DO WE HEED THEM? by M. Wood

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 28, 1879

DO WE HEED THEM?

By M. Wood

“The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.” Ps. 19:7.

Doubtless many individuals now numbered with S. D. Adventists fail to see the importance of heeding the testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy. Rev. 12:17, and 19:10. Please examine, in connection with the scripture above quoted, that found in Prov. 1:22, 23. “Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.” The remainder of the chapter describes the dreadful condition of those who do not heed the words of God given through the influence of his blessed Spirit. “Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me.”

The testimonies so graciously given to the church are in harmony with the Scriptures, and are generally indorsed by all believers of the third angel’s message, as being of God, and for the benefit and perfection of the saints. But are we thankful enough for this

great blessing? Do we pay sufficient heed to the admonitions of the Spirit, to insure the approbation of God? Duties of one toward another are plainly enjoined upon us; and yet these obligations are ignored by God’s professed people. There are many, very many valuable testimonies to the church which are sadly neglected by some professing to be fathers and mothers in Israel. Page after page might be quoted from the testimonies, showing where many of us fail of coming up to the Bible standard of Christian religion. May God pity us, and enable us by the influence of his Spirit to hail with gladness, joy, and thankfulness each token of favor thus bestowed upon us.

There are some who, like doubting Thomas, would not believe without seeing, and others who would not believe if one rose from the dead and told them. If the Lord himself should speak from Heaven with an audible voice, they, like the unbelieving Jews of old, would say, “It thundered.” Every test which the Scriptures give us to prove the spirits, whether they be of God, sustains the testimonies. They exalt Jesus Christ as the Son of God. They hold up the Law of God as our only rule of right, and true standard of Christian piety. They condemn sin, and expose the cunning deceptions of our wily foe. May God help reader and writer to heed the pure testimony, which will make wise the simple, though it cut like a two-edged sword.

Satan has given an opiate which has caused a death-like stupor upon both the church and the world, and we ought to be truly thankful that God has given an antidote which, if accepted, will prove our eternal salvation. Like ancient Israel, we have wandered from God, murmured against his providences, gone into by and forbidden paths, and been bitten by that venomous reptile, sin. God still waits to be gracious. He is showing us our sins, and giving us time to put them away and purify our souls by implicit obedience to the whole truth. Those who were bitten by serpents in the wilderness, were healed by looking upon the brazen serpent. If we would be made whole, we must accept of the only terms provided by the Lord.

M. WOOD.