Speak unto the congregation, saying, Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
God commanded the whole congregation to get up and move away from the tents and dwelling places of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram and to touch nothing of theirs, lest they be consumed in their sins and share their punishment. The order came after Moses and Aaron pleaded that God not be angry with all for one man's sin, and the people withdrew on every side in fear while Dathan and Abiram stood defiantly with their households, until the earth opened and swallowed the rebels alive. The warning was mercy lingering with judgment very near, clearing the way for proof of Moses' divine commission and giving the deceived who had been led astray an opportunity to escape, repent, and be spared. Their rebellion was against Jehovah as well as against Moses and Aaron, working out on a narrower stage the same pride, ambition, envy, and self-exaltation that led to Satan's rebellion in heaven. Its history was faithfully recorded as instruction and admonition for those upon whom the ends of the world are come, especially near the close of time, calling God's people to separate from rebels rather than follow their unbelief and share their doom.
Historical Setting and Command
The command belongs to the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, which involved far more than the three named men and was led by two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown and respected leaders. In that uprising Korah publicly accused Moses and Aaron of claiming an authority that the congregation also had a right to share.
The verse is God's command spoken to the congregation to get up and move away from about the tabernacle, tents, and dwelling places of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram and to touch nothing of theirs, lest they be consumed in their sins and share their punishment and destruction. The congregation was thus warned to move away from the rebels' dwelling because their rebellion brought danger. The order was given after Moses and Aaron fell on their faces and pleaded that God would not be angry with all the congregation for one man's sin. Moses carried it out by going to Dathan and Abiram with the elders of Israel to warn the people to depart from the tents of these wicked men.
The people obeyed by moving away on every side, motivated by fear of the coming judgment. Dathan and Abiram defiantly stood in the door of their tents with their wives, sons, and little children with all that pertained to them. After that separation the ground clave asunder and the earth opened and swallowed the rebels alive with their tents. They were also destroyed by plague before the Lord. By that terrible judgment God sustained Aaron in the holy office of high priest given to Aaron's family.
The destruction did not end the trouble, for the next morning the congregation falsely accused Moses and Aaron of killing the Lord's people and thousands more died. Later at Kadesh in the desert of Zin the thirsting people murmured that they wished they had died when their brethren died before the Lord.
Mercy Before Judgment
The order to get up and move away from about the tabernacle and tents cleared the way for Moses to declare the test of his divine commission. It was a special, irresistible interference from heaven to arrest the rebellion, with Jesus, the Angel who went before the Hebrews, seeking to save Israel from destruction. The command was forgiveness lingering while the judgment of God had come very near, appealing to the people to repent. Moses entreated Israel to flee from coming destruction to give space for repentance, and even then divine judgment could have been stayed if Korah and his company had repented and sought forgiveness.
In great mercy God distinguished between the leaders in rebellion and those they had led. The warning gave the deceived people who were in danger an opportunity to escape, repent, and be spared. Overwhelming evidence had been given that they were wrong and Moses was right, and the signal manifestation of God's power removed all uncertainty. The warning displays mercy and willingness to forgive even grievous sin when people return with humility. Moses, whom they had sought to replace and destroy, became the instrument for saving their lives by warning them to separate from the rebels.
Separation was the only safety, for sympathy and association with the leaders made the people sharers in the rebellion's guilt and crimes. Whoever stayed with the rebels would share their punishment and doom when judgment fell, and whoever joins rebellious leaders and walks not in the Lord's light but in sparks of his own kindling will fall into the ditch, lie down in darkness, and be left to destruction. The entire congregation shared guilt because all had sympathized with the rebels to a greater or less degree. They fled from the judgments through fear of destruction, but their rebellion was not cured. Their stubborn persistence sealed their doom, and they returned to their tents that night terrified but not repentant.
Nature of the Rebellion
The rebellion was against Jehovah as well as against Moses and Aaron, for Moses was God's chosen instrument and the invisible leadership was Christ's, so that rejecting God's appointed leadership was rejecting God and Christ, insulting the Spirit of God, and blaspheming God. On a narrower stage it worked out the same spirit that led to Satan's rebellion in heaven, with pride and ambition for position and honor, envy, discontent, distrust, and desire for self-exaltation infused by Satan after Lucifer complained against God's government and sought to overthrow heaven's order. It was the work of Satan's wizard-like power over minds that do not implicitly trust and obey God, a moral infatuation that steels the heart against the Holy Spirit, yet the rebels were deceived by their own consent because they placed themselves in his power.
The rebels trusted their own judgment over Moses', stubbornly confident while accusing him of harming Israel, and even after the leaders and princes were destroyed the survivors persisted and wrongly accused Moses of killing the Lord's people, showing how stubborn rebellion brings fearful deception. Though so deluded that they thought themselves righteous, they regarded those who faithfully reproved their sins as actuated by Satan.
The rebels were wicked, unsanctified, deceived men who first gained the sympathy and confidence of the people and gathered many sympathizers, then used that influence to insinuate against God's appointed leaders. They told a deceptive story that they were abused men when the abuse was on their own side, sowed seeds of doubt against those in whom God would have the people have confidence, and took advantage of souls perishing for truth who will accept almost anyone who can explain the Scriptures. The rebellion worked secretly and in darkness, refusing to go to the ones against whom anything was held, while spreading falsehoods, enmity, evil-surmisings, and satanic representations to gain sympathy as Satan did with the angels under him. Its leader was the life and soul of the rebellion he instigated and had apostatized from the truth, permitting satanic agencies to work while calling it the Holy Spirit, since Christ came not to aid rebellion but to put it down.
Warning for Later Generations
The whole chapter of the rebellion is to be read before the people, for with all its objectionable features it was faithfully chronicled and recorded as instruction and admonition for those upon whom the ends of the world are come. It calls for careful, prayerful attention, that later generations learn from the history and take heed not to follow its example of unbelief, tempting Christ, and murmuring, which bring destruction. That history involved more than the three named men, for Korah rose up before Moses with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown. Those thus misled must review this chapter in their own experience, testing claimants by fruits rather than being easily led astray.
The facts about Korah and his company are preserved especially as a warning to God's people living near the close of time, for the same kind of rebellion and deception will recur until the close of time. Satan leads persons to imitate Korah, Dathan, and Abiram by raising insurrection among God's people. That imitation means rising in opposition to plain testimony and to reproof of wrongs among God's people, becoming self-deceived and thinking those on whom God laid the burden of His work are exalted above the people and that their counsels and reproofs are uncalled for. It is seen when straight testimonies against hurtful indulgences such as tea, coffee, snuff, and tobacco irritate those who will not deny self and sacrifice their idols of appetite. They stand undecided between conviction of truth and self-indulgence until appetite prevails and perverts the sense of sacred things by slow poisons, then find relief in warring against true testimony, saying the people are all right and the reproving testimonies make the trouble. Unfurling a banner around which all the disaffected rally, all the spiritually defective, the lame, the halt, and the blind unite to scatter and sow discord, raising a wall of separation between themselves and those cleansing themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord.
Genuine rebellion and apostasy is hardly ever curable and must be called by its right name. It exposes failure to sink the shaft deep into the mines of truth and inability to distinguish precious ore from base material and the false from the genuine, despite abundant cautions about false prophets coming with heresies who would if possible deceive the very elect. It calls the great leader of apostasy by the name Christ our Righteousness and fails to distinguish the voice of the true Shepherd from that of a stranger, so that those misled must humble themselves before God and sincerely repent for being so easily led astray, rather than letting two men and their wives undeceive the whole church after more than half a century of light by declaring God's messenger a fraud and deceiver. The rebellion was acted over again at Minneapolis as resistance to God's messengers and the message He sends. That resistance means firm self-complacency and unwillingness to accept and acknowledge light, pride and prejudice shutting out clear light to discern heaven-sent truth, backsliding and refusal to hearken when the Lord desires to bless and heal.
It despises God's appointed position and testimony and the messengers and message God sends, showing contempt for the Lord's word. It is blindness by Satan and perverted judgment, unsanctified independence insulting the Spirit of God, obscured spiritual eyesight, and refusal of the Spirit's manifestation and power. It gives itself to mockery, disgust at God's word, and lightness, trifling, jesting, and joking instead of seeking God. Unless every soul repents and is converted that God should heal them, they will walk in darkness, walk in sparks of their own kindling, lie down in sorrow, have the candlestick removed, and remain in darkness. The account is also a warning to people living in the last days against the danger of self-exaltation, as when Aaron and Miriam, though honored with a part in the work, regarded themselves as equal to Moses and thought they deserved the same credit and honor.
Separation in Church Life
In an emergency God calls for decisive action against evil workers, and separating them from the Lord's work would honor Him. When a work like that of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram arises in the very midst of God's people, accusing and ridiculing those God appointed to do His work and turning the congregation against trusted brethren and sisters as no longer worthy of love and fellowship, it is an offense to God arising from within. It is not to be met with silence but with separation and open confrontation, with every charge brought to proof, carefully investigated, and either substantiated or lifted. In this way the people are not misled, not left uncertain whether charges may be true, not led to believe a lie, and false reproach is removed from clothing God's servant.
Work done in self-will will not endure, while work done in God will endure, and a work that is of God will survive such disaffection and resistance. The names of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram represent disaffection and resistance against God's work, and those who follow their selfish, corrupt example as wicked men will be held accountable by God and rewarded according to their deeds. Those who were deceived and deceived others by refusing the testimonies God gave and laboring to make them of no effect strengthened the hands and minds of many others who quote and follow them. In the day of final accounts they must meet not only their own course of action but the result of their influence upon other minds, charged against them in the books of heaven. Deliverance requires thorough work and confession, letting sin go beforehand to judgment that it may be blotted out when the time of refreshing comes and God sends Jesus, for whoever joins rebellious leaders and walks not in the light of the Lord but in sparks of their own kindling will fall into the ditch, lie down in darkness, and share the doom of being left to destruction.
Their rebellion is a model of the disastrous work of turning people against those leading God's work, and those influenced by it share in its consequences. It warns against accusing and condemning those on whom God placed responsibility for the work, against drawing away from leaders God is using and pursuing an independent course, and against opposing God's appointed authority, servants, and plain testimony. The rebels justly suffered God's wrath for sin against Moses and Aaron and against the Lord, and the account stands as warning against opposing God's work through self-deception that calls light darkness and truth error. Whoever opposes light and weakens others' faith takes the side of the rebels and their resistance to divine authority.
The same pattern applies to those who separate from the church body while claiming their own ideas and methods will produce a purer church, accusing fellow believers and using errors to promote themselves. It applies to those who accept the Sabbath and other truths without bearing the labor and cost of bringing them out and then rise up against and reproach those on whom God placed the burden of His work. It applies to self-important and self-sufficient leaders such as those of the Battle Creek publishing house, and to criticism and faultfinding against management the Lord is guiding that talks and makes it appear mistakes were made. It is repeated when ministers and members speak hasty, unadvised words, think they have been misused, bear false witness, leaven minds with distrust, weaken faith in God's appointed instrumentalities, question and doubt those God is teaching, guiding, and leading, plant seeds of doubt, manifest no confidence in ministering brethren, and listen to Satan's suggestions of distrust, envy, and evil-surmising. It is seen again when people distort God's words and testimonies to support ideas with no basis in truth, and in conceited efforts to improve God's plans that put self above God. Such a spirit is developed by those who need converting themselves and need to change thoughts and attitude in every way in order to work successfully in Christ's lines.
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram forfeited all right to claim sacred power and demand respect as God's voice. The same forfeiture applies when leaders entrench themselves behind the sacredness of power in the General Conference and claim its voice must be respected as God's voice, while claiming great light and special exaltation yet not obeying all the light, mingling men's devisings and selfishness, hurting God's servants, the oil and the wine, and sustaining men God cannot favor. Their spirit is separation from God with the heart no longer under the Holy Spirit's subduing power, revealing Satan's attributes in oppressing fellow men and sending an influence contrary to truth, justice, and righteousness. This is manifested when men entrusted with weighty responsibilities have no living connection with God and do despite to the Holy Spirit, when workers oppress one another and one institution seeks to control all others, and when leaders disconnected from God oppress others and persist after warnings from God have come again and again and been cast aside.
Their experience warns that a spirit of criticism and faultfinding, if unchanged, can bring rebellion and its consequences into the present community. Ambitious men who resist correction and take pride in their plans can bring a like crisis, and persisting in a defiant course despite repeated warnings becomes like their course and must be kept away from. Its instruction is appropriate now to keep the whole flock from being fed errors that cause them to stray. The destruction and flight to tents did not end the trouble, and the warning stands against joining rebellion or defending wrongdoers against correction from God's servants. Resisting God's appointed messengers and rejecting with contempt the word He sent insults the Spirit of God and requires repentance, for God's people must take heed not to follow unbelief but to separate from rebels. Such rebellion works secretly and in darkness, refusing to go to the ones against whom anything is held, while spreading falsehoods, enmity, evil-surmisings, and satanic representations to gain sympathy as Satan did with angels under him, led by one who is the life and soul of the rebellion he instigated and has apostatized from the truth, permitting satanic agencies to work while calling it the Holy Spirit, since Christ came not to aid rebellion but to put it down.
God commanded the whole congregation to get up and move away from the tents and dwelling places of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram and to touch nothing of theirs, lest they be consumed in their sins and share their punishment. The order came after Moses and Aaron pleaded that God not be angry with all for one man's sin, and the people withdrew on every side in fear while Dathan and Abiram stood defiantly with their households, until the earth opened and swallowed the rebels alive. The warning was mercy lingering with judgment very near, clearing the way for proof of Moses' divine commission and giving the deceived who had been led astray an opportunity to escape, repent, and be spared. Their rebellion was against Jehovah as well as against Moses and Aaron, working out on a narrower stage the same pride, ambition, envy, and self-exaltation that led to Satan's rebellion in heaven. Its history was faithfully recorded as instruction and admonition for those upon whom the ends of the world are come, especially near the close of time, calling God's people to separate from rebels rather than follow their unbelief and share their doom.
Historical Setting and Command
The command belongs to the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, which involved far more than the three named men and was led by two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown and respected leaders. In that uprising Korah publicly accused Moses and Aaron of claiming an authority that the congregation also had a right to share.
The verse is God's command spoken to the congregation to get up and move away from about the tabernacle, tents, and dwelling places of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram and to touch nothing of theirs, lest they be consumed in their sins and share their punishment and destruction. The congregation was thus warned to move away from the rebels' dwelling because their rebellion brought danger. The order was given after Moses and Aaron fell on their faces and pleaded that God would not be angry with all the congregation for one man's sin. Moses carried it out by going to Dathan and Abiram with the elders of Israel to warn the people to depart from the tents of these wicked men.
The people obeyed by moving away on every side, motivated by fear of the coming judgment. Dathan and Abiram defiantly stood in the door of their tents with their wives, sons, and little children with all that pertained to them. After that separation the ground clave asunder and the earth opened and swallowed the rebels alive with their tents. They were also destroyed by plague before the Lord. By that terrible judgment God sustained Aaron in the holy office of high priest given to Aaron's family.
The destruction did not end the trouble, for the next morning the congregation falsely accused Moses and Aaron of killing the Lord's people and thousands more died. Later at Kadesh in the desert of Zin the thirsting people murmured that they wished they had died when their brethren died before the Lord.
Mercy Before Judgment
The order to get up and move away from about the tabernacle and tents cleared the way for Moses to declare the test of his divine commission. It was a special, irresistible interference from heaven to arrest the rebellion, with Jesus, the Angel who went before the Hebrews, seeking to save Israel from destruction. The command was forgiveness lingering while the judgment of God had come very near, appealing to the people to repent. Moses entreated Israel to flee from coming destruction to give space for repentance, and even then divine judgment could have been stayed if Korah and his company had repented and sought forgiveness.
In great mercy God distinguished between the leaders in rebellion and those they had led. The warning gave the deceived people who were in danger an opportunity to escape, repent, and be spared. Overwhelming evidence had been given that they were wrong and Moses was right, and the signal manifestation of God's power removed all uncertainty. The warning displays mercy and willingness to forgive even grievous sin when people return with humility. Moses, whom they had sought to replace and destroy, became the instrument for saving their lives by warning them to separate from the rebels.
Separation was the only safety, for sympathy and association with the leaders made the people sharers in the rebellion's guilt and crimes. Whoever stayed with the rebels would share their punishment and doom when judgment fell, and whoever joins rebellious leaders and walks not in the Lord's light but in sparks of his own kindling will fall into the ditch, lie down in darkness, and be left to destruction. The entire congregation shared guilt because all had sympathized with the rebels to a greater or less degree. They fled from the judgments through fear of destruction, but their rebellion was not cured. Their stubborn persistence sealed their doom, and they returned to their tents that night terrified but not repentant.
Nature of the Rebellion
The rebellion was against Jehovah as well as against Moses and Aaron, for Moses was God's chosen instrument and the invisible leadership was Christ's, so that rejecting God's appointed leadership was rejecting God and Christ, insulting the Spirit of God, and blaspheming God. On a narrower stage it worked out the same spirit that led to Satan's rebellion in heaven, with pride and ambition for position and honor, envy, discontent, distrust, and desire for self-exaltation infused by Satan after Lucifer complained against God's government and sought to overthrow heaven's order. It was the work of Satan's wizard-like power over minds that do not implicitly trust and obey God, a moral infatuation that steels the heart against the Holy Spirit, yet the rebels were deceived by their own consent because they placed themselves in his power.
The rebels trusted their own judgment over Moses', stubbornly confident while accusing him of harming Israel, and even after the leaders and princes were destroyed the survivors persisted and wrongly accused Moses of killing the Lord's people, showing how stubborn rebellion brings fearful deception. Though so deluded that they thought themselves righteous, they regarded those who faithfully reproved their sins as actuated by Satan.
The rebels were wicked, unsanctified, deceived men who first gained the sympathy and confidence of the people and gathered many sympathizers, then used that influence to insinuate against God's appointed leaders. They told a deceptive story that they were abused men when the abuse was on their own side, sowed seeds of doubt against those in whom God would have the people have confidence, and took advantage of souls perishing for truth who will accept almost anyone who can explain the Scriptures. The rebellion worked secretly and in darkness, refusing to go to the ones against whom anything was held, while spreading falsehoods, enmity, evil-surmisings, and satanic representations to gain sympathy as Satan did with the angels under him. Its leader was the life and soul of the rebellion he instigated and had apostatized from the truth, permitting satanic agencies to work while calling it the Holy Spirit, since Christ came not to aid rebellion but to put it down.
Warning for Later Generations
The whole chapter of the rebellion is to be read before the people, for with all its objectionable features it was faithfully chronicled and recorded as instruction and admonition for those upon whom the ends of the world are come. It calls for careful, prayerful attention, that later generations learn from the history and take heed not to follow its example of unbelief, tempting Christ, and murmuring, which bring destruction. That history involved more than the three named men, for Korah rose up before Moses with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown. Those thus misled must review this chapter in their own experience, testing claimants by fruits rather than being easily led astray.
The facts about Korah and his company are preserved especially as a warning to God's people living near the close of time, for the same kind of rebellion and deception will recur until the close of time. Satan leads persons to imitate Korah, Dathan, and Abiram by raising insurrection among God's people. That imitation means rising in opposition to plain testimony and to reproof of wrongs among God's people, becoming self-deceived and thinking those on whom God laid the burden of His work are exalted above the people and that their counsels and reproofs are uncalled for. It is seen when straight testimonies against hurtful indulgences such as tea, coffee, snuff, and tobacco irritate those who will not deny self and sacrifice their idols of appetite. They stand undecided between conviction of truth and self-indulgence until appetite prevails and perverts the sense of sacred things by slow poisons, then find relief in warring against true testimony, saying the people are all right and the reproving testimonies make the trouble. Unfurling a banner around which all the disaffected rally, all the spiritually defective, the lame, the halt, and the blind unite to scatter and sow discord, raising a wall of separation between themselves and those cleansing themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord.
Genuine rebellion and apostasy is hardly ever curable and must be called by its right name. It exposes failure to sink the shaft deep into the mines of truth and inability to distinguish precious ore from base material and the false from the genuine, despite abundant cautions about false prophets coming with heresies who would if possible deceive the very elect. It calls the great leader of apostasy by the name Christ our Righteousness and fails to distinguish the voice of the true Shepherd from that of a stranger, so that those misled must humble themselves before God and sincerely repent for being so easily led astray, rather than letting two men and their wives undeceive the whole church after more than half a century of light by declaring God's messenger a fraud and deceiver. The rebellion was acted over again at Minneapolis as resistance to God's messengers and the message He sends. That resistance means firm self-complacency and unwillingness to accept and acknowledge light, pride and prejudice shutting out clear light to discern heaven-sent truth, backsliding and refusal to hearken when the Lord desires to bless and heal.
It despises God's appointed position and testimony and the messengers and message God sends, showing contempt for the Lord's word. It is blindness by Satan and perverted judgment, unsanctified independence insulting the Spirit of God, obscured spiritual eyesight, and refusal of the Spirit's manifestation and power. It gives itself to mockery, disgust at God's word, and lightness, trifling, jesting, and joking instead of seeking God. Unless every soul repents and is converted that God should heal them, they will walk in darkness, walk in sparks of their own kindling, lie down in sorrow, have the candlestick removed, and remain in darkness. The account is also a warning to people living in the last days against the danger of self-exaltation, as when Aaron and Miriam, though honored with a part in the work, regarded themselves as equal to Moses and thought they deserved the same credit and honor.
Separation in Church Life
In an emergency God calls for decisive action against evil workers, and separating them from the Lord's work would honor Him. When a work like that of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram arises in the very midst of God's people, accusing and ridiculing those God appointed to do His work and turning the congregation against trusted brethren and sisters as no longer worthy of love and fellowship, it is an offense to God arising from within. It is not to be met with silence but with separation and open confrontation, with every charge brought to proof, carefully investigated, and either substantiated or lifted. In this way the people are not misled, not left uncertain whether charges may be true, not led to believe a lie, and false reproach is removed from clothing God's servant.
Work done in self-will will not endure, while work done in God will endure, and a work that is of God will survive such disaffection and resistance. The names of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram represent disaffection and resistance against God's work, and those who follow their selfish, corrupt example as wicked men will be held accountable by God and rewarded according to their deeds. Those who were deceived and deceived others by refusing the testimonies God gave and laboring to make them of no effect strengthened the hands and minds of many others who quote and follow them. In the day of final accounts they must meet not only their own course of action but the result of their influence upon other minds, charged against them in the books of heaven. Deliverance requires thorough work and confession, letting sin go beforehand to judgment that it may be blotted out when the time of refreshing comes and God sends Jesus, for whoever joins rebellious leaders and walks not in the light of the Lord but in sparks of their own kindling will fall into the ditch, lie down in darkness, and share the doom of being left to destruction.
Their rebellion is a model of the disastrous work of turning people against those leading God's work, and those influenced by it share in its consequences. It warns against accusing and condemning those on whom God placed responsibility for the work, against drawing away from leaders God is using and pursuing an independent course, and against opposing God's appointed authority, servants, and plain testimony. The rebels justly suffered God's wrath for sin against Moses and Aaron and against the Lord, and the account stands as warning against opposing God's work through self-deception that calls light darkness and truth error. Whoever opposes light and weakens others' faith takes the side of the rebels and their resistance to divine authority.
The same pattern applies to those who separate from the church body while claiming their own ideas and methods will produce a purer church, accusing fellow believers and using errors to promote themselves. It applies to those who accept the Sabbath and other truths without bearing the labor and cost of bringing them out and then rise up against and reproach those on whom God placed the burden of His work. It applies to self-important and self-sufficient leaders such as those of the Battle Creek publishing house, and to criticism and faultfinding against management the Lord is guiding that talks and makes it appear mistakes were made. It is repeated when ministers and members speak hasty, unadvised words, think they have been misused, bear false witness, leaven minds with distrust, weaken faith in God's appointed instrumentalities, question and doubt those God is teaching, guiding, and leading, plant seeds of doubt, manifest no confidence in ministering brethren, and listen to Satan's suggestions of distrust, envy, and evil-surmising. It is seen again when people distort God's words and testimonies to support ideas with no basis in truth, and in conceited efforts to improve God's plans that put self above God. Such a spirit is developed by those who need converting themselves and need to change thoughts and attitude in every way in order to work successfully in Christ's lines.
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram forfeited all right to claim sacred power and demand respect as God's voice. The same forfeiture applies when leaders entrench themselves behind the sacredness of power in the General Conference and claim its voice must be respected as God's voice, while claiming great light and special exaltation yet not obeying all the light, mingling men's devisings and selfishness, hurting God's servants, the oil and the wine, and sustaining men God cannot favor. Their spirit is separation from God with the heart no longer under the Holy Spirit's subduing power, revealing Satan's attributes in oppressing fellow men and sending an influence contrary to truth, justice, and righteousness. This is manifested when men entrusted with weighty responsibilities have no living connection with God and do despite to the Holy Spirit, when workers oppress one another and one institution seeks to control all others, and when leaders disconnected from God oppress others and persist after warnings from God have come again and again and been cast aside.
Their experience warns that a spirit of criticism and faultfinding, if unchanged, can bring rebellion and its consequences into the present community. Ambitious men who resist correction and take pride in their plans can bring a like crisis, and persisting in a defiant course despite repeated warnings becomes like their course and must be kept away from. Its instruction is appropriate now to keep the whole flock from being fed errors that cause them to stray. The destruction and flight to tents did not end the trouble, and the warning stands against joining rebellion or defending wrongdoers against correction from God's servants. Resisting God's appointed messengers and rejecting with contempt the word He sent insults the Spirit of God and requires repentance, for God's people must take heed not to follow unbelief but to separate from rebels. Such rebellion works secretly and in darkness, refusing to go to the ones against whom anything is held, while spreading falsehoods, enmity, evil-surmisings, and satanic representations to gain sympathy as Satan did with angels under him, led by one who is the life and soul of the rebellion he instigated and has apostatized from the truth, permitting satanic agencies to work while calling it the Holy Spirit, since Christ came not to aid rebellion but to put it down.