemies because of his guilt; yet their
consciences do not condemn them. They will not relieve the church by humbling
their proud, rebellious hearts before God, and putting away their wrongs.
God's displeasure is upon his people, and he will not manifest his power in
their midst while sins are existing among them, and fostered by those in
responsible positions. {RH, June 8, 1886 par. 8} Those who work
in the fear of God to rid the church of hindrances, and to correct grievous
wrongs, that the people of God may see the necessity of abhorring sin, and
that they may prosper in purity, and the name of God be glorified, will ever
meet with resisting influences from the unconsecrated. Zephaniah describes
the true state of this class, and the terrible judgments that will come upon
them: "And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search
Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees;
that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither will he do
evil." "The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth
greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord; the mighty man shall cry
there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a
day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of
clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced
cities, and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men that
they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord;
and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung.
Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of
the Lord's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his
jealousy; for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in
the land." {RH, June 8, 1886 par. 9} God will not be
trifled with. It is in time of conflict when the true colors should be flung
to the breeze. It is then the standard-bearers need to be firm, and let their
true position be known. It is then the skill of every true soldier for the
right is tested. Shirks can never wear the laurels of victory. Those who are
true and loyal will not conceal the fact, but will put heart and might into
the work, and venture their all in the struggle, let the battle turn as it
will. God is a sin-hating God; and those who will encourage the sinner,
saying, It is well with thee, God will curse. {RH, June 8, 1886 par. 10} God bless, Ron |