Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 20 (1905)

Ms 60, 1905

A Message of Warning

Takoma Park, Maryland

May 21, 1905

Portions of this manuscript are published in 1MCP 29-31. +^Note

I have been able to sleep only a very little during the past night. Last evening I consented to meet the ministers and the medical missionary workers this morning and give them some instruction that I had written out. But in the night season light came to me that God had not laid this burden upon me at this meeting. 20LtMs, Ms 60, 1905, par. 1

The Lord has a message for me to bear to those who have been given message after message, but have not profited thereby. From time to time strange things will be brought in as special light, which are not light, but confusion and darkness. God would have us as a people go forward and not backward. We are now to do quickly all in our power to proclaim the truth; for the time is at hand when we shall see wickedness increasing daily. The Spirit of the Lord has been gradually withdrawing from the earth, and the wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand. 20LtMs, Ms 60, 1905, par. 2

I have been given instruction that I am not to take on the burden that I carried at the General Conference of 1901 or the burden of the work given me at the Oakland Conference or at the Berrien Springs meeting. This great and taxing labor is no longer given me to do. The message came, calling for reform and conversion. If the rays of light had been thankfully gathered up, the souls out of the way would have come into the straight path, placing their feet on the true foundation. But not all have done this. Some have refused to heed the instruction given them. More light from God would only arouse more resistance and obstinacy. There are some who have turned from the light who will never again see the light clearly, unless they gather up and cherish that which they have repeatedly refused to accept. 20LtMs, Ms 60, 1905, par. 3

Some to whom God has given large talents have misused these talents and have pleased the enemy by making sport of the servants of God, the men whom he has chosen to do His sacred work. This exhibition of the squandering of God-given powers of intellect and influence has been a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. 20LtMs, Ms 60, 1905, par. 4

A continuance in this way will bring only sorrow. The associates of those who have chosen to do this unprofitable work might, if obedient to God, have been men of clear discernment and power. 20LtMs, Ms 60, 1905, par. 5

There has been a desire to accomplish certain things formulated in the mind. But there has been a change, a fatal change, in the objects and purposes that have called into strong exercise the powers of the mind. If these powers had been turned to the acquiring of a clear understanding, of pure, undefiled principles, heavenly treasure would have been gained. A precious capital of power and influence would have been accumulated. There would have been a coveting of holy things rather than the pursuit of notoriety, which prostitutes and enfeebles the faculties of the mind. 20LtMs, Ms 60, 1905, par. 6

In an effort to make a wonderful advance in science, the mind becomes filled with false sentiments; and there is a false, presumptuous grasping of that which spoils the nobility of the soul. It would have been better, far better, to have had less notoriety in the minds of worldlings and to have perfected an understanding of the grand truths that are immortal. 20LtMs, Ms 60, 1905, par. 7

We are not to seek to extenuate the consequences of the original apostasy. It is not possible to overstate the degree of alienation from truth and righteousness entered into by those whose souls revolt from God. Satan will present everything possible in a perverted light, to make of no effect the warnings that should be heeded by the people of God. 20LtMs, Ms 60, 1905, par. 8

For years message after message has been borne to some who are turning away from Bible truth to fables. The man who allows his mind to be so perverted that he will present sentiments that are contrary to the light which God has given by His Holy Spirit shows that he is worked by another spirit. 20LtMs, Ms 60, 1905, par. 9

We are not to suppose that since the transgression of Adam, God has given to human beings a new order of energies and passions; for then it would appear that God had interfered to implant in the human race sinful propensities. Christ began His work of conversion as soon as man transgressed, that, through obedience to the law of God and faith in Christ, they might regain the lost image of God. 20LtMs, Ms 60, 1905, par. 10

Through the cultivation of righteous principles, man may gain the victory over the bias to evil. If he is obedient to the law of God, the senses are no longer warped and twisted; the faculties are no longer perverted and wasted by being exercised on objects that are of a character to lead away from God. In and through the grace bestowed by heaven, the words, the thoughts, and the energies may be purified; a new character may be formed and the debasement of sin overcome. 20LtMs, Ms 60, 1905, par. 11