Admonition Will Be Heard
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the very men who are bringing in false theories and false sentiments,
confusing the minds of the people of God, deadening their sensibilities
as to what constitutes right principles. Conscience has thus become
insensible to the counsels and the reproofs which have been given. The
light given, calling to repentance, has been extinguished in the clouds
of unbelief and opposition brought in by human plans and human
inventions.
[152]
It is living earnestness that God requires. Ministers may have little
learning from books; but if they do the best they can with their talents,
if they work as they have opportunity, if they clothe their utterances
in the plainest and most simple language, if they are humble men
who walk in carefulness and humility, seeking for heavenly wisdom,
working for God from the heart, and actuated by one predominating
motive—love for Christ and the souls for whom He has died—they
will be listened to by men of even superior ability and talents. There
will be a charm in the simplicity of the truths they present. Christ is
the greatest teacher that the world has ever known.
John had not learned in the schools of the rabbis. Yet kings and no-
bles, Pharisees and Sadducees, Roman soldiers and officers, trained in
all court etiquette, wily, calculating taxgatherers, and world-renowned
men, listened to his words. They had confidence in his plain state-
ments, and were convicted of sin. They asked of him, “What shall we
do?” (
Luke 3:14
)....
Earnestness Is Necessary
In this age, just prior to the second coming of Christ in the clouds
of heaven, the Lord calls for men who will be earnest and prepare a
people to stand in the great day of the Lord. The men who have spent
long terms in the study of books are not revealing in their lives that
earnest ministry which is essential for this last time. They do not bear
a simple, straightforward testimony. Among ministers and students
there is need of the infusion of the Spirit of God. The prayerful, earnest
appeals that come from the heart of a whole-souled messenger will
create convictions. It will not need the learned men to do this; for they
depend more on their learning from books than upon their knowledge
of God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. All who know the only