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34:2

@@@^Since God is not experimenting, and since He means just what He says, there should be no doubt in your minds that the Scriptures concerning antitypical Elijah (he who is to awaken the church and to warn the Laodiceans of “the great and the dreadful day of the Lord” make sure that he is one person. Of a surety, he is to have faithful helpers, but according to the prophet Nahum he will greatly make use of the printing press and will scatter his message by the postage stamp everywhere, as the leaves of autumn. He will not care what is done with his publications, but will make sure the they find their way into all hands, laps, pockets, yards or waste baskets throughout Laodicea. Here is what Inspiration Itself has to say concerning the prophet’s means of taking his message to the church:

42:3

@@@^“...In the last solemn work few great men will be engaged. They are self-sufficient, independent of God, and He cannot use them. The Lord has faithful servants, who in the shaking, testing time will be disclosed to view.” — “Testimonies,” Vol. 5, p. 80.

4:2

@@@^Do you, Brother, Sister, see that if it had not been for the “offshoots,” for those who had backbone of their own to stand up for present Truth, for “meat in due season” (Matt. 24:45), none of us would ever have had a chance to become Christians — Protestants, Adventists, or Davidians. We all would have been members of the God-forsaken Synagogue, if of anything. In fact, we would have had no Bible religion at all, for the Jews themselves have departed even from what little they had retained of it 2000 years ago. Should we, then, not be thankful for the faithfulness of the offshoots who have gone before us (if such they be) and of whom Christ is the first? I, for one am proud to be called an offshoot with my Lord. I, therefore, like to be an offshoot, but would dislike to be a dead top.

5:2

@@@^In the twentieth chapter of Matthew we find five such upshoots. Would you like to know who these upshoots are? To facilitate the study of them, I have prepared this chart, and now is your opportunity closely to look at it and faithfully to consider it.

10:1

@@@^The question “Why stand ye all the day idle?” is very definitely saying that those who are hired are not of those who were already at work, not of the ministry. And the answer, “Because @9no man@7 hath @9hired us@7,” makes it emphatic that the eleventh-hour workers are of the faithful laity, of those who are anxiously waiting to serve the Lord, but who previously have not been given the opportunity.

30:1

@@@^The fact that Christendom itself is divided and confused, one believing one thing and another something else, is in itself sufficient evidence that besides being in total darkness of the signs of the Kingdom because of private interpretation of the Scriptures, Christendom must be in darkness of many other things as well. In such a confused state of faith, Christendom is definitely no more led by the Spirit of Truth than were the rebellious Jews. Past experience teaches, however, that to try to convince the multitude of this fact would be as formidable a task as to convince the Jews even to this day that Christ is the Messiah that was to come. The difficulty, of course, lies in the fact that hardly a theologian allows for the possibility that his understanding of the Bible might be at least in a measure erroneous, and that Inspiration might almost at any moment manifest Itself anew, unroll the scroll and bring forth timely Truth, “meat in due season,” and thus expose their private concoctions of so-called truth.

41:1

@@@^@0@9Rev. 3:14-18 — “And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.”@7@^Another view of this tragic truth is given in—

51:2

@@@^This truth, you see, supersedes all truths, for without it your other truths will not profit you, will not take you into the Kingdom. It is the last mile of all the miles of our faith through life that takes us Home. We have gone this long; let us, therefore, keep on going right on to glory land, which is no longer beyond the horizon. The mile ahead is indeed the last mile that will take us Home.

3:3

@@@^Surely all of us agree that this passage of Scripture is a forecast of the Emmanuel of Matthew 1:23 — Christ at His first advent. The fact, however, that Christ ate all manner of lawful food, and was even accused of being a “gluttonous man, and a winebibber” (Luke 7:34), eating with “publicans and sinners” (Mark 2:16), makes it transparently clear that this diet of “butter and honey” is not literal. Moreover, the fact that butter and honey possess absolutely no virtue to endue one with wisdom and will to choose the good and to refuse the evil, no, no more than do other articles of food, shows conclusively that this “butter and honey” are figurative of something special, just as the fly and the bee of Isaiah 7:18 are figurative of Egypt and Assyria. And of what else could it be but of spiritual food, the kind that builds up moral character, that makes one “refuse the evil, and choose the good?” And from what source other than the Scriptures could such food come? And what else, moreover, could the honey represent but the sweet Spirit of God that blesses everyone’s sincere study of and simple faith in the Word?

15:5

@@@^Elisha was given a double portion of the Spirit of God, for burning all the bridges behind him in his stepping into the prophetic office to which he was called. Yes, he made it impossible for himself to go back to farming. Moreover, he faithfully ministered to Elijah night and day, and kept an eye on him until the “flying saucer” alighted to pick him up, and until he disappeared from sight (2 Kings 2:9-15).

19:5

@@@^Thus in this all-revealing beam of Heaven’s great searchlight of truth are clearly set apart the “two ways for travelers” — the false way, pretentious and loose and broad, which the many are traveling unto destruction; and the true way, unpretentious and strait and narrow, which the few are traveling unto life. With both ways now standing flooded with light from beginning to end, the traveler is able to see the entire length of each way, and therefore to know what to expect by traveling the one or the other. Why not, then, choose to go the way which leads to life, security, and happiness, and forever shun the one which leads to sorrow, poverty, and death? Why longer fool oneself in venturing to obtain God’s faithful promises by running from a lo here to a lo there, from this quack to that one? Why not go after life’s blessings in God’s way? Of course all God’s ways are contrary to man’s, but if they were not, how much better would they be than our own? “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord.” Isa. 55:8.

35:4

@@@^In summary, their faithful testimony is that the remanifestation of the gifts, among men, will be (1) after, not before, the latter rain is poured out; (2) after the stone is “cut out of the mountain,” not before; (3) the time when the Lord is gathering the second fruits from the “east” and from the “west”; (4) when Zion and Jerusalem are “called a city of truth, the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain” (holy kingdom); (5) when “the inhabitants of one city,” shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts: I will go also.”

41:5

@@@^And now as the day “hastens on apace” (@9Testimonies@7, Vol. 5, pg. 80), to engulf in ruin the Laodiceans who turn a deaf ear to the message which causes the shaking, virtually none but the sick, the afflicted, the outcasts, and those from the streets and the lanes, will be humble and lowly enough to respond to the warnings, to experience the transforming power of divine grace upon their hearts, the progressively sanctifying impartation of righteousness by faith, and to be among the gathered ones, as Inspiration thus further discloses:

43:2

@@@^Moreover, as sure as the Devil lives, he will employ every possible agency to either add to God’s Truth, or to subtract from It, aggravating and disheartening, especially capitalizing on the misfortunes and afflictions of the saints, to thus secure their down-fall if possible. Principally will he depend upon two of his most powerful and successful agencies — extremisms — one pushing to the right and another to the left: In an effort to scatter as many as possible away from the center-path of light he will endeavor to drive one class into the fires of fanaticism, and to plunge another class into the icy waters of unconcern. To this end he will seek to convince the former class that their afflictions and misfortunes are the evident results of imperfect obedience to present truth, and will mock the latter class as fanatically strict in their course of faith.

45:1

@@@^The informed and discerning will spot such false brethren in their midst, and will know that if God wants His faithful ones sick, they will gladly suffer sickness for His sake; that if He wants them well, they will praise His holy name for health and strength to enable them to do something for the feeble, the disabled, the sick, and the suffering; that if He wants them dead, then they cannot live and will gladly die; that if He wants them living, they cannot and will not want to die; that whatever He wants, this is what and will gladly take. Their hope will be in Him only. They will close their ears to all who in one way or another seek to reprobate Truth’s cause today; they will not listen to gossip; they will be confident that God is at the head of the work, that He Himself is attending to His business. They will know that all who remain in the pits of falsehood and unrighteousness will finally go into the “bottomless pit” of perdition.

45:2

@@@^The lessons, too, from Job’s trials will be for their learning, hope, and courage. They will understand, and consider well the fact, that there were Jobs before the Job of the Bible, that there were Jobs since him, that there are Jobs today, and that there will be Jobs till Kingdom come. Their faith in God will be in truth and in confidence, whether in weal or in woe, in sickness or in death, and nothing will be able to move them from Heaven’s message for the day. They will know that it is to be either their life or their death, and to life will they cling. They will not be found murmuring, doubting, accusing, or despairing, for whatsoever their lot while inside God’s hedge, they will know it is His will for them. Every one of them will with heart and soul and in certainty say:

46:2

@@@^In the cumulative light now shining on the much mooted question of tongues and other miracles, none need longer continue in darkness, mistake, or confusion as to the nature, character, and purpose of the true miracle-working power, and the time for its manifestation. Sad to say, though, multitudes of uninformed and misinformed will continue to get hooked as they jump at hooks bated with miracle-promises dangling invitingly from the lines of so-called miracle-workers here, there, and everywhere, thus going from bad to worse, squandering their time and their money, their life and their health, their hope and their faith.

47:1

@@@^No saints will pray, then wonder if God has heard and answered their prayers. They will know and rejoice in faith that He has heard and answered them in His own way, even though it be entirely contrary to that for which they have prayed. They will do what they can in God’s way, accept the help He provides, and know that it is “better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.” Ps. 118:8.

48:1

@@@^Miracle-mongers and miracle-hunters, fanatics all, bear in mind, may become dangerously subversive, ready to sabotage everything that is not in accordance with their thinking. Loose and rattling tongues will endeavor to shake the faith of us all. The ones, though, who bear the heaviest burden of feeding the flock with “meat in due season” will be the Devil’s main targets. At just such a time as this, these devoted followers of God will profit most by the Lord’s advice:

48:3

@@@^It will be discovered that there will be thousands of voices, some from professed believers, and some from those who fight against the faith of the saints, one voice condemning one thing, and another condemning another thing, and what one condemns, another will approve. But when held close to the light of God’s word, all their discordant philosophizings and murmurings, their man-made plans and carnal ideas, will be seen to be but a tumult of envy, jealousy, pride, self- opinionation, hatred, malice, politics, greed, prejudice, and every other selfishness. These unfortunate, self-sent ones, being yet in spiritual darkness, doubtless imagine themselves to be working for God with zeal and energy. But one day they will horrifyingly discover that they have been working against the Lord, as Saul of Tarsus discovered about himself. May the prayers of the saints awaken them, and put them working for the Lord, as the prayers of Stephen caused Saul to become the great Apostle Paul for both Jew and Gentile. And may he that hath an ear, hear what the Spirit saith, and hold fast that which he hath lest the enemy deceitfully take it from his grasp.