New
Light is Sent to Test What Manner of Spirit we Are
Of
"The watchmen have not kept pace with the opening
providence of God, and the real heaven-sent message and messengers are
scorned." The E. G. White 1888 Materials, Vol. 2, 831.
"We
should never permit the spirit to be manifested that arraigned the priests
and rulers against the Redeemer of the world. They complained that He
disturbed the people, and they wished He would let them alone; for He caused
perplexity and dissension. The Lord sends light to us to prove what manner
of spirit we are of." E.G. White, Gospel Workers, pp. 301, 302.
"To
our brethren who are standing in this self-confident, self-satisfied
position, who talk and act as if there was no need of more light, we want to
say that the Laodicean message is applicable to
you." E.G. White, Review and Herald, 4/1/1890.
"When
new light is presented to the church, it is perilous to shut yourselves away
from it. Refusing to hear because you are prejudiced against the message
or the messenger will not make your case excusable before God. To condemn
that which you have not heard and do not understand will not exalt your
wisdom in the eyes of those who are candid in their investigations of truth.
And to speak with contempt of those whom God has sent with a message of
truth, is folly and madness." E.G. White, Councils on Sabbath School
Work, p. 32.
"In
every age God's chosen messengers have been reviled and persecuted, yet
through their affliction the knowledge of God has been spread abroad. Every disciple of
Christ is to step into the ranks and carry forward the same work, knowing
that its foes can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. God means
that truth shall be brought to the front and become the subject of
examination and discussion, even through the contempt placed upon it.
The minds of people must be agitated; every controversy, every reproach,
every effort to restrict liberty of conscience, is God's means of awakening
minds that otherwise might slumber." E.G. White, Mount of Blessing,
p. 33.
"We
should be ready to accept light from God from whatever source it may come,
instead of rejecting it because it does not come through the channel from
which we expect it." E.G. White, Review and Herald, 8/27/1889.
"May
the Lord forbid that the history of the children of Israel in departing from
God, in refusing to walk in the light, in refusing to confess their sins of
unbelief and rejection of His messages, should be the experience of the
people claiming to believe the truth for this time. For if they do as did the children of Israel in the face of warning and
admonitions, the same results will follow in these last days as came upon the
children of Israel." E.G. White, Review and Herald, 10/21/1890.
"We
must not trust to others to search the Scriptures for us. Some of our
leading brethren have frequently taken their position on the wrong side; and
if God would send a message and wait for these older brethren to open the way
for its advancement, it would never reach the people.... The rebuke of
the Lord will rest upon those who would bar the way that clearer light shall
not come to the people. A great work is to be done, and God sees that our
leading men have need of more light, that they may unite with the messengers
whom He sends to accomplish the work that He designs shall be done."
Gospel Workers, p. 303.
"Those
who have not been in the habit of searching the Bible for themselves, or
weighing the evidence, have confidence in the leading men and accept the
decisions they make; and thus many will reject the very messages God sends
to His people if these leading brethren do not accept them.
. . . Even if all our leading men should refuse light and truth,
that door will still remain open. The Lord will raise up men who will give
the people the message for this time." Testimonies to Ministers, pp.
106, 107.
"The
Lord often works where we least expect Him; He surprises us by revealing His
power through instruments of His own choice, while He passes by the men to
whom we have looked as those through whom light should come. God desire us to
receive the truth upon its own merits--because it is truth." Testimonies
to Ministers, p. 106.
"But
the Holy Spirit will, from time to time, reveal the truth through its own
chosen agencies; and no man, not even a priest or ruler, has a right to say, You shall not give publicity to your opinions because I do
not believe them." Testimonies to Ministers, pp. 69, 70.
"It is
impossible for any human mind to exhaust even one truth or promise of the
Bible. One catches the glory from one point of view, another from another
point..." E.G. White, Education, p. 171.
"His (Christ's ) words are truth, and they have a deeper
significance than appears on the surface. All the sayings of Christ have a
value beyond their unpretending appearance. Minds that are quickened by the
Holy Spirit will discern the value of these sayings. They will discern the
precious gems of truth, though these may be buried treasures." E.G.
White, Christ's Object Lessons, p. 180.
"To
say that a passage means just this and nothing more, that you must not attach
any broader meaning to the words of Christ than we have in the past, is
saying that which is not actuated by the Spirit of God." E.G. White,
Review and Herald, 3/18/1890.
"We
see here that the men in authority are not always to be obeyed, even
though they may profess to be teachers of Bible doctrines. There are many
today who feel indignant and aggrieved that any
voice should be raised presenting ideas that differ from their own in regard
to points of religious belief. Have they not long advocated their ideas as
truth? So the priests and rabbis reasoned in apostolic days. What mean these
men who are unlearned, some of them mere fishermen, who are presenting ideas
contrary to the doctrines which the learned priests and rulers are teaching
the people? They have no right to meddle with the fundamental principles of
our faith. But we see that the God of heaven sometimes commissions men to
teach that which is regarded as contrary to the established doctrines.
Because those who were once the depositaries of truth became unfaithful to
their sacred trust, the Lord chose others who would receive the bright beams
of the Sun of Righteousness, and would advocate truths that were not in
accordance with the ideas of the religious leaders. And then these leaders,
in the blindness of their minds, give full sway to what is supposed to be
righteous indignation against the ones who have set aside cherished fables.
They act like men that have lost their reason. They do not consider the
possibility that they themselves have not rightly understood the word. They
will not open their eyes to discern the fact that they have misinterpreted
and misapplied the Scriptures, and have built up false theories, calling them
fundamental doctrines of the faith." The Ellen G. White 1888
Materials, p. 1545.
"Isaiah's
solemn messages proved to be of no more value to the people of Jerusalem than
if the prophet had written them out and sealed them up so that their message
could not be read. Unbelief and disobedience had shut away heaven's light as
effectively as if it had never been revealed. To men who refuse to study it
or who refuse to believe its solemn warnings, the Bible is a sealed
book...They (the Leaders) were attempting as it were, to have the potter take
orders from the clay. They regarded themselves as having wisdom greater than
that of the Creator. These spiritual leaders were virtual atheists, who
masqueraded under the guise of religion." SDA Bible Commentary, vol.
4, p. 216.
"In
His Word the Lord declared what He would do for Israel if they would obey His
voice. But the leaders of the people yielded to the temptations of Satan, and
God could not give them the blessings He designed them to have, because they
did not obey His voice but listened to the voice and policy of Lucifer. This
experience will be repeated in the last years of the history of the people of
God, who have been established by His grace and power. Men whom He has
greatly honored will in the closing scenes of this earth's history pattern
after ancient Israel." E.G. White, Manuscript Releases, vol. 13, p. 379.
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