Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 8 (1893)

Lt 21a, 1893

Faulkhead, N. D.

NP

January 11, 1893

This letter is published in entirety in 14MR 9-16.

Dear Brother Faulkhead:

I am troubled in regard to you, for you are not walking in the light as the Lord permits it to shine upon your pathway. The Word of God is given as our guide, but you have not made that Word the book of your study. You have allowed other things to occupy your mind, and you have not disciplined yourself to search the Scriptures. Now, after being for years in the truth, you are ignorant of the very things you ought to know. You have not an experimental knowledge of God or of Jesus Christ, whom He hath sent. 8LtMs, Lt 21a, 1893, par. 1

The work of your salvation and mine depends wholly upon ourselves, for it rests with us to accept the provision that has been made for us. God has done everything for us that a God can do. Christ has purchased you with His own blood; He has paid the ransom money, that you might be united with God and separated from sin and sinners. When the heart is opened to Christ, the Holy Spirit will work in it with mighty, renewing power. But in order that we may be laborers together with God, there must be on our part an entire surrender to God. We must, to the extent of our ability, devote ourselves to Him, straining every spiritual sinew, and as faithful soldiers doing service for Christ. 8LtMs, Lt 21a, 1893, par. 2

Had you, in heart and life obeyed the truth, you would now have been a man of experience in religious things. If you had improved the privileges and opportunities that God has given, you might have been a help and strength to your brethren and a pillar in the office. But you have lost an experience which God has made every provision that you might gain. You have had light, you have had convictions from the Spirit of God, but you have not yielded to them. You have not co-operated with God and labored in the lines of work given you in Christ’s service. 8LtMs, Lt 21a, 1893, par. 3

Your connection with secret societies has been a snare to you. In these societies you have been associated with men who are atheists, infidels, tobacco-devotees, winebibbers. You have bound up your interest with theirs and have <learned> to enjoy their society. The more you associate with them, the more you will become one with them in spirit, and the less will you be inclined to unite closely with the self-denying, self-sacrificing Redeemer. 8LtMs, Lt 21a, 1893, par. 4

You have been moved by the Spirit of God to sever your connection with these secret societies, but Satan has worked to strengthen the ties that bind you to these associations that are forbidden of God. As you have deferred action in the matter, Satan has prepared other bands to hold you. Your obligations to God are less and less realized as you connect yourself more decidedly with associations where God does not have a controlling power. Your obligation to serve God does not diminish, but your sense of the claims of God upon you is insensibly weakened. You become more and more absorbed in these worldly associations; you are more and more firmly bound, and have less and less power to extricate yourself. I know from the light given <me from God,> if you remain connected with the Free Masons, you will surely be bound up with them at last, to receive your portion with them. 8LtMs, Lt 21a, 1893, par. 5

You cannot, in your present state, distinguish the advantages of the people of God above those who do not believe the truth. You look at the few who have received the truth as being inferior; their defects are very apparent to you. Doubt and darkness are enveloping your mind so that you do not clearly discern the things that are spiritual and eternal. If you had been walking in the light which God has given, you would long ago have broken the cords that have bound you away from Christ. You have now a work to do to sever your connection with secret societies. You can do them no good, and they can do you much harm. When you break loose from these societies and unite fully with Christ, you will be a free man in Christ Jesus. 8LtMs, Lt 21a, 1893, par. 6

Every gratification or indulgence secured by neglecting the divine call to earnest, self-denying duty is sowing seed for a harvest of like kind. Every step in the path that God has forbidden is a step toward destruction. Whatever excuse Satan may frame, the neglect of your present opportunities and privileges of knowing God and Jesus Christ, whom He hath sent, will result in eternal loss. Every advantage gained by <disregarding> the will of God is purchased at an infinite sacrifice. The way of obedience to God, however hard and trying it may seem to you, is always the path of life. 8LtMs, Lt 21a, 1893, par. 7

The law of duty [to God] is supreme. It claims authority over reason and conscience, over talents and possessions. It will admit no rival, and will not for one moment abate its high demands. It enters into no compromise with any oppressive power of earth. In every act of duty we are hiding self in Jesus. We reach out beyond ourselves, beyond the narrow scope of selfish and present gratification. Obedience to God brings the soul into agreement with the highest laws in the universe. It imparts dignity and true greatness to the humblest occupation where Christ can preside. It crowns the lowliest position in life with the highest honors, bringing man into alliance with God, and binding up his interests with plans and purposes that have existence in the infinite mind from eternity. 8LtMs, Lt 21a, 1893, par. 8

The Lord Jesus Christ has paid the price for you, not to secure a mere assent to the truth, but for heart service. He desires the homage of your soul. You cannot cease to believe that you ought to do the will of God. You can no more release yourself from the claims of duty than you can flee from the presence of God. It is only in obedience to God that you will realize true happiness. You may not think so now, because your senses are not spiritually awake. 8LtMs, Lt 21a, 1893, par. 9

It may seem to you that much is to be gained and little is to be lost by remaining in a large degree insensible to the claims of God upon your heart and deaf to His voice. But in the whispering of the Spirit of God to you is the power of God to quicken and elevate your mind and make you happy if you will but surrender yourself, soul, body, and spirit, to His control. “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” [1 Kings 18:21.] 8LtMs, Lt 21a, 1893, par. 10

Brother Faulkhead, you have neglected duties until they are almost forgotten, but they are still binding upon you. If you continue to close the door of your heart against Christ, if you will not open to Him, every opportunity, every privilege, that you have refused will be a swift witness against you in the day of judgment. The requirements of God are no less than they ever have been; and disobedience to them will be requited in proportion to the light which has been given. The Lord has right to the service of every soul, and all who withhold their service from Him are committing robbery of God, and they must answer to this charge in the Judgment. 8LtMs, Lt 21a, 1893, par. 11

I entreat you to open the door of your heart and let your Saviour in. Give Him the whole heart—that which He has purchased. Ever bear in mind that it is you who must choose. God forces no man. He has chosen you and engraven your name in the palms of His hands. Will you not give yourself fully to Him? Time is short. You have not a moment to loose in hesitation. The divine Word is in your hands, to be a lamp to your feet and a light to your path. Its beams shine upon you, pouring light into your mind and heart. Will you follow the divine radiance? 8LtMs, Lt 21a, 1893, par. 12

My brother, the Lord sends thee this message of love. O, how can it be that God despises us not, even in our sinfulness and our deformity of character. How strange it is that man will rebel against his Maker, and boastfully assert his independence of God. How easily could the Lord God of heaven say, “Poor, weak, foolish man, I will no longer bear with thine impenitence. I will cut off thy favors, and take away thy reasoning powers, of which thou hast made so poor use, and will appoint thy portion, like Nebuchadnezzar’s, with the beasts of the field.” But the Lord does not do this. How few treat their fellow men as God has treated us. They are ready to exact the uttermost farthing, [and are] severe in judgment and condemnation. But God is patient, longsuffering, full of goodness, mercy, and truth; and for this very reason men presume upon His goodness and forbearance. 8LtMs, Lt 21a, 1893, par. 13

To you it seems that the cause of truth can maintain its ground only by exertion and continual sacrifice. It is so. <The plan of> redemption was laid by a sacrifice, the most costly that heaven could give. The Son of God was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that we through His poverty might be made rich. He has made it our privilege to share in His self-denial and self-sacrifice for the salvation of men. When men spend their precious, probationary time in gratifying self, living for self-pleasing, refusing to co-operate in the Lord’s beneficent designs for the world, what fellowship or communion can they have with Christ? Everyone that partakes of the Spirit of Christ will unite with Him in His labor and sacrifice for the good of others. 8LtMs, Lt 21a, 1893, par. 14

“By faith Moses, when he had come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.” [Hebrews 11:24.] “Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.” [Acts 7:22.] Yet he gave up his prospective honor as the king’s grandson, “choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.” [Hebrews 11:25, 26.] 8LtMs, Lt 21a, 1893, par. 15

Egypt, in that age the greatest kingdom of the world, offered its highest position of honor to Moses. But he did not accept the alluring temptation; “for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.” [Verse 27.] “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. O Lord of Hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee.” “A day in thy courts is better than a thousand: I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.” [Psalm 84:11, 12, 10.] 8LtMs, Lt 21a, 1893, par. 16

The strength of Moses was his connection with the Source of all power, the Lord God of hosts. He rises grandly above every earthly inducement, and trusts himself wholly to God. He considered that he was the Lord’s. While he was connected with the official interests of the king of Egypt, he was constantly studying the laws of God’s government, and thus his faith grew. That faith was of value to him. It was deeply rooted in the soil of his earliest teachings, and the culture of his life was to prepare him for the great work of delivering Israel from bondage. He meditated on these things; he was constantly listening to his commission from God. 8LtMs, Lt 21a, 1893, par. 17

After slaying the Egyptian, he saw that he had not understood God’s plan, and he fled from Egypt and became a shepherd. He was no longer planning to do a great work, but he became very humble; the mists that were beclouding his mind were expelled, and he disciplined his mind to seek after God as his refuge. He recognized the presence of God in his surroundings. All nature seemed to be filled with the presence of the Unseen One. He knew God as a personal God, and as he meditated upon His character, he grasped more and more the sense of His presence. He found refuge in the everlasting arms. God talked with Moses face to face, as a man speaketh with his friend. The bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness shone into his heart, and into the chambers of his mind. God was his refuge, God was his dwelling place, his home. 8LtMs, Lt 21a, 1893, par. 18

My brother, by faith you, like Moses, may endure as seeing Him who is invisible. The Lord desires to give you a precious experience. <God has a work for you to do. By your influence you can win souls to Christ.> You may seek after a higher sense of eternal things. God is nigh unto all them that call upon Him with the whole heart. What are the advantages and honors which the world proffers you, when compared with the privileges of the sons of God? 8LtMs, Lt 21a, 1893, par. 19

If you walk with Jesus here in humble obedience, you will share His triumph and His joy. The shades of darkness will soon pass away, the morning cometh, the conflict is well-nigh ended. There is a crown of life laid up for every one who has been a partaker with Christ in His suffering. The imagination in its most exalted flight, can not picture the glorious destiny that awaits the overcomer. He thought himself humbled in the dust, and his pride and ambition were put to shame, but the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory is his through the ceaseless ages of eternity. 8LtMs, Lt 21a, 1893, par. 20