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God’s Work Characterized by Calmness, November 18
Let all things be done decently and in order.
1 Corinthians 14:40
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I ... met a man and his wife who claim to follow the Word of God and
to believe the Testimonies. They have had an unusual experience during the
past two or three years. They seemed to be honesthearted people....
I told this brother and his wife that the experience through which I passed
in my youth, shortly after the passing of the time in 1844, had led me to be
very, very cautious about accepting anything similar to that which we then
met and rebuked in the name of the Lord.
No greater harm could be done to the work of God at this time than for
us to allow a spirit of fanaticism to come into our churches, accompanied
by strange workings which are incorrectly supposed to be operations of the
Spirit of God.
As this brother and his wife outlined their experiences, which they claim
have come to them as the result of receiving the Holy Ghost with apostolic
power, it seemed to be a facsimile of that which we were called to meet and
correct in our early experience.
Toward the close of our interview Brother L proposed that we unite in
prayer, with the thought that possibly while in prayer his wife would be
exercised as they had described to me, and that then I might be able to discern
whether this was of the Lord or not. To this I could not consent, because I have
been instructed that when one offers to exhibit these peculiar manifestations,
this is a decided evidence that it is not the work of God.
We must not permit these experiences to lead us to feel discouraged. Such
experiences will come to us from time to time. Let us give no place to strange
exercisings, which really take the mind away from the deep movings of the
Holy Spirit. God’s work is ever characterized by calmness and dignity. We
cannot afford to sanction anything that would bring in confusion and weaken
our zeal in regard to the great work that God has given us to do in the world
to prepare for the second coming of Christ.—
Selected Messages 2:41, 42
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