Achan in the Church by Dr. G. C. Lorimer

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Apr 6, 1882

Achan in the Church.

By Dr. G. C. Lorimer

If there is any truth in this narrative about Achan, it is that one or a few individuals may hinder the usefulness of many. You are aware that it is not necessary for every part of a machine to be out of order for the whole to be deranged. A single defect in the engine you drive or the watch you wear, may imperil the one and stop the other. You need not smash your watch to pieces for its utility to be destroyed; you need not blow up your engine for it to cease its movements. So an entire church may be out of spiritual harmony with God, and still much mischief be done by one or two persons living in worldliness. Suppose that there is a member who is faithless to his obligations, and who is as skillful as Achan in concealing it from the eyes of the law; suppose under the guise of piety he succeeds in transactions that are questionable according to the highest standard of morality, will he not excite suspicion among his brethren, will he not tend to divide them, and will he not so charge the atmosphere with distrust that endeavor to save others will be paralyzed? Or, suppose that he is worldly in his tastes and desires, can enjoy the exhibitions of a not over-virtuous Bernhardt, turns the meeting-house into a show-place for millinery, and considers it more in the light of a club for society than a refuge from iniquity, will not his influence corrupt others and tend to render them too trivial for the serious concerns of religion? These are solemn questions. They press home the significance of personal responsibility. You, my brother, you, my sister, may be the Achan in the camp. Let me pray you to see to it lest your folly shall stay the aggressive designs of the armies of God.—Dr. G. C. Lorimer.