There are times when the truth must be
spoken, whether men will hear or whether they will forbear. The
Lord is greatly dishonored when those who profess to believe
the truth fail to harmonize among themselves, and make appeals
to lawyers. Will you study the word of God and heed the instruction
given on this point? The interests of the cause of God are not
to be committed to men who have no connection with heaven.
Matters have been presented before me that
have filled my soul with keen anguish. I saw men linking up arm
in arm with lawyers, but God was not in their company. Having
many ideas regarding the work, they go to the lawyers for help
to carry out their plans. I am commissioned to say to such that
they are not moving under the inspiration of the Spirit of God.
"Is it not because there is not a
God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of
Ekron?" 2 Kings 1:3. Men in responsible positions are uniting
with those in the church and out of the church, whose counsel
is misleading. Is it necessary for the Lord to come to you with
a rod to show you that you need a higher experience before you
can be fitted for connection with the family above? Will you
link up with men who have a faculty for accusing, for thinking
and speaking evil of the things that God approves? In the name
of the Lord I tell you that you need clearer discernment and
clearer spiritual eyesight.
If the light which God has given you over
and over again, that missionary centers should be established
in many cities, and that the labor and the means centered in
Battle Creek should be divided and planted in many places, had
been followed, the present state of confusion and the dearth
of means would never have been.
Men located in Battle Creek have disregarded
the counsels of the Lord because it was more convenient for them
to have the work centered there. God has left these to the results
of their human wisdom, and its fruit is seen in the present perplexities.
"Who is among you that feareth the Lord,
that obeyeth the voice of His servant, that walketh in darkness,
and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and
stay upon his God. Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass
yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire,
and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of
Mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow." Isaiah 50:10, 11.
"Now therefore go to, speak to the
men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus
saith the Lord; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise
a device against you: return ye now everyone from his evil way,
and make your ways and your doings good. And they said, There
is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will
everyone do the imagination of his evil heart. Therefore thus
saith the Lord; Ask ye now among the heathen, who hath heard
such things: the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing.
Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock
of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from
another place be forsaken? Because My people have forgotten Me,
they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them
to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths,
in a way not cast up." Jeremiah 18:11-15.