Basic HTML Version
224
Testimonies for the Church Volume 9
At times, when a small group of men entrusted with the general
management of the work have, in the name of the General Confer-
ence, sought to carry out unwise plans and to restrict God’s work,
[261]
I have said that I could no longer regard the voice of the General
Conference, represented by these few men, as the voice of God. But
this is not saying that the decisions of a General Conference com-
posed of an assembly of duly appointed, representative men from
all parts of the field should not be respected. God has ordained that
the representatives of His church from all parts of the earth, when
assembled in a General Conference, shall have authority. The error
that some are in danger of committing is in giving to the mind and
judgment of one man, or of a small group of men, the full measure
of authority and influence that God has vested in His church in the
judgment and voice of the General Conference assembled to plan
for the prosperity and advancement of His work.
When this power, which God has placed in the church, is ac-
credited wholly to one man, and he is invested with the authority to
be judgment for other minds, then the true Bible order is changed.
Satan’s efforts upon such a man’s mind would be most subtle and
sometimes well-nigh overpowering, for the enemy would hope that
through his mind he could affect many others. Let us give to the
highest organized authority in the church that which we are prone to
give to one man or to a small group of men.
[262]