TO THE CHURCH OF GOD by Wm. S. Foote

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 31, 1860

TO THE CHURCH OF GOD.

By Wm. S. Foote

“But the fearful and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.” Rev. xxi, 8.

“You do not believe,” says one, “that such characters as above specified are to be found in the church of God?” No; but there may be such connected with the church. God is our judge, and in this time of peril, when the evidences of the truth are clustering about us with such rapidity, while the judgment hour is drawing near to its close, and our King is coming, yea, is even at the doors, it becomes us to examine our hearts, and inquire, Am I in the faith?

Who are the fearful and unbelieving? They must possess some of the following traits of character: ignorance, half-heartedness, and self-deception. For the ignorant and half-hearted there is hope, for they may become strong in the Lord; but the self-deceived are seldom converted.

But there are murderers connected with the church! But we are not so certain about that. In 1 John iii, 15 it says: “He that hateth his brother is a murderer.” And if we are guilty of harboring any ill will towards our brother, because he has been faithful to the Lord in reproving us for our sins, or from any other cause, we are not commandment-keepers, for that says, “Thou shalt not kill.”

The next character specified. If the effects of Rome, or the modern churches, are the harlots spoken of in Rev. xvii, 5, is it any wonder that some who have heard and have embraced the present truth, should bring into the church with them some Babylonish abominations? Such is the fact; and as we are not among those who would hide iniquity under a cloak of righteousness, we must speak out. Those who indulge themselves in the habits, manners, or customs of such people as really belong to them, as though they had never professedly separated themselves from them. Are there any among us who are so much conformed to the world as to be guilty of the “putting on of gold, or costly apparel? Any who are ready to follow the foolish fashions of the day? Any who are defiled, body, soul and spirit with tobacco? Any who are light and trifling in their conversation? Any who are politically mad, and are heart and hand engaged in the political affairs of the day? Any who manifest by their conduct and conversation that they love the society of errorists and worldlings? Any connected with secret associations? If such have been reproved by faithful brethren, and still continue to sin against God, and wound the feelings of their brethren and sisters who are trying through the grace of God to live out the whole truth, and not only thus wound their brethren, but occupy the position of stumbling-blocks in the way of sinners, they stand on dangerous ground, and the church stands there too by being connected with them. Here is a point beyond which forbearance ceases to be a virtue. A skillful surgeon would amputate a gangrenous limb, and thus save his patient, while a quack would dally along with lotions and plasters, &c., while the disease spreads through the whole system and destroys it.

But are there any sorcerers connected with the church? We should hope not. But as those who leave the truth may soon become persuaded that the dead know more than the living (that idea lying directly in their path), it would not be strange for them to become the companions of the latter-day sorcerers, and go unto the dead for knowledge, instead of to the living God.

As for idolaters, all who are familiar with their Bibles know that covetousness is idolatry, and to be covetous is to possess a worldly disposition. “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Such persons are not commandment-keepers, and if they are with the church, as mere hangers-on, they are not in their place, and the church is out of hers, so long as such a connection is kept up. Not only so, but the whole body suffers. Some of its members may hold on in the way of holiness, but their way is too much like that of “a wounded snake which drags its slow length along.”

We have seen the sad effects of an inordinate attachment to the world, among the fallen churches; and now they countenance sins among their members, the very thoughts of which would but a few years ago have caused their cheeks to mantle with shame. Let us, brethren and sisters, be warned by what we see among those who are crying “peace and safety,” while the opposite is just upon them, and not by this only, but by the awful demonstrations of the third angel, to prepare to meet our Lord. At his coming we shall want something besides an empty profession, something besides a name to live while we are dead. Our hearts must be cleansed from all the pollutions of sin; and if there are those in the church who will not walk according to the straight testimony of the church, after being dealt with as our Lord would have us to do; to retain them among us is an injury to the cause of God, the cause we love. To disfellowship them would make them our enemies, it is true; they will speak evil of us, and worse than that, speak evil of the truth, and when the time shall come for the perfecting of the saints, when they shall live so near to God that there shall not be found connected with them any of the fearful and unbelieving, any of the abominable, and murderers, liars, &c., we shall know what is meant by, “They that shall live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” We shall know better than now, and by happy experience too, what is meant by the “straight

and narrow way.” Then, although the people of God shall have ten thousand enemies where they now have but one, Jesus will be their sun, their shield and their righteousness, and lead them on to certain victory, and to the heavenly city. Then brethren let us cheer up, and in the path of tribulation, the way to glory, honor and immortality, go on. We have Jesus for our leader, the Holy Spirit to influence us to walk according to the word, good angels and loving brethren for our companions, and almost in sight a city glorious with gems and gold, where the wicked cease from troubling, and the inhabitants shall never say I am sick.