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Prophets and Kings
efforts of consecrated workers, many will be turned from idolatry to
the worship of the living God. Many will cease to pay homage to
man-made institutions and will take their stand fearlessly on the side
of God and His law.
Much depends on the unceasing activity of those who are true
and loyal, and for this reason Satan puts forth every possible effort to
thwart the divine purpose to be wrought out through the obedient. He
causes some to lose sight of their high and holy mission, and to become
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satisfied with the pleasures of this life. He leads them to settle down at
ease, or, for the sake of greater worldly advantages, to remove from
places where they might be a power for good. Others he causes to flee
in discouragement from duty, because of opposition or persecution.
But all such are regarded by Heaven with tenderest pity. To every child
of God whose voice the enemy of souls had succeeded in silencing,
the question is addressed, “What doest thou here?” I commissioned
you to go into all the world and preach the gospel, to prepare a people
for the day of God. Why are you here? Who sent you?
The joy set before Christ, the joy that sustained Him through
sacrifice and suffering, was the joy of seeing sinners saved. This
should be the joy of every follower of His, the spur to his ambition.
Those who realize, even in a limited degree, what redemption means
to them and to their fellow men, will comprehend in some measure the
vast needs of humanity. Their hearts will be moved to compassion as
they see the moral and spiritual destitution of thousands who are under
the shadow of a terrible doom, in comparison with which physical
suffering fades into nothingness.
Of families, as of individuals, the question is asked, “What doest
thou here?” In many churches there are families well instructed in the
truths of God’s word, who might widen the sphere of their influence
by moving to places in need of the ministry they are capable of giving.
God calls for Christian families to go into the dark places of the earth
and work wisely and perseveringly for those who are enshrouded in
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spiritual gloom. To answer this call requires self-sacrifice. While
many are waiting to have every obstacle removed, souls are dying,
without hope and without God. For the sake of worldly advantage, for
the sake of acquiring scientific knowledge, men are willing to venture
into pestilential regions and to endure hardship and privation. Where