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Need for Reformation, August 14
If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou
shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give
thee places to walk among these that stand by.
Zechariah 3:7
.
The future of the church depends on the efforts made by its members to
understand the sinfulness of selfishness, and their willingness to take the remedy
which will cure the disease from which they are suffering. Let a reformation take
place, that those who accept the truth in the future shall not be contaminated by
the corrupting influence of Satan....
Many who are condemned by men are vindicated by God. Many who are
exalted by human judgment are by God pronounced to be wretched, and miserable,
and poor, and blind, and naked. Human judgment often errs. Often man condemns
his brother because his discernment is defective. God looks at the heart. He reads
the motives which prompt to action.
God prompts the question, “Ought I to do this?” Satan leads man to say, “I
can.” Right is a loyal subject. Might is a haughty tyrant, leading to warfare, the
scourge of the world. Right is a representation of the perfect man in Christ Jesus.
It is the foundation of all righteousness and peace—the oil which fills the divine
flagons....
There is a work to be done among the churches of Seventh-day Adventists that
has not yet been done. Ministering angels are waiting to see who will take up the
work in the right spirit.... Let all humble themselves before God, asking for grace
and wisdom, that they may see wherein they have violated His holy law. Unless
His Spirit enlightens them, they will never know, even though it is set before them
by their brethren. Those who refuse to come into right relation to God, who will
not obey the rules of His government, do not bear His mark....
The Lord is merciful. He does not chastise His people because He hates them,
but because He hates the sins they are committing. He must chastise them, that
they may return to their loyalty. He designs their punishment to be a warning to
them and to others. No one need walk in darkness. No one need say, “Specify to
me the precise wrongs of which I am guilty.” To those who say this, I give the
word of the Lord: “Search prayerfully, and you will know.”
If the warnings and reproofs given in the Word of God and in the testimonies
of His Spirit are not plain enough, what words would be sufficiently plain to bring
about a revival and a reformation?—
Manuscript 108, August 14, 1901
, “Diary.”
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