God’s Purpose in Our Publishing Houses
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as to the ministers of the word, applies the message given by God to
His prophet of old: “Son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the
house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at My mouth, and
warn them from Me. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man,
thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from
his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I
require at thine hand.”
Ezekiel 33:7, 8
.
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Never did this message apply with greater force than it applies
today. More and more the world is setting at nought the claims of
God. Men have become bold in transgression. The wickedness of
the inhabitants of the world has almost filled up the measure of their
iniquity. This earth has almost reached the place where God will
permit the destroyer to work his will upon it. The substitution of the
laws of men for the law of God, the exaltation, by merely human
authority, of Sunday in place of the Bible Sabbath, is the last act in
the drama. When this substitution becomes universal, God will reveal
Himself. He will arise in His majesty to shake terribly the earth. He
will come out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the world for
their iniquity, and the earth shall disclose her blood and shall no more
cover her slain.
The great conflict that Satan created in the heavenly courts is soon,
very soon, to be forever decided. Soon all the inhabitants of the
earth will have taken sides, either for or against the government of
heaven. Now, as never before, Satan is exercising his deceiving power
to mislead and to destroy every unguarded soul. We are called upon to
arouse the people to prepare for the great issues before them. We must
give warning to those who are standing on the very brink of ruin. God’s
people are to put forth every power in combating Satan’s falsehoods
and pulling down his strongholds. To every human being in the wide
world who will give heed, we are to make plain the principles at stake
in the great controversy—principles upon which hangs the eternal
destiny of the soul. To the people far and near we are to bring home
the question: “Are you following the great apostate in disobedience to
God’s law, or are you following the Son of God, who declared, ‘I have
kept My Father’s commandments’?”
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This is the work before us; for this our publishing institutions were
established; it is this work that God expects at their hands.