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Testimonies for the Church Volume 6
and business is business.” They believe that each has its proper sphere,
but they say: “Let them be separated.”
Because of neglected opportunities and abuse of privileges, the
members of these churches are not growing “in grace, and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”
2 Peter 3:18
. There-
fore they are weak in faith, deficient in knowledge, and children in
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experience. They are not rooted and grounded in the truth. If they
remain thus, the many delusions of the last days will surely deceive
them, for they will have no spiritual eyesight to distinguish truth from
error.
God has given His ministers the message of truth to proclaim. This
the churches are to receive and in every possible way to communicate,
catching the first rays of light and diffusing them. Here is our great
sin. We are years behind. The ministers have been seeking the hidden
treasure and have been opening up the casket and letting the jewels
of truth shine forth, but the members of the church have not done
a hundredth part of that which God requires of them. What can we
expect but deterioration in religious life when the people listen to
sermon after sermon and do not put the instruction into practice? The
ability God has given, if not exercised, degenerates. More than this,
when the churches are left to inactivity Satan sees to it that they are
employed. He occupies the field and engages the members in lines of
work that absorb their energies, destroy spirituality, and cause them to
fall as dead weights upon the church.
There are among us those who, if they would take time to consider,
would regard their do-nothing position as a sinful neglect of their God-
given talents. Brethren and sisters, your Redeemer and all the holy
angels are grieved at your hardness of heart. Christ gave His own
life to save souls, and yet you who have known His love make so
little effort to impart the blessings of His grace to those for whom He
died. Such indifference and neglect of duty is an amazement to the
angels. In the judgment you must meet the souls you have neglected.
In that great day you will be self-convicted and self-condemned. May
the Lord lead you now to repentance. May He forgive His people for
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neglecting the work in His vineyard which He has given them to do.
“Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent,
and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will