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14:1

@@@^@0@9Verse 11 — “The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.”@7@^Man has long been exalting himself; so much so, in fact, that there are perhaps only a few Christians in the world that are really following “the light of the Lord.” Most of them are following sparks of men, following uninspired interpretations of the Scriptures, — devisings of men, men who scoff at the idea of Inspiration; they see no need of more Truth or of prophets, although they well know that the only Truth that has ever come has been through chosen servants of God. Even present Truth believers have not as yet fully awakened to this startling revelation, many of them are carried away with every wind of doctrine, much of which is created by impostors such as Korah, Dathan and Abiram (Num. 16:9-11) coveting Moses’ office — usurpers of Inspiration’s Throne — taking sides, one for Paul and another for Apollos, as it were! Inspiration’s eye focusing to this day and message, reveals that much of this self deception is the result of what the Spirit describes, a double face hypocrisy, saying: “Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord. And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as My people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not. And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,) then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them.” Ezek. 33:30-33. We need to be doers of the Word not merely hearers.

24:4

@@@^“The world that Satan has claimed and has ruled over with cruel tyranny, the Son of God has, by one vast achievement, encircled in His love, and connected again with the throne of Jehovah. Cherubim and seraphim, and the unnumbered hosts of all the unfallen worlds, sang anthems of praise to God and the Lamb when this triumph was assured. They rejoiced that the way of salvation had been opened to the fallen race, and that the earth would be redeemed from the curse of sin. How much more should those rejoice who are the objects of such amazing love!”

24:5

@@@^To say “@9our@7 Father,” not @9My@7 Father, especially when praying in public, helps us to realize that we all are brothers. God loves us all as He loves Christ, and He will not disappoint us if we pray and live as Christ’s prayer and example teach. He cannot deny us the answer to our prayers if we know what we are praying for, — if we ask for the things we really need to have, the things He Himself is anxious that we have. Before praying for anything, we must study it over first, so that our prayers, too, may stand forever and ever. Let us kneel.

2:3

@@@^Here is seen that it is Satan’s studied purpose to discourage us, to make us think that God does not love us, and that He cannot save us from our sins. We are therefore to resist the whisperings of the Enemy. When we see ourselves as sinners, then is the very time for us to come to God, and to accept His love and to fully believe in Him.

2:4

@@@^“Live in contact with the living Christ, and He will hold you firmly by a hand that will never let go. Know and believe the love that God has to us, and you are secure; that love is a fortress impregnable to all the delusions and assaults of Satan. ‘The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.’”

22:2

@@@^M.B., p. 177 — “The effort to earn salvation by one’s own works, inevitably leads men to pile up human exactions as a barrier against sin. For, seeing that they fail to keep the law, they will devise rules and regulations of their own to force themselves to obey. All this turns the mind away from God to self. His love dies out of the heart, and with it perishes love for their fellow-men.... The atmosphere of selfish and narrow criticism stifles the noble and generous emotions, and causes men to become self-centered judges and petty spies....

2:2

@@@^M.B., p. 182 — “Christ does not drive but draws men unto Him. The only compulsion which He employs is the constraint of love. When the church begins to seek for the support of secular power, it is evident that she is devoid of the power of Christ — the constraint of divine love.

2:3

@@@^“There are persons who believe that they are right, when they are wrong. While claiming Christ as their Lord, and professedly doing great works in His name, they are workers of iniquity. ‘With their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.’ He who declares God’s Word is to them ‘as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument; for they hear Thy words; but they do them not.’”

22:3

@@@^It is plainly seen that the preaching of eternal suffering in hell fire rather than eternal death, is prompted by unscrupulous so-called soul winners endeavoring to drive their audiences into church by fright. But if they knew that only the born-again through the love of the Truth are given the right to enter into the Holy City, if they knew that those who must be frightened in are excluded from it, if they knew that anything which maketh a lie is also not given the right to enter therein, — if they wholeheartedly knew all these, they would perhaps stop preaching eternal life in hell fire, and begin to preach eternal love of the Truth. Let us now close our study by reading the Lord’s final plea:

12:2

@@@^“But to-day mercy pleads with the sinner. ‘As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?’ The voice that speaks to the impenitent to-day is the voice of Him who in heart-anguish exclaimed as He beheld the city of His love: ‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her own brood under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate!’ In Jerusalem, Jesus beheld a symbol of the world that had rejected and despised His grace. He was weeping, O stubborn heart, for you! Even when Jesus’ tears were shed upon the mount, Jerusalem might yet have repented, and escaped her doom. For a little space the Gift of heaven still waited her acceptance. So, O heart, to you Christ is still speaking in accents of love: ‘Behold I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.’ ‘Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.’”

24:4

@@@^The world was founded upon religion, and you can rest assured that when religion disappears from the earth, the world will disappear with it. Those who fall in love with the Truth will find that blessings will, reciprocally, fall in love with them. Let us read:

2:2

@@@^“The sowers of the seed have a work to do in preparing hearts to receive the gospel. In the ministry of the world there is too much sermonizing, and too little of real heart-to-heart work.... So the sowers have something to do that the seed may not be choked with thorns or perish because of shallowness of soil.... Every believer...should be taught that he is not merely to be saved by Christ’s sacrifice, but that he is to make the life of Christ his life and the character of Christ his character. Let all be taught that they are to bear burdens and to deny natural inclination. Let them learn the blessedness of working for Christ, following Him in self-denial, and enduring hardness as good soldiers. Let them learn to trust His love and to cast on Him their cares. Let them taste the joy of winning souls for Him. In their love and interest for the lost, they will lose sight of self. The pleasures of the world will lose their power to attract and its burdens to dishearten.”

10:5

@@@^And now after nearly three years of watching the result the reading of the “Shepherd’s Rod” has upon both minister and laity, I find that, almost without exception, the ministers reject the message of the book, either blindly or for fear of their superiors, and the laity, almost without exception, receive its message of reproof and warning with joy and gladness, and seek to correct their lives accordingly, and the spiritual tone of said persons is much higher than ever before for they love the message of the Third Angel more, and they love the brethren better than before.

49:2

@@@^Now, think not that in these pages there comes to you merely a “challenge.” No indeed; but rather a sincere plea actuated by the Lord’s merciful forewarning of the terrible tragedy approaching His beloved church. Dreadful surprise! It burdens us to cry out with him who loved his brethren’s souls above his own: “I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen” in Him. Rom. 9:2, 3.

77:2

@@@^@8“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Matt. 22:37-40.

2:2

@@@^“To dwell forever in this home of the blest, to bear in soul, body and spirit, not the dark traces of sin and the curse, but the perfect likeness of our Creator, and through ceaseless ages to advance in wisdom, in knowledge, and in holiness, ever exploring new fields of thought, ever finding new wonders and new glories, ever increasing in capacity to know and to enjoy and to love, and knowing that there is still beyond us joy and love and wisdom infinite, — such is the object to which the Christian’s hope is pointing, for which Christian’s education is preparing. To secure this education, and to aid others to secure it, should be the object of the Christian’s life.” — @9Counsels to Teachers@7, p. 55.

18:1

@@@^In still other places we were told: “Though we shout to the top of our voices, and though the whole world hear us demanding that the tares stay in the churches until the close of probation, yet when we awake from our day-dreaming we shall then have to confess that the separation of the tares is the very work of the Judgment, the work of the third angel’s message (Early Writings, p. 118), not the work of the plagues or of Armageddon, or of the blue law persecution as we now seem to want it. The Devil sowed the tares in the churches while we slept and he certainly plans to keep them there and to have us sleep on and on. He is the one who wants them in the church to the close of probation so that the church may never be fit to receive the Spirit and never finish her work. Our love to prolong the life of the tares, therefore, is not Heaven-born love hence, our preaching thus is well pleasing to the Devil.

Haggai 7:2

@@@^The Holy Spirit will put a strict watch over you, with a jealous love, and will rebuke you for little words and feelings, or for wasting your time and money, which other Christians never seem distressed over.

Haggai

2 Corinthians 12:2

@@@^I am asking @9The Shepherd’s Rod@7 people to please pray for me that I will come out of my Laodicean condition altogether, and receive my first love for the Lord, that I may be able to serve Him acceptably.

2 Corinthians

2:2

@@@^M.B., p. 159 — “God is our Father, who loves and cares for us as His children; He is also the great King of the universe. The interests of His kingdom are our interests, and we are to work for its upbuilding.