The Stranger in Our Midst
Reaching All Nationalities, Ranks, and Creeds—Christ recog-
nized no distinction of nationality or rank or creed. The scribes and
Pharisees desired to make a local and national benefit of the gifts of
heaven, and to exclude the rest of God’s family in the world. But
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Christ came to break down every wall of partition. He came to show
that His gift of mercy and love is as unconfined as the air, the light, or
the showers of rain that refresh the earth.—
The Ministry of Healing,
25
(1905).
Strangers in a Strange Land—In the courts and lanes of the
great cities, in the lonely byways of the country, are families and
individuals—perhaps strangers in a strange land—who are without
church relations, and who, in their loneliness, come to feel that God
has forgotten them. They do not understand what they must do to be
saved. Many are sunken in sin. Many are in distress. They are pressed
with suffering, want, unbelief, despondency. Disease of every type
afflicts them, both in body and in soul. They long to find a solace for
their troubles, and Satan tempts them to seek it in lusts and pleasures
that lead to ruin and death. He is offering them the apples of Sodom,
that will turn to ashes upon their lips. They are spending their money
for that which is not bread, and their labor for that which satisfieth
not.—
Christ’s Object Lessons, 232, 233
(1900).
God’s Purpose for the Strangers in Our Land—While plans
are being carried out to warn the inhabitants of various nations in
distant lands, much must be done in behalf of the foreigners who have
come to the shores of our own land. The souls in China are no more
precious than the souls within the shadow of our doors. God’s people
are to labor faithfully in distant lands, as His providence may open
the way; and they are also to fulfill their duty toward the foreigners
of various nationalities in the cities and villages and country districts
close by.
It is well that those in responsibility are now planning wisely to
proclaim the third angel’s message to the hundreds of thousands of
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