The TRUTH book Volume 1 (PDF) - For My People Ministry

Chapter Seven - Linda Kirk 285God says:Psalm 12:1Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail fromamong the children of men.John 1:19-25And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levitesfrom Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed, and deniednot; but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then?Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And heanswered, No. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may givean answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I amthe voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of theLord, as said the prophet Esaias. And they which were sent were of thePharisees. And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thouthen, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?Conflict and Courage, p. 272John the Baptist in his desert life was taught of God. He studied therevelations of God in nature. Under the guiding of the divine Spirit, hestudied the scrolls of the prophets. By day and by night, Christ was hisstudy, his meditation, until mind and heart and soul were filled with theglorious vision. He looked upon the King in His beauty, and self was lostsight of. He beheld the majesty of holiness, and knew himself to beinefficient and unworthy. It was God's message that he was to declare. Itwas in God's power and His righteousness that he was to stand. He wasready to go forth as Heaven's messenger, unawed by the human, becausehe had looked upon the Divine. . . .The Voice in Speech and Song, p. 357The voice of John was lifted up like a trumpet. His commission was,"Show My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins."Isa. 58:1. He had obtained no human scholarship. God and nature hadbeen his teachers. But one was needed to prepare the way before Christwho was bold enough to make his voice heard like the prophets of old,summoning the degenerate nation to repentance.The Desire of Ages, p. 275The Pharisees were silenced for the time, but only became moredetermined in their enmity. They next sought out the disciples of John theBaptist, and tried to set them against the Saviour. These Pharisees had notaccepted the mission of the Baptist. They had pointed in scorn to hisabstemious life, his simple habits, his coarse garments, and had declaredhim a fanatic. Because he denounced their hypocrisy, they had resistedhis words, and had tried to stir up the people against him. The Spirit ofGod had moved upon the hearts of these scorners, convicting them of sin;but they had rejected the counsel of God, and had declared that John waspossessed of a devil.