Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 21 (1906)

Lt 230, 1906

Elders of the Battle Creek Church and to Ministers and Physicians

St. Helena, California

July 5, 1906

This letter is published in entirety in PC 73-76. +^Note

To the Elders of the Battle Creek Church, and to Ministers and Physicians:

I have instruction to give from the Lord. The condition of things in Battle Creek is to be clearly outlined and understood. Those who have brought about this condition are sadly deceived and are misleading others. But the Lord will be glorified. Great spiritual transformations are to take place. All those who would be led of God should walk very humbly before Him. In no case are they to be diverted from the path of duty that God has marked out for His people. They are not to believe falsehoods, though they be published in abundance. 21LtMs, Lt 230, 1906, par. 1

A voice is to be heard in the Tabernacle, giving God’s word for this time in clear notes of warning. God has human instrumentalities that will not hold their peace. They are to advocate the word and will and way of Jehovah. In a clear, decided manner they are to proclaim the truth in all its beauty and power. No strange doctrines are to be introduced. There is to be no undermining of the fundamental truths that the Lord has submitted by many miraculous evidences. A voice is to be heard in clear affirmation of the truth, in contradiction to the skepticism and fallacies that have been coming in from the enemy of truth. Reformations will take place, and the working out of the principles of divine truth will reveal growth in grace; for the divine agencies are efficient to enlighten and sanctify the human understanding. 21LtMs, Lt 230, 1906, par. 2

The truth as it is in Jesus, as it was proclaimed by Him when He was enshrouded by the pillowy cloud, is verity and truth in this our day and will just as surely renovate the mind of the receiver as it has renovated minds in the past. Christ has declared, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” [Luke 16:31.] 21LtMs, Lt 230, 1906, par. 3

As a people, we must prepare the way of the Lord, under the overruling guidance of the Holy Spirit, for the spread of the gospel in its purity. The stream of living water is to deepen and widen in its course. In all fields, nigh and afar off, men will be called from the plow and from the more common commercial business vocations, that largely occupy the mind, and will become educated in connection with men who have had experience—men who understand the truth. Through most wonderful workings of God, mountains of difficulty will be removed and cast into the sea. Let us labor as those who have experienced the virtue of truth as it is in Jesus. 21LtMs, Lt 230, 1906, par. 4

There is to be, at this period, a series of events which will reveal that God is master of the situation. The truth will be proclaimed in clear, unmistakable language. Those who preach the truth will strive to demonstrate the truth by a well-ordered life and godly conversation. And as they do this, they will become powerful in advocating the truth and in giving it the sure application that God has given it. 21LtMs, Lt 230, 1906, par. 5

When the men who have known and taught the truth turn aside to human understanding and mete out to deceived minds their own dish of fables, it is high time for those who have once been laborers in evangelistic work, but who have been drawn away into the management of restaurants, food stores, and other commercial lines of work, to come into line, study their Bibles diligently, and with the Word of God in hand, dispense the Bible truth, the spiritual food, in co-operation with the heavenly angels. This work now calls loudly for workmen of divine appointment. Omnipotence will then say to the mountains of difficulty, Be thou removed and cast into the sea. 21LtMs, Lt 230, 1906, par. 6

The call is to go forth, “Son, go labor today in My vineyard.” [Matthew 21:28.] As this call is obeyed, the message that means so much to the dwellers on the earth will be heard and understood. Men will know what is truth. Onward, and still onward, will the work advance. And marked events of Providence will be seen and recognized in judgments and in blessings. The truth will bear away the victory. 21LtMs, Lt 230, 1906, par. 7

To all students we would say, In the name of the Lord do not permit yourselves to be held where the spiritual atmosphere is poisoned with skepticism and falsehood. Those who have had the evidence of truth, but who for days, weeks, months, and years have had about them a subtle influence that gives a distorted representation, a false coloring, to the truth of God, are not fit for teachers for our youth. Where falsehoods, regarding the Word and work of God, are reported as truth is no place for students who are preparing for the future, immortal life. We are seeking heaven, wherein can enter none who have changed the truth of God into a lie. 21LtMs, Lt 230, 1906, par. 8

Truth has a spiritual influence. It enters the mind, direct and uncorrupted, from One who is truth. The reception of truth in the inward parts is charged with the greatest results. Truth is to be received into the heart and developed and expressed in the character. 21LtMs, Lt 230, 1906, par. 9

No lie is of the truth. On every occasion possible, Satan is on hand to introduce the leaven of his deceptive fallacies. Listen not a moment to the interpretations that would loosen one pin, remove one pillar, from the platform of truth. 21LtMs, Lt 230, 1906, par. 10

Human interpretations, the reception of fables, will spoil your faith, confuse your understanding, and make of none effect your faith in Jesus Christ. Study diligently the third chapter of Revelation. In it is pointed out the danger of losing your hold upon the things that you have heard and learned from the Source of all light. “Remember ... how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent.” [Verse 3.] Why repent?—Because there have come in faults in the form of theories so subtle that by the influence of mind upon mind—through the agency of those who have departed from the faith—the wily foe will cause you imperceptibly to be imbued with the spirit that will draw you away from the faith. 21LtMs, Lt 230, 1906, par. 11

There are many who are in a perilous position spiritually—many who are “ready to die.” The Revelator was bidden to write to the church in Sardis: “These things saith He that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent.” [Verses 1-3.] 21LtMs, Lt 230, 1906, par. 12

There is a censure resting upon those who have heard the truth, received the truth, and who afterward have acted like men spiritually dead. “Remember therefore.” In our work we are not to be drawn into any plausible theories that would lead to a denial of our past faith in the truth we have heard and advocated. “If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.” [Verse 3.] 21LtMs, Lt 230, 1906, par. 13

“Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white: for they are worthy.” [Verse 4.] 21LtMs, Lt 230, 1906, par. 14

“Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” [Ezekiel 37:26, 27.] 21LtMs, Lt 230, 1906, par. 15

This last scripture carries our minds forward to the triumph of Israel and Judah. The accomplishment of the work will be through human instrumentalities charged with divine power. All the glory is ascribed to the great power of God; but it is through unity and co-operation of the human with the divine that the result is made possible. Humanity, blended with divinity, grasps the divine efficiency, and the work is complete. 21LtMs, Lt 230, 1906, par. 16

We have been filled with pain of heart, which language cannot describe, as we have seen feature after feature of the work that should have been conducted in the purest channels as a means of bringing souls to a knowledge of the truth, corrupted by ambition and commercialism. Thus some features of the health work have proved a snare to capture talents of influence that might have been used in feeding souls with the bread of life. While thousands are perishing without a knowledge of the truth, while multitudes have not the bread of life to feed upon, while God is calling for a quick work to be done to prepare a people for the coming of Christ, shall our hygienic restaurants prove a snare, by being operated merely for commercial advantage, and their influence extend no further? 21LtMs, Lt 230, 1906, par. 17

It was hoped that much good would be done by preparing food for worldlings—that thereby many would be brought to a knowledge of the truth. And this might have been, had the glory of God been kept in view. But these enterprises have been run so largely on a commercial basis, for the temporal advantages to be gained, that they have often become a snare, as it were, to hold men and women of talent, who, by study and diligent effort, could do acceptable service in the winning of souls to Christ. The end of all things is at hand. We must learn to fulfil God’s purposes. Let no one delay. 21LtMs, Lt 230, 1906, par. 18

There are those who once were teachers of righteousness, but who have turned from the truth and are wandering in the mists of error. Satan with much persistency is striving for the mastery. Christ calls upon many who are in training for His service to obtain an education of a character altogether different from that which they have been receiving. The Lord Jesus calls upon us to fulfil His commission given just before His ascension to meet the heavenly armies that escorted Him to the city of God. We have the battle of tribulation before us, but our commission is, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” [Matthew 28:19, 20.] Who will pass this by and continue in any commercial business that will not bring souls to Christ? Shall this condition change? Will you give the last note of warning to the world? 21LtMs, Lt 230, 1906, par. 19