The year of 1997 has slipped into the annuls of history. What is on the record? What have we done for Jesus? Have we strengthened the feeble knees that hang down? Have we dared to risk everything to spread the Three Angels’ Messages? Have we stood boldly against apostasy?
Another year has now come. What will we do for Jesus this year? We must take a united stand against error. It is time for us to gird on the armour of God and take up our charges against the enemy of truth. It is not time to be downcast and discouraged. We must lift up our heads, for our redemption draweth nigh. Jesus is coming soon. When it looks as though all is lost, then it is that God will work. David said, “It is time for the Thee, Lord, to work: for they have made void Thy law.” Psalms 119:126.
As we look around us, we can surely see that that time has come again. The world is trampling on the law of God, and worse yet, those who profess to be God’s elect are teaching that God’s law cannot be kept. I am ashamed to hear of it and ashamed to write it. God’s professed people have dishonored His name. The barriers of God’s holy law are being weakened and torn down within God’s professed church. “Those who have had the greatest light and privileges have become contaminated by the prevailing iniquity. Influenced by the unrighteous around them, many, even of those who profess the truth, have grown cold and are borne down by the strong current of evil. The universal scorn thrown upon true piety and holiness leads those who do not connect closely with God to lose their reverence for His law. If they were following the light and obeying the truth from the heart, this holy law would seem even more precious to them when thus despised and set aside.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 209.
It is time to raise a cry of warning, a cry full of love and entreaty. It is a time to expose the prevailing iniquity in the world and the church, in hopes that some may be saved. “While others try to throw a cloak over the existing evil, and excuse the great wickedness everywhere prevalent, those who have a zeal for God’s honor and a love for souls will not hold their peace to obtain favor of any.” Ibid., 210.
Do we love the souls for whom Jesus died? Then, in the name of our all powerful Redeemer, tell them (and show them) that through His grace we can and must keep His law. Warn them that those who despise His law will perish in their iniquities. Assure them that the only way of peace is to turn from sin and to learn to love and obey God’s law. Jesus will never turn one weeping, contrite one away. “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.” Psalms 147:3. But those who cling to sin and worldliness will eventually pass the boundaries of His grace.
The day is coming when even respected ministers and leaders, who have been indifferent to the prevailing apostasy, will cross that fearful boundary. “Those who have been regarded as worthy and righteous prove to be ring-leaders in apostasy and examples in indifference and in the abuse of God’s mercies. Their wicked course He will tolerate no longer, and in His wrath He deals with them without mercy.” Ibid., 212.
Oh, what a fearful day that will be! Only those who are sheltered under God’s wings of truth, those whose minds are fortified with the Bible, will be saved. Will you and I be among that blessed number?
Let us make 1998 a great year of preparation to meet Jesus. “It is now that we must keep ourselves and our children unspotted from the world. It is now that we must wash our robes of character and make them white in the blood of the Lamb. It is now that we must overcome pride, passion, and spiritual slothfulness. It is now that we must awake and make determined effort for symmetry of character . . .
“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.
“Now is the time to prepare. The seal of God will never be placed upon the forehead of an impure man or woman. It will never be placed upon the forehead of the ambitious, world-loving man or woman. It will never be placed upon the forehead of men or women of false tongues or deceitful hearts. All who receive the seal must be without spot before God—candidates for heaven.” Ibid., 215, 216.
May you be among that blessed number!