Loyalty
Faithful Leaders Needed—Faithful and picked men are needed
at the head of the work. Those who have not had an experience in
bearing burdens, and who do not wish to have that experience, should
not, on any account, live there. Men are wanted who will watch for
souls as they that must give an account. Fathers and mothers in Israel
are wanted at this important post. Let the selfish and self-caring, the
stingy, covetous souls, find a location where their miserable traits of
character will not be so conspicuous. The more isolated such ones
are, the better for the cause of God. I appeal to the people of God,
wherever they may be found: Awake to your duty. Take it to heart that
we are really living amid the perils of the last days.—
Testimonies for
the Church 2:467, 468
.
Individual Judgment Not Supreme—There have ever been in
the church those who are constantly inclined toward individual inde-
pendence. They seem unable to realize that independence of spirit is
liable to lead the human agent to have too much confidence in himself,
and to trust in his own judgment rather than to respect the counsel and
highly esteem the judgment of his brethren, especially of those in the
offices that God has appointed for the leadership of His people. God
has invested His church with special authority and power, which no
one can be justified in disregarding and despising; for he who does
this despises the voice of God. Those who are inclined to regard their
individual judgment as supreme, are in grave peril. It is Satan’s stud-
ied effort to separate such ones from those who are channels of light,
through whom God has wrought to build up and extend His work in
the earth. To neglect or despise those whom God has appointed to bear
the responsibilities of leadership in connection with the advancement
of the truth, is to reject the means that He has ordained for the help,
encouragement, and strength of His people. For any worker in the
Lord’s cause to pass these by, and to think that his light must come
through no other channel than directly from God, is to place himself
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