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Testimonies for the Church Volume 3
the faith of the body, he is disheartening and discouraging the church.
He sees that if the body of Sabbathkeepers have the truth he is in
darkness, and this he cannot admit. The truth condemns him, and
instead of seeking to bring his soul into harmony with it, surrendering
to its claims and dying to self, he is seeking a position where he will
not be under condemnation.
I was shown that if he continues in his present course, blinded to
his real condition, he will be glad after a while to find some pretext
for giving up the Sabbath. Satan is surely leading him, as he has led
many others, away from the body in a course of deception and error.
How much safer for Brother B to bring his soul into harmony with the
truth than to misinterpret Scripture to bring it into harmony with his
ideas and actions. If he would bring his actions into harmony with the
principles of God’s law he has a task on his hands of which he has
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scarcely dreamed. The carnal heart is at enmity with God. It is not
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
The insinuations and open speeches of those who are our enemies
in Battle Creek were received by Brother B while on his journey East,
and he returned with bitter and wicked feelings in his heart against
those at the heart of the work and especially against me and my work.
He had no good reason for the feelings he cherished and the views
he expressed in regard to my labors and testimonies. The unbelief
and prejudice which had corrupted his own soul he sought to instill
into the minds of others. He did this with considerable effect. At first,
many were influenced by his sophistry and darkness, for he can make
assertions and draw inferences as though he were handling positive
facts. He knows how to press matters and is of ready speech. His
words had influence with some who were unconsecrated and who
wished to have it just as he represented in regard to our work and our
calling. He had influence and excited prejudice in the minds of some
whom we could have helped, had he not closed our way so that we
could not gain access to them. Of this class were Brother and Sister D.
In this Brother B may see the fruits of his course, and there are
others who were influenced in the same way, with the same results, so
far as their faith and confidence in the truth are concerned. As soon as
Brother B or any others decide that the men who have had the most
to do in bringing the cause of present truth up to its present condition
are not led of God, but are scheming and designing men, deceiving