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GEO. O. STATES

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 28, 1907

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 84, No. 9.

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GEO. O. STATES

By GEO. O. STATES

Lessons from Past Experiences —No. 12

GEO. O. STATES

From the rise of this message to the present there have been different ones who have started out with some new doctrine which they have tried to tack on and make the all-important thing. At various times something new has been brought out, and efforts have been made to make it the leading element, until it overshadowed the message, with those who took up with it.
Our work in this respect has been no exception to all other reform. It was so in the time of Luther; efforts were then made to palm off a counterfeit in place of the genuine work.
Different ones have claimed that God was speaking to them through dreams and visions, and that they were to take the place of the one through whom God has been speaking from the beginning of our work. While the Bible plainly tells us that in the last days these gifts will be in the church, yet we are told to beware of false prophets. There is no doubt that as we near the coming of the Lord, there will be more of these manifestations, and our only safety is to test everything by the written Word and the spirit of prophecy.
Some have arisen who claimed that the Lord had revealed to them the time of the end. In 1863 we were warned on this point: “I saw that God tested his people upon time in 1844, but that no time which has since been set, has borne the special marks of his hand. He has not tested his people upon any particular time since 1844. We have been, and still are, in the patient waiting time.”
Again, in 1894: “We are living in a time when order, system, and unity of action are most essential. And the truth must bind us together like strong cords, in order that no distracted efforts may be witnessed among the workers. If disorderly manifestations appear, we must have clear discernment to distinguish the spurious from the genuine. Let no messages be proclaimed until they have borne a careful scrutiny on every jot and tittle. My soul is much burdened, for I know what is before us. Every conceivable deception will be brought to bear upon those who have not a daily, living connection with God. In our work no side issues must be advanced until there has been a thorough examination of the ideas entertained, that it may be ascertained from what source they have originated. If there was ever a time when we should watch and pray in real earnest, it is now.”
All who have watched the development of our work since this counsel was given can but see how different doctrines have arisen among us, which, if accepted, would eventually do away with the very pillars of our faith. I have watched these uprisings for many years, and have noticed that those who have gone into them have usually lost their humility and become lifted up and overbearing with those who did not accept their doctrines. Years ago I attended a camp-meeting in which the power of God was manifested, and there were some genuine cases of healing. Some were carried away by their feelings, and thought that any who were sick could be healed. Because the servants of God would not accept all the sick brought to them and pray for their recovery without investigation, they took matters into their own hands, and as a result the work was brought into reproach.
This all might have been avoided if they had read and heeded the following counsel sent to us years ago: “I saw that the reason God did not hear the prayers of his servants for the sick among us more fully was that he could not be glorified in so doing while they were violating the laws of health.”
All along in our history when God’s people were in danger of taking extreme views and bringing reproach upon the work, he has sent them timely warning. I believe there is counsel enough, if heeded, to take this people through if the servant of the Lord should be taken from us. We are living in a time when we do well to study the written Word and the spirit of prophecy as never before, for there are and will be many uprisings, and we need to be fortified for whatever may come.
Cedaredge, Colo.