Special Testimony to Battle Creek Church

Example of Daniel and His Associates

Daniel and his companions had a conscience void of offense toward God. But this is not preserved without a struggle. What a test was brought on the three associates of Daniel, when they were required to worship the great image set up by king Nebuchadnezzar in the plain of Dura. Their principles forbade them to pay homage to the idol; for it was a rival of the God of Heaven. They knew that they owed to God every faculty they possessed; and while their hearts were full of generous sympathy toward all men, they had a lofty aspiration to prove themselves entirely loyal to their God. To meet the appeals of the king and his counselors that they should comply with the royal edict, they had a store of arguments set forth most eloquently. The demand appeared contemptible to them. With Daniel as their companion, they had prayed and fasted, that they might understand the dream which God gave the king. The Lord had heard their cries, and he had given to Daniel wisdom to interpret the dream. Thus their own lives and the lives of the astrologers and soothsayers had been saved. Now the very men who had escaped death through the mercy of God to his servants, were led by envy and jealousy to secure the decree in regard to the worshiping of the golden image. PH154 55.2

The king declared to the three Hebrew youth, If “ye fall down and worship the image which I have made, well; but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?” These youth said to the king. “O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego; therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated.” These faithful youth were cast into the fire, but God manifested his power for the deliverance of his servants. One like unto the Son of God walked with them in the midst of the flame, and when they were brought forth, not even the smell of fire had passed on them. “Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.” PH154 56.1

Thus these youth, imbued with the Holy Spirit, declared to the whole nation their faith; that he whom they worshiped was the only true and living God. This demonstration of their own faith was the most eloquent presentation of their principles. In order to impress idolaters with the power and greatness of the living God, his servants must reveal their own reverence for God. They must make it manifest that he is the only object of their honor and worship, and that no consideration, not even the preservation of life itself, can induce them to make the least concession to idolatry. PH154 57.1

These lessons have a direct and vital bearing upon our experience in these last days. My soul is deeply stirred at the things that have been presented to me. I feel indignation of spirit, that in our institutions so little honor has been given to the living God, and so much honor to what is supposed to be human talent, but with which the Holy Spirit has no connection. The Spirit of God is not acknowledged and respected; men have passed judgment upon it, its operations have been condemned as fanaticism, enthusiasm, undue excitement. PH154 57.2