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The Publishing Ministry
the world; but if they would only hear and follow His voice, rendering
obedience to His commandments, He would lead them above the mists
of skepticism and unbelief, and place their feet upon the Rock.—
Life
Sketches of Ellen G. White, 319, 320
.
Disregarding the Rights of Humanity—Everything entered into
for the sake of ministering to pride or unsanctified ambition is to be
cleared away before the Lord’s institutions shall stand securely upon
the eternal Rock. We need no crafty inventions to sustain the cause
of God. We need no unjust dealing. Let the Lord breathe upon His
work the spirit of heavenly principles, and it will live. Nothing that
man can manufacture can take the place of God’s Holy Spirit! Nothing
that man’s wisdom can invent will justify the violation of truth, or a
disregard of the rights of humanity. Truth is too pure to set her delicate
feet off the elevated platform of love to God and love to our fellow
man.—
Letter 83, 1896
.
Church Authority Not Vested in One Man—When this power
which God has placed in the church is accredited 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
[130]
will be most subtle and sometimes overpowering, because through this
mind he thinks he can affect many others. Your position on leadership
is correct, if you give to the highest organized authority in the church
what you have given to one man. God never designed that His work
should bear the stamp of one man’s mind and one man’s judgment.—
Testimonies for the Church 3:493
.(See
Testimonies for the Church
9:260, 261
.)
No Jerusalem Centers—In the work of the Lord for these last
days there should be no Jerusalem centers, no kingly power. And the
work in the different countries is not to be bound by contracts to the
work centering in Battle Creek, for this is not God’s plan. Brethren
are to counsel together, for we are just as much under the control of
God in one part of His vineyard as in another. Brethren are to be one
in heart and soul, even as Christ and the Father are one. Teach this,
practice this, that we may be one with Christ in God, all working to
build up one another.
The kingly power formerly revealed in the General Conference at
Battle Creek is not to be perpetuated. The publishing institution is not
to be a kingdom of itself. It is essential that the principles that govern