Set for Watchmen by C. M. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 19, 1911

Set for Watchmen

By C. M. S.

“Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.” In these words the Lord speaks to his people, laying before them a double duty,—a duty to him and a duty to their fellow men. He has a message to give to the world, and his people are his messengers, his watchmen. They are to do more than merely repeat words spoken to them; they are to watch also, and to watch as those who must give an account.

That duty which the Lord through Ezekiel laid upon his people anciently is laid upon us also, if we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. In every portion of this world the briers and the thorns of sin are wounding the lost sheep of the Master’s fold. In every marshy slough of despond some earnest souls are struggling for a secure footing. In every dark corner of the earth there are some honest souls struggling toward the light, and that light has been placed in our hands to carry to them. As God’s watchmen and light-bearers in the earth, none of us can lay upon the shoulders of others the solemn responsibility that rests upon us.

The message which we are to give is twofold in its nature. It is a message of warning against systems and doctrines that stand in opposition to God’s organization and his truth, and it is a message summoning to loyal obedience to God every child of earth. In this generation every soul is to have opportunity to make choice of God’s way and God’s truth, or rejecting that, to align himself with the deceiver of souls, and thus judge himself unworthy of eternal life.

It is only what would naturally be expected that the enemy of souls would summon every power of his domain to the work of opposing this last message from the Almighty. We may expect him to ensnare into his service every child of earth whom he can deceive with his counterfeit gospel. We have been warned that he is able to transform himself into an angel of light to make his deception the more complete, and as the climax of his deception, actually to impersonate Christ. We need not wonder, then, if we see mighty organizations that claim to be Christ’s chosen people setting themselves squarely against the truth of God, and even going so far as to lay plans which, if carried out successfully, would completely hedge up the way for the proclamation of God’s saving truth for this time.

Such organizations are forming in various parts of the world. Slowly they are being brought to that perfection which will be necessary for them to have at the time when it shall please Satan to institute the universal boycott of this message and its messengers. A formidable number of organizations have already committed themselves to the plan of enforcing the seal of the papal power and authority upon all the people. While we see these preparations which we have long predicted, actually in the process of making, and hear the declarations of the leaders as to what they intend to do, our duty in the matter is too plain to need to be pointed out. God has set us our task, and has warned us as to what the enemy would do. When we see the enemy doing just what the Word has all along declared he would do, it should not cause us dismay. The very seriousness of the times proves to us more clearly the dependableness of the divine forecast and the divine counsel.

We have seen the array of formidable organizations designed to force the whole world into the service of Satan, and our duty is clear. Every increase of earnestness and every perfection of plan on the part of the enemy should only serve to stimulate us to greater watchfulness and greater earnestness in the work given us to do, in order that honest souls may not be blinded while actually looking for the light. We must not only stand as watchmen, but we must be found carrying on active operations against the enemy’s works wherever we are, opposing every advance, and exposing every trap set for the destruction of souls. Through the proclamation of this message, the wheat of this earth will, in a way, winnow itself from the chaff. It will do that by proving its loyalty to God in the face of the bitterest opposition. By holding back the advance of the enemy, we keep open the door of opportunity a little longer for the honest in heart to hear and accept.

We have many plans of operation. So numerous are they at the present time that there is something for every one to do. No one needs to say, There is nothing I can do. There are weapons for this warfare lying about on every hand. The young and the old, the infirm and the robust, can all find something to do,—some way in which to help make known to the world this message that finishes the work of the gospel in the world. Very soon we shall find that a militant Romanism and an apostate Protestantism have their trenches dug across every line of our advance, and every move we make will be made against the most earnest opposition on the part of their combined forces.

The presence of the spirit of the dragon is already plainly evidenced in the published utterances of those who are consummating the federation of

forces to oppose the last work of God in the earth. The issue is plainly joined, and there is no neutral ground. The time has come when every Seventh-day Adventist, from the youngest to the oldest, should be actively engaged in some department of this work. God has a message ready for the world, and the world is ripe, yea, overripe, for that message; and yet the people to whom it has been committed are not half aroused to the importance of that message or the importance of their having a part in its proclamation. Is it not time for all to awake, gird themselves for the conflict, and throw themselves into it now while their efforts will count for so much more than they will in a little from now? Let us not permit the curse that God pronounced upon Meroz to fall upon any of us. C. M. S.