Authority
A Council of Men—Not Just One Man—It has been a necessity
to organize union conferences, that the General Conference shall not
exercise dictation over all the separate conferences. The power vested
in the Conference is not to be centered in one man, or two men, or six
men; there is to be a council of men over the separate divisions. The
showing by the past leadership of the conference is not after God’s
order. There has been a work done of a character that has not been
approved of God. The result we have before us in the ruins where
once stood that large printing plant, [The Review and Herald Office in
Battle Creek] with its expensive facilities....
In the work of God no kingly authority is to be exercised by any
human being, or by two or three. The representatives of the Confer-
ence, as it has been carried with authority for the last twenty years,
shall be no longer justified in saying, “The temple of the Lord, the
temple of the Lord are we.” The men in positions of trust have not
been carrying the work wisely.
The Lord calls for wise men to preside over His work and to be
faithful shepherds of His flock.—
Manuscript 26, 1903
(April 3, 1903
Re: The Work of the General Conference).
A “Monkey Wrench” in the Wheels—The sixth chapter of Isaiah
has a deep and important lesson for every one of God’s workmen.
Study it with humility and earnest prayer. The first and second chapters
of Ezekiel should also be carefully studied. The wheels within wheels
represented in this symbol was confusion to the finite eye. But a hand
of infinite wisdom was revealed amid the wheels. Perfect order is
brought out of the confusion. Every wheel works in its right place, in
perfect harmony with every other part of the machinery.
I have been shown that human beings desire too much power. They
desire to control, and the Lord God, the mighty worker is left out of
their work. The workmen feel qualified to hold the highest place. Let
no man attempt to manage that work which should be left in the hands
of the great I AM, and who is in His own way planning how the work
31