Our
Preparation
1)
5T 452
God
has revealed what is to take place in the last days, that His people
may be prepared to stand against the tempest of opposition and wrath.
Those who have been warned of the events before them are not to sit in
calm expectation of the coming storm, comforting themselves that the
Lord will shelter His faithful ones in the day of trouble. We are to
be as men waiting for their Lord, not in idle expectancy, but in
earnest work, with unwavering faith. It is no time now to allow our
minds to be engrossed with things of minor importance. While men are
sleeping, Satan is actively arranging matters so that the Lord's
people may not have mercy or justice. The Sunday movement is now
making its way in darkness. The leaders are concealing the true issue,
and many who unite in the movement do not themselves see whither the
undercurrent as tending. Its professions are mild and apparently
Christian, but when it shall speak it will reveal the spirit of the
dragon. It is our duty to do all in our power to avert the threatened
danger. We should endeavor to disarm prejudice by placing ourselves in
a proper light before the people. We should bring before them the real
question at issue, thus interposing the most effectual protest against
measures to restrict liberty of conscience. We should search the
Scriptures and be able to give the reason for our faith. Says the
prophet: "The wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked
shall understand; but the wise shall understand."
2)
1T 466 In the
vision given me in Rochester, New York, December 25, 1865, I was shown
that a most solemn work is before us. Its importance and magnitude are
not realized. As I marked the indifference which was everywhere
apparent, I was alarmed for ministers and people. There seemed to be a
paralysis upon the cause of present truth. The work of God seemed
stayed. Ministers and people are unprepared for the time in which they
live, and
nearly all who profess to believe
present truth are unprepared to understand the work of preparation for
this time. In their present state of worldly ambition, with
their lack of consecration to God, their devotion to self, they are
wholly unfitted to receive the latter rain and, having done all, to
stand against the wrath of Satan, who by his inventions would cause
them to make shipwreck of faith, fastening upon them some pleasing
self-deception. They think they are all right when they are all wrong.
3)
GC 620 Satan
leads many to believe that God will overlook their unfaithfulness in
the minor affairs of life; but the Lord shows in his dealings with
Jacob that he will in nowise sanction or tolerate evil. All who
endeavor to excuse or conceal their sins, and permit them to remain
upon the books of Heaven, un-confessed and un-forgiven, will be
overcome by Satan. The more exalted their profession, and the more
honorable the position which they hold, the more grievous is their
course in the sight of God, and the more sure the triumph of their
great adversary.
Those who delay a preparation
for the day of God cannot obtain it in the time of trouble, or at any
subsequent time. The case of all such is hopeless.
4)
TM
116
Study Revelation in
connection with Daniel, for history will be repeated. . . . We, with
all our religious advantages, ought to know far more today than we do
know.
5)
MH
503
Those who are engaged in
service for the Master need an experience much higher, deeper,
broader, than many have yet thought of having. Many who are already
members of God's great family know little of what it means to behold
His glory and to be changed from glory to glory. Many have a
twilight perception of Christ's excellence, and their hearts thrill
with joy. They long for a fuller, deeper sense of the Saviour's love.
Let these cherish every desire of the soul after God. The Holy Spirit
works with those who will be worked, molds those who will be molded,
fashions those who will be fashioned. Give yourselves the culture of
spiritual thoughts and holy communing . You have seen but the first
rays of the early dawn of His glory. As you follow on to know the
Lord, you will know that "the path of the righteous
6)
GC
593 "To the law and to the testimony. If they
speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in
them."[1 ISA. 8:20.] The people of God are directed to the
Scriptures as their safeguard against the influence of false teachers
and the delusive power of spirits of darkness. Satan employs every
possible device to prevent men from obtaining a knowledge of the
Bible; for its plain utterances reveal his deceptions. At every
revival of God's work, the prince of evil is aroused to more intense
activity; he is now putting forth his utmost efforts for a final
struggle against Christ and his followers. The last great delusion is
soon to open before us. Antichrist is to perform his marvelous works
in our sight.
So closely will the counterfeit
resemble the true, that it will be impossible to distinguish between
them except by the Holy Scriptures. By their testimony every statement
and every miracle must be tested.
7)
GC
593 Those who endeavor to obey all the commandments of
God will be opposed and derided. They can stand only in God. In order
to endure the trial before them, they must understand the will of God
as revealed in his Word; they can honor him only as they have a right
conception of his character, government, and purposes, and act in
accordance with them.
None but those who have
fortified the mind with the truths of the Bible will stand through the
last great conflict. To every soul will come the searching test, Shall
I obey God rather than men? The decisive hour is even now at hand. Are
our feet planted on the rock of God's?
8)
GC 625
Only
those who have been diligent students of the Scriptures, and who have
received the love of the truth, will be shielded from the powerful
delusion that takes the world captive. By the Bible testimony
these will detect the deceiver in his disguise. To all, the testing
time will come. By the sifting of temptation, the genuine Christian
will be revealed. Are the people of God now so firmly established upon
his Word that they would not yield to the evidence of their senses?
Would they, in such a crisis, cling to the Bible, and the Bible only?
Satan will, if possible, prevent them from obtaining a preparation to
stand in that day. He will so arrange affairs as to hedge up their
way, entangle them with earthly treasures, cause them to carry a
heavy, wearisome burden, that their hearts may be overcharged with the
cares of this life, and the day of trial may come upon them as a
thief.
9)
GC 560 Just
before us is the "hour of temptation, which shall come upon all
the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth."[1 REV. 3:10.]
All whose faith is not firmly established upon the Word of God will be
deceived and overcome. Satan "works with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness" to gain control of the children of men; and his
deceptions will continually increase. But he can gain his object only
as men voluntarily yield to his temptations.
Those
who are earnestly seeking a knowledge of the truth, and are striving
to purify their souls through obedience, thus doing what they can to
prepare for the conflict, will find, in the God of truth, a sure
defense. "Because thou
hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee,"[1 REV.
3:10.] is the Saviour's promise. He would sooner send every angel out
of Heaven to protect his people, than leave one soul that trusts in
him to be overcome by Satan.
10)
5T 216
What are you doing, brethren, in the great work of preparation?
Those who are uniting with the world are receiving the worldly mold
and preparing for the mark of the beast. Those who are distrustful of
self, who are humbling themselves before God and purifying their souls
by obeying the truth these are receiving the heavenly mold and
preparing for the seal of God in their foreheads. When the decree goes
forth and the stamp is impressed, their character will remain pure and
spotless for eternity.
11)
7BC 970
<SB 4-17 (ch. 14:1-4; 2 Cor. 3:18).
Strive
to Be Among the 144,000.
<EB-- [Rev. 7:9-17 quoted.] Those whom the Lamb shall lead by the
fountains of living waters, and from whose eyes He shall wipe away all
tears, will be those now receiving the knowledge and understanding
revealed in the Bible,
12)
GW 1st Edit 363
<SI The Life of Faith <EI.--True
piety begins when all compromise with sin is at an end. When the soul
has surrendered itself to do the will of God, there is no feeling of
self-security. And if we live under the guidance of the Spirit
of God, day by day, and hour by hour, we shall not fail nor be
discouraged.
13)
COL 160
The nearer we come to Jesus and the more clearly we discern the
purity of His character, the more clearly we shall discern the
exceeding sinfulness of sin and the less we shall feel like exalting
ourselves. Those whom heaven recognizes as holy ones are the last to
parade their own goodness.
The apostle Peter
became a faithful minister of Christ, and he was greatly honored with
divine light and power; he had an active part in the up building of
Christ's church; but Peter never forgot the fearful experience of his
humiliation; his sin was forgiven; yet well he knew that for the
weakness of character which had caused his fall only the grace of
Christ could avail. He found in himself nothing in which to glory.
14)
5T
53 Whatever may be Brother -----'s faults, your course
is unjustifiable and unchristian. You have gone back over his history
for years and have searched out everything that was unfavorable, every
shadow of evil, and have made him an offender for a word. You have
brought all the powers you could command to sustain yourselves in your
course as accusers. Remember, God will deal in the same manner with
every one of you. "With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be
judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you
again."
Those who have taken part in this
disgraceful proceeding will meet their work again. What influence do
you think your course will have upon the students, who have ever been
impatient of restraint? How will these things affect their character
and their life history?
15)
5T 147 Choose
poverty, reproach, separation from friends, or any suffering rather
than to defile the soul with sin.
Death before
dishonor or the transgression of God's law should be the motto of
every Christian. As a people professing to be reformers,
treasuring the most solemn, purifying truths of God's word, we must
elevate the standard far higher than it is at the present time. Sin
and sinners in the church must be promptly dealt with, that others may
not be contaminated. Truth and purity require that we make more
thorough work to cleanse the camp from Achan’s. Let those in
responsible positions not suffer sin in a brother. Show him that he
must either put away his sins or be separated from the church.
16)
5T
213
Courage, fortitude, faith, and implicit
trust in God's power to save do not come in a moment. These heavenly
graces are acquired by the experience of years. By a life of
holy endeavor and firm adherence to the right the children of God were
sealing their destiny. Beset with temptations without number, they
knew they must resist firmly or be conquered. They felt that they had
a great work to do, and at any hour they might be called to lay off
their armor; and should they come to the close of life with their work
undone, it would be an eternal loss. They eagerly accepted the light
from heaven, as did the first disciples from the lips of Jesus. When
those early Christians were exiled to mountains and deserts, when left
in dungeons to die with hunger, cold, and torture, when martyrdom
seemed the only way out of their distress, they rejoiced that they
were counted worthy to suffer for Christ, who was crucified for them.
Their worthy example will be a comfort and encouragement to the people
of God who will be brought into the time of trouble such as never was.
17)
SC 34
Even one wrong trait of character,
one sinful desire, persistently cherished, will eventually neutralize
all the power of the gospel. Every sinful indulgence
strengthens the soul's aversion to God. The man who manifests an
infidel hardihood, or a stolid indifference to divine truth, is but
reaping the harvest of that which he has himself sown. In all the
Bible there is not a more fearful warning against trifling with evil
than the words of the wise man that the sinner "shall be holdeth
with the cords of his sins." Proverbs 5:22.
18)
PP 452 It is a
perilous thing to allow an unchristian trait to live in the heart.
One cherished sin will, little by little, debase the character,
bringing all its nobler powers into subjection to the evil desire.
The removal of one safeguard from the conscience, the indulgence of
one evil habit, one neglect of the high claims of duty, breaks down
the defenses of the soul and opens the way for Satan to come in and
lead us astray. The only safe course is to let our prayers go forth
daily from a sincere heart, as did David, "Hold up my goings in
Thy paths, that my footsteps slip not." Psalm 17:5.
19)
EW 58
The Lord has shown me the danger of letting our minds be filled
with worldly thoughts and cares. I saw that some minds are led away
from present truth and a love of the Holy Bible by reading other
exciting books; others are filled with perplexity and care for what
they shall eat, drink, and wear. Some are looking too far off for the
coming of the Lord. Time has continued a few years longer than they
expected; therefore they think it may continue a few years more, and
in this way their minds are being led from present truth, out after
the world. In these things I saw great danger; for if the mind is
filled with other things, present truth is shut out, and there is no
place in our foreheads for the seal of the living God. I saw that the
time for Jesus to be in the most holy place was nearly finished and
that time can last but a very little longer. What leisure time
we
have should be spent in searching the Bible, which is to judge us in
the last day.
20)
EW 118
I then saw the third angel. Said my accompanying angel,
"Fearful is his work. Awful is his mission. He is the angel that
is to select the wheat from the tares, and seal, or bind, the wheat
for the heavenly garner.
These things should
engross the whole mind, the whole attention."
21)
COL 49 Love
must be the principle of action.
Love is the
underlying principle of God's government in heaven and earth, and it
must be the foundation of the Christian's character. This alone can
make and keep him steadfast. This alone can enable him to withstand
trial and temptation.
22)
ISM 363
If you would stand through the time of
trouble, you must know Christ, and appropriate the gift of His
righteousness, which He imputes to the repentant sinner.--<SI
The Review and Herald, <EI Nov. 22, 1892.
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