July 5 2020
FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
GOD ENCOURAGES AND WARNS
“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.”
Isa. 58:1, Authorized Version.
Like the gospel-prophet, God’s last-day messenger wrote these admonitions to His people of the last days, the spiritual house of Jacob:
“Hypocrisy is peculiarly offensive to God. A large majority of men and women who profess the truth PREFER SMOOTH MESSAGES. They do not desire to have their sins and defects brought before them. They want ACCOMMODATING MINISTERS, who will not arouse conviction by speaking the truth. They choose men who will FLATTER them, and in their turn they FLATTER the minister who has chosen such a ‘good’ spirit, while they REVILE the faithful servant of God.
“Many praise the minister who dwells in the GRACE and MERCY and LOVE of Jesus, who is not particular to enforce DUTIES and OBLIGATIONS, who does not WARN of the dangers of hypocrisy, or present the TERRORS of God’s WRATH.
“The Lord’s work is earnest and decided, above deceit and hypocrisy. His TRUE SHEPHERDS will not praise and exalt man. They will come before the people with a plain, ‘Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.” They will bear His message ‘whether they will hear or forbear.’
“If men despise God’s Word, and trust in oppression, hypocrisy, and worldliness, they must DECLARE AGAINST THEM God’s denunciations, that if possible, they may be aroused to repentance. If they are too proud to repent and confess their errors, to turn to God, welcoming His salvation and seeking His favor, the Lord will REMOVE HIS LIGHT from them and LEAVE THEM to walk in the way they have chosen.
“Those who drive the Lord’s faithful messengers into corners, discourage them, who stand between them and the people, that their MESSAGE may not have the influence God designed it should, are ANSWERABLE for the deception and heresies that COME INTO THE CHURCH as a result of their course.
“As the Lord has repeatedly WARNED His people, and they still refuse to hearken to His voice, and will not be instructed, their guilt becomes peculiarly abhorrent to Him. The record of their REBELLION is written in a book before Him, and will confront them when the JUDGMENT shall sit and the books shall be opened.”
E.G. White, This Day with God, p. 55.
I commit your souls to the Father in Christ through the Holy Spirit and the ministry of the angels, as I strive to obey His orders to “cry aloud and spare not” in love for the truth and righteousness. NMF