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Testimonies for the Church Volume 9
there to be educated and trained, and sent back to their island homes
to give to others the light they have received.
In our own country there is much to be done. There are many
cities to be entered and warned. Evangelists should be finding their
way into all the places where the minds of men are agitated over the
question of Sunday legislation and the teaching of religion in the
public schools. It is the neglect of Seventh-day Adventists to improve
these providential opportunities that is hindering the advancement
of the cause.
The Lord has made us His stewards. He has placed His means in
our hands for faithful distribution. He asks us to render to Him His
own. He has reserved the tithe as His sacred portion to be used in
sending the gospel to all parts of the world. My brethren and sisters,
confess and forsake your selfishness, and bring to the Lord your
gifts and offerings. Bring Him also the tithe that you have withheld.
Come confessing your neglect. Prove the Lord, as He has invited
[52]
you to do. “I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall
not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her
fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.”
Malachi
3:11
.
Our Selfishness a Hindrance to God’s Work
Instruction has been given me that there is a withholding of
the tithe that should be faithfully brought into the Lord’s treasury
for the support of ministers and missionaries who are opening the
Scriptures to the people and working from house to house. The work
of evangelizing the world has been greatly hindered by personal
selfishness. Some, even among professing Christians, are unable
to see that the work of the gospel is to be supported by the means
that Christ has given them. Money is needed in order that the work
done all over the world may be carried forward. Thousands upon
thousands are perishing in sin, and a lack of means is hindering
the proclamation of the truth that is to be carried to all nations and
kindreds and tongues and people. There are men ready to go forth as
the Lord’s messengers, but because of a lack of means in the treasury
they cannot be sent to the places where the people are begging for
someone to come and teach them the truth.