Right Arm

The Right Arm

The Principles of Health Reform

C. WHAT SHALL WE DO TO WEED OUT THESE FANATICISM IN OUR MIDST?

1. DEFEND THE CHURCH FOR IT’S ATTACK.

“Fearlessly did Luther defend the gospel from the attacks which came from every quarter. The word of God proved itself a weapon mighty in every conflict. With that word he warred against the usurped authority of the pope, and the rationalistic philosophy of the schoolmen, while he stood firm as a rock against the fanaticism that sought to ally itself with the Reformation.” 4SOP 152.

2. GIVE A WARNING SOUND.

“The third angel is proclaiming a most solemn message to the inhabitants of the earth; and shall God's chosen people be indifferent to it, and not unite their voice to sound this solemn warning?” 1T 334.

3. STAY AWAY FROM FANATICS.

“If you knew just what course the servants of God ought to pursue in order to help you, you knew enough to come out yourself. God gave you your choice, to be taught, to be instructed through His servants in His own appointed way, or to go on, maintain your willful course, and fall into bewildering fanaticism.“ 1T 313.

4. DO NOT WAIT FOR FANATICISM TO DEVELOP.

“God sent His faithful watchmen who stood in the light and could discern the evil to warn you and the erring flock. Had you then listened to the warning, a great amount of evil would have been saved. Your influence would have been preserved. You would have stood out of the way, that the testimony of the servants of God might reach the distracted flock. The erring would not hear the voice of God through His chosen servants. They made their spirit strong against the warning of the watchmen sent to them, and strengthened themselves in their unreasonable, self-deceived course. The shepherd would not hear. He was offended because this fanaticism was handled so decidedly. He perceived not the danger. He saw no haste in the matter. He had sufficient light to decide, but was too willful and too suspicious of God's servants to yield to their testimony.

“Brother G wished to wait until the fanaticism should develop, and it went on just as Satan would have it, until it did develop with terrible results. There were not reasonable, sensible manifestations to characterize that work as being of God. The Lord's servants executed their mission, freed their garments from the blood of souls, and kept themselves clear of the cursed influence, while you bear the fearful weight of the sin of this woeful fanaticism.“ 1T 313-314.

5. GIVE NO PLACE TO FANATICAL INFLUENCES.

“Such are allowed to have influence, when no place should be given to them, notwithstanding their pretensions to honesty.” 1T 326.

“We cannot afford to sanction anything that would bring in confusion and weaken our zeal in regard to the great work that God has given us to do in the world to prepare for the second coming of Christ… We cannot allow excitable elements among us to display themselves in a way that would destroy our influence with those whom we wish to reach with the truth. It took us years to outlive the unfavorable impression that unbelievers gained of Adventists through their knowledge of the strange and wicked workings of fanatical elements among us during the early years of our existence as a separate people.” 2SM 42, 44.

6. STRENGTHEN THE CHURCH POSITION BY DWELLING ON GOD’S WORD.

“We are to strengthen our position by dwelling on the Word, and by avoiding all oddities and strange exercisings that some would be very quick to catch up and practice.” 2SM 44.

7. LIFT UP OUR VOICE AGAINST FANATICISM.

“Whenever I have been called to meet fanaticism in its varied forms, I have received clear, positive, and definite instruction to lift my voice against its influence.” 2SM 28.

8. MEET FANATICISM SQUARELY AND REBUKE IT STERNLY.

“Sister white further told of how she was called upon repeatedly to meet this fanaticism squarely and to rebuke it sternly in the name of the lord. She emphasized the fact that we have a great work to do in the world, that our strength with the people lies in the power that accompanies a clear presentation of the word of the living god. The law of Jehovah is to be exalted and made honorable; and the various features of the third angel's message are to be plainly outlined before the people that all may have an opportunity to hear the truth for this time and to decide whether to obey god rather than man.

“If we as a church were to give place to any form of fanaticism, the minds of unbelievers would be diverted from the living word to the doings of mortal men, and there would appear more of the human than the divine. Besides, many would be disgusted by that which to their minds seemed unnatural and bordering on the fanatical. Thus the proclamation of the message for this time would be sadly hindered. The holy spirit works in a manner that commends itself to the good judgment of the people.” 3SM 371.

9. CALL FANATICISM IT’S RIGHT NAME.

“We have reached a time when things are to be called by their right name. As we did in the earlier days, we must arise, and, under the Spirit of God, rebuke the work of deception. Some of the sentiments now expressed are the alpha of some of the most fanatical ideas that could be presented. Teachings similar to those we had to meet soon after 1844 are being taught by some who occupy important positions in the work of God.” 2SM 26.

10. MEET IT DECIDEDLY.

“I was instructed that fanaticism similar to that which we were called to meet after the passing of the time in 1844 would come in among us again in the closing days of the message, and that we must meet this evil just as decidedly now as we met it in our early experiences.” 1SM 221.

11. REBUKE IT FEARLESSLY.

“The Lord used us as instruments to rebuke these fanatics, and to open the eyes of His faithful people to the true character of their work.” 2SM 27.

12. CLOSE THE DOOR BY ESTABLISHING GOSPEL ORDER.

“I saw that this door at which the enemy comes in to perplex and trouble the flock can be shut. I inquired of the angel how it could be closed. He said, "The church must flee to God's Word and become established upon gospel order, which has been overlooked and neglected." This is indispensably necessary in order to bring the church into the unity of the faith. I saw that in the apostles' day the church was in danger of being deceived and imposed upon by false teachers.” EW 100.

13. CONDEMN FANATICISM.

“We must as workers be united in frowning down and condemning anything that bears the least approach to evil, in our associations with one another. Our faith is holy; our work is to vindicate the honor of God's law, and is not of a character to bring anyone down to a low level in thought or in deportment.” 2SM 29.

14. FREE OURSELVES FROM FANATICISM AND COUNTERACT ITS INFLUENCE.

“And yet I was shown that you did not realize the influence of your past course upon the cause, and your present position and duty in regard to that fanaticism. Instead of working with all your energy to free yourself and counteract the influence you exerted, you came up out of all this excusing yourself and censuring those whom God sent to you, and ready to dictate, and even to suggest a plan whereby the Lord might have arrested you by His servants pursuing some different course from that which they did pursue.” 1T 313.

15. CONFESS YOUR FAULTS.

“You have been wrong and have deceived yourself. If others have misjudged you in some things, it is no more than might be expected, considering the circumstances. You should, with the deepest sorrow and humility, mourn your sad departure from the right, which has given occasion for a variety of feelings and views and expressions in regard to you; and if in every particular you do not consider them correct, you must let them pass, and lay not censure upon others. You must confess your faults without censuring any other one, and cease complaining that your brethren have neglected you.” 1T 322.

16. CUT-OFF FANATICS THRU CHURCH DISCIPLINE.

“Heaven and holy angels are working to unite, to bring into the unity of the faith, into the one body. Satan opposes this, and is determined to scatter, and divide, and bring in different sentiments, that the prayer of Christ may not be answered: "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word; that they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me." John 17:20, 21. Jesus designed that the faith of His people should be one. If one goes forth preaching one thing, and another differing with him preaches something else, how can those who believe through their word be one? There will be difference of sentiments.

“I saw that if God's people in Wisconsin would prosper, they must take a decided position in regard to these things, and thereby cut off the influence of those who are causing distraction and division by teaching sentiments contrary to the body. Such are wandering stars. They seem to emit a little light; they profess and carry along a little truth, and thus deceive the inexperienced. Satan endows them with his spirit, but God is not with them; His Spirit does not dwell in them. Jesus prayed that His disciples might be one, as He is one with the Father, "that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me." The oneness and unity of God's truth-believing remnant people carries powerful conviction to the world that they have the truth, and are the peculiar, chosen people of God. This oneness and unity disconcerts the enemy, and he is determined that it shall not exist. The present truth, believed in the heart and exemplified in the life, makes God's people one, and gives them a powerful influence.” 1T 326-327.

17. TAKE THE MIDDLE PATH AND SHUN EXTREMES.

“You need not go into the water, or into the fire, but take the middle path, avoiding all extremes.” CDF 211.

“While I was praying at the family altar, the Holy Ghost fell upon me, and I seemed to be rising higher and higher, far above the dark world. I turned to look for the Advent people in the world, but could not find them, when a voice said to me, "Look again, and look a little higher." At this I raised my eyes, and saw a straight and narrow path, cast up high above the world. On this path the Advent people were traveling to the city, which was at the farther end of the path. They had a bright light set up behind them at the beginning of the path, which an angel told me was the midnight cry. This light shone all along the path and gave light for their feet so that they might not stumble. If they kept their eyes fixed on Jesus, who was just before them, leading them to the city, they were safe. But soon some grew weary, and said the city was a great way off, and they expected to have entered it before. Then Jesus would encourage them by raising His glorious right arm, and from His arm came a light which waved over the Advent band, and they shouted, "Alleluia!" Others rashly denied the light behind them and said that it was not God that had led them out so far. The light behind them went out, leaving their feet in perfect darkness, and they stumbled and lost sight of the mark and of Jesus, and fell off the path down into the dark and wicked world below.” EW 14-15.

“It was just as impossible for them to get on the path again and go to the City, as all the wicked world which God had rejected. They fell all the way along the path one after another, until we heard the voice of God like many waters, which gave us the day and hour of Jesus' coming.” WTLF 14.

FANATICISM AND IGNORANCE

“The experience of some had been obtained among a class of religious fanatics who had no true sense of the exalted character of the work. The religious experience of this class of professed Seventh-day Adventists was not reliable. They had not firm principles underlying all their actions. They were self-confident, and boastful. Their religion did not consist in righteous acts, true humility of soul, and sincere devotion to God, but in impulse, in noise and confusion, spiced with eccentricities and oddities. They had not felt, neither could they feel, the necessity of being clothed with Christ's righteousness. They had a righteousness of their own, which was as filthy rags, and which God can in no case accept. These persons had no love for union and harmony of action. They delighted in disorder. Confusion, distraction, and diversity of opinion were their choice. They were ungovernable, unsubdued, unregenerated, and unconsecrated, and this element of confusion suited their undisciplined minds. They were a curse to the cause of God and brought the name of Seventh-day Adventists into disrepute... The fires of the day of God will consume the stubble and chaff, and there will be nothing left of any who continue in the ungodly course which they have so long loved. This class have a disrelish for the society of those whom God is truly with.” Testimonies for the Church, vol 2, p 553-554.

With all that has been said and discussed, and with all the truth and light we have received, shall we allow ourselves to perish? God forbid!

“It is not for lack of knowledge that God's people are now perishing. They will not be condemned because they do not know the way, the truth, and the life. The truth that has reached their understanding, the light which has shone on the soul, but which has been neglected or refused, will condemn them. Those who never had the light to reject will not be in condemnation. What more could have been done for God's vineyard than has been done? Light, precious light, shines upon God's people; but it will not save them unless they consent to be saved by it, fully live up to it, and transmit it to others in darkness. God calls upon His people to act. It is an individual work of confessing and forsaking sins and returning unto the Lord that is needed. One cannot do this work for another.” Testimonies for the Church, vol 2, p 123.

“We want to be just right every time. We want to bring our people up to the right position on the health reform. "Let us," says the apostle, "cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." We must be right in order to stand in the last days.” Testimonies for the Church, vol 2, p 375.

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Gospel Order