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Testimonies for the Church Volume 5
break the power of Satan and make it possible for man to conquer in
his own behalf. Remember, when, with the godless who reject the
truth and refuse salvation, you are lifting the mug of foaming beer,
that Jesus is there looking on, even that Jesus whom you claim as your
Saviour, in whom your hopes of eternal life are centered. Oh, how can
you, how can you be so weak in moral perception as not to see the
influence of these things upon yourself and others! You violate the
most solemn pledge and then talk of being persecuted!
When those who feel compelled to do something to break the
power that Satan is exerting over our youth tell you in sorrow that if
you do not change your habits they cannot retain you in connection
with the work of God as a translator, how can you stand before them
defiantly, without any evidence of sorrow for your course? How does
that Saviour who gave His life for you regard your attitude? And
yet you think you are persecuted. “For we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things
done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good
or bad.” When you stand before this grand and awful tribunal, from
whose decisions there will be no appeal and where there will be no
misinterpretation, no misconception, then you will be silent. You will
not have one word to say in vindication of your course. You will stand
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guilty, condemned, and hopeless, unless you now put away your sins,
make diligent work of repentance, and clothe yourself in the robe of
Christ’s righteousness.
What other course could have been pursued toward you than has
been taken? I have the tenderest feelings of pity and love for your soul,
but false words of sympathy to sustain you in rebellion and in defiance
of those whom God has placed in responsible positions in His work
shall never be uttered by me. I have too much regard for you to tell
you, as some will surely do, that it will be well with you when you are
taking such a course, disgracing your manhood, defacing the moral
image of God in your soul, deceiving your own heart, and dishonoring
Him who redeemed you with the price of His own blood.
Christ has said: “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with
Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with
My Father in His throne.” Are you overcoming? or are you being
overcome by your own lusts and appetites and passions?