42
Selected Messages Book 2
There is constant danger of allowing something to come into our
midst that we may regard as the workings of the Holy Spirit, but that
in reality is the fruit of a spirit of fanaticism. So long as we allow the
enemy of truth to lead us into a wrong way, we cannot hope to reach the
honest in heart with the third angel’s message. We are to be sanctified
through obedience to the truth. I am afraid of anything that would have
a tendency to turn the mind away from the solid evidences of the truth
as revealed in God’s Word. I am afraid of it; I am afraid of it. We must
bring our minds within the bounds of reason, lest the enemy so come
in as to set everything in a disorderly way. There are persons of an
excitable temperament who are easily led into fanaticism; and should
we allow anything to come into our churches that would lead such
persons into error, we would soon see these errors carried to extreme
lengths, and then because of the course of these disorderly elements, a
stigma would rest upon the whole body of Seventh-day Adventists.
[44]
Fanaticism to be Seen Again
I have been studying how to get some of these early experiences
into print again, so that more of our people may be informed, for I
have long known that fanaticism will be manifest again, in different
ways. We are to strengthen our position by dwelling on the Word, and
by avoiding all oddities and strange exercisings that some would be
very quick to catch up and practice. If we were to allow confusion to
come into our ranks, we could not bind off our work as we should....
During the years of Christ’s ministry on earth godly women as-
sisted in the work that the Saviour and His disciples were carrying
forward. If those who were opposing this work could have found
anything out of the regular order in the conduct of these women, it
would have closed the work at once. But while women were laboring
with Christ and the apostles, the entire work was conducted on so
high a plane as to be above the shadow of a suspicion. No occasion
for any accusation could be found. The minds of all were directed
to the Scriptures, rather than individuals. The truth was proclaimed
intelligently, and so plainly that all could understand.
How afraid I am to have anything of a fanatical nature brought in
among our people. There are many, many who must be sanctified, but
they are to be sanctified through obedience to the message of truth