Page 154 - Maranatha (1976)

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Beware of Man-Made Tests, May 19
Beware ... of evil workers.... For we are the circumcision, which
worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no
confidence in the flesh.
Philippians 3:2, 3
.
There are those who need in their hearts the touch of the divine Spirit.
Then the message for this time will be their burden. They will not search
for human tests, for something new and strange. The Sabbath of the fourth
commandment is the test for this time.
The commandment of God that has been almost universally made void,
is the testing truth for this time.... The time is coming when all those who
worship God will be distinguished by this sign. They will be known as
the servants of God, by this mark of their allegiance to Heaven. But all
man-made tests will divert the mind from the great and important doctrines
that constitute the present truth.
It is the desire and plan of Satan to bring in among us those who will go
to great extremes—people of narrow minds, who are critical and sharp, and
very tenacious in holding their own conceptions of what the truth means.
They will be exacting, and will seek to enforce rigorous duties, and go
to great lengths in matters of minor importance, while they neglect the
weightier matters of the law—judgment and mercy and the love of God.
Through the work of a few of this class of persons, the whole body of
Sabbathkeepers will be designated as bigoted ... and fanatical....
God has a special work for the men of experience to do. They are
to guard the cause of God. They are to see that the work of God is not
committed to men who feel it their privilege to move out on their own
independent judgment, to preach whatever they please, and to be responsible
to no one for their instructions or work. Let this spirit of self-sufficiency
once rule in our midst, and there will be no harmony of action, no unity of
spirit, no safety for the work, and no healthful growth in the cause....Christ
prayed that His followers might be one as He and the Father were one.
Those who desire to see this prayer answered, should seek to discourage
the slightest tendency to division, and try to keep the spirit of unity and love
among brethren.
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