Chapter 26—Inordinate Love of Gain
Brother S,
I was shown, December 10, 1871, that there are serious defects in
your character, which, unless seen and overcome, will prove your ruin;
and you will not only be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary, and
found wanting yourself, but your influence will determine the destiny
of others. You are either gathering with Christ or scattering abroad.
I was shown that you have a deeply rooted love for the world. The
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love of money is the root of all evil. You flatter yourself that you are
about right, when you are not. God seeth not as man seeth. He looks
at the heart. His ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts.
Your great care and anxiety is to acquire means. This absorbing passion
has been increasing upon you until it is overbalancing your love of the
truth. Your soul is being corrupted through the love of money. Your
love for the truth and for its advancement is very weak. Your earthly
treasures claim and hold your affections.
You have a knowledge of the truth; you are not ignorant of the
claims of Scripture; you know your Master’s will, for He has plainly
revealed it. But your heart is not inclined to follow the light which
shines upon your pathway. You have a large measure of self-conceit.
Your love for self is greater than your love for the cause of present
truth. Your self-confidence and your self-sufficiency will certainly
prove your ruin unless you can see your weakness and errors, and
reform. You are arbitrary. You have a set will of your own to maintain,
and although the opinions of others may be correct, and your judgment
wrong, yet you are not the man to yield. You hold firmly to your
advanced opinion, irrespective of the judgment of others. I wish you
could see the danger of continuing the course you have been pursuing.
If your eyes could be enlightened by the Spirit of God, you would see
these things clearly.
Your wife loves the truth, and she is a practical woman, a woman
of principle. But you do not appreciate her value. She has worked hard
for the common good of the family, but you have not given her your
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