Testimonies for the Church Vol 1 - Lansing SDA Church

Great Distress Coming 253I was shown God’s people waiting for some change to take place—a compelling power to take hold of them. But they will be disappointed,for they are wrong. They must act, they must take hold ofthe work themselves and earnestly cry to God for a true knowledge ofthemselves. The scenes which are passing before us are of sufficientmagnitude to cause us to arouse and urge the truth home to the heartsof all who will listen. The harvest of the earth is nearly ripe.I was shown how important it is that the ministers who engage inthe solemn, responsible work of proclaiming the third angel’s messagebe right. The Lord is not straitened for means or instruments withwhich to do His own work. He can speak at any time, by whom He will,and His word is powerful and will accomplish the thing whereunto it issent. But if the truth has not sanctified, made pure and clean, the handsand heart of him who ministers in holy things, he is liable to speakaccording to his own imperfect experience; and when he speaks ofhimself, according to the decisions of his own unsanctified judgment,his counsel is not then of God, but of himself. As he that is called ofGod is called to be holy, so he that is approved and set apart of menmust give evidence of his holy calling and show forth in his heavenlyconversation and conduct that he is faithful to Him who hath calledhim.There are fearful woes for those who preach the truth, but are not [262]sanctified by it, and also for those who consent to receive and maintainthe unsanctified to minister to them in word and doctrine. I am alarmedfor the people of God who profess to believe solemn, important truth,for I know that many of them are not converted nor sanctified throughit. Men can hear and acknowledge the whole truth, and yet knownothing of the power of godliness. All who preach the truth will notthemselves be saved by it. Said the angel: “Be ye clean, that bear thevessels of the Lord.”The time has come when those who choose the Lord for theirpresent and future portion must trust in Him alone. Everyone professinggodliness must have an experience of his own. The recordingangel is making a faithful record of the words and acts of God’s people.Angels are watching the development of character and weighingmoral worth. Those who profess to believe the truth should be rightthemselves and exert all their influence to enlighten and win others tothe truth. Their words and works are the channel through which the