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Counsels on Health
departing from the principles of our faith, making it appear that it is
not wrong to conform to the world. Let them be afraid of heeding the
counsel of any man, whatever his position may be, who works counter
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to that which God has wrought in order to keep His people separate
from the world.
The Lord is testing His people to see who will be loyal to the
principles of His truth. Our work is to proclaim to the world the first,
second, and third angels’ messages. In the discharge of our duties we
are neither to despise nor to fear our enemies. To bind ourselves up
by contracts with those not of our faith is not in the order of God. We
are to treat with kindness and courtesy those who refuse to be loyal to
God, but we are never, never to unite with them in counsel regarding
the vital interests of His work. Putting our trust in God, we are to
move steadily forward, doing His work with unselfishness, in humble
dependence upon Him, committing to His providence ourselves and
all that concerns our present and future, holding the beginning of
our confidence firm unto the end, remembering that we receive the
blessings of Heaven, not because of our worthiness, but because of
Christ’s worthiness and our acceptance, through faith in Him, of God’s
abounding grace.
Called to Be a Holy People
I pray that my brethren may realize that the third angel’s message
means much to us, and that the observance of the true Sabbath is to be
the sign that distinguishes those who serve God from those who serve
Him not. Let those who have become sleepy and indifferent awake.
We are called to be holy, and we should carefully avoid giving the
impression that it is of little consequence whether or not we retain the
peculiar features of our faith. Upon us rests the solemn obligation of
taking a more decided stand for truth and righteousness than we have
taken in the past. The line of demarcation between those who keep
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the commandments of God and those who do not is to be revealed
with unmistakable clearness. We are conscientiously to honor God,
diligently using every means of keeping in covenant relation with Him,
that we may receive His blessings—the blessings so essential for the
people who are to be so severely tried. To give the impression that our
faith, our religion, is not a dominating power in our lives is greatly to