Revelation 3:14, commentary and pictures

The speaker introduces Himself to Laodicea as the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, and the origin and ruler of creation, whose testimony is altogether reliable and true. His message to the last of the seven churches, which cover the whole Christian era to the second advent, belongs especially to His professed people in the very last days who have great light yet have grown formal, self-confident and cold. He exposes them as lukewarm, professing to serve Him while denying Him in life, and in truth wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked though claiming to be rich and needing nothing. Because He knows their works, motives, words and secret acts without mistake, He warns that He will reject the lukewarm unless they repent. He counsels them to obtain from Him tested faith and love, His imparted righteousness, and spiritual discernment, to be zealous and repent, and to open the door where He knocks that He may fellowship with them and seat overcomers with Him on His throne. This straight testimony causes a shaking that decides destiny, purifying and reviving those who receive it for the loud cry, the latter rain and translation, while those who refuse it are shaken out and left to blindness and ruin.

Titles of the Speaker

The speaker to Laodicea names Himself the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, and the beginning of the creation of God, and His testimony is altogether reliable, true, and the foundation of faith. His witness does not leave the church in its mistaken belief that it is rich and needs nothing, but exposes its real condition as wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked and in need of everything, so that recognizing need becomes the way to receive the heavenly treasure He provides. It is a startling, practical warning rather than a message of peace and safety, uncovering a false sense of spiritual security and an exalted self-estimate, and it applies especially to God's professed people in the present time who have become so much like the world that no difference can be seen. Professing to serve Christ while denying Him in life is evidence of an unconverted state offensive to Him, and lukewarm self-satisfaction brings the warning of rejection unless there is recognition of spiritual poverty and blindness, reception of His counsel, repentance, and overcoming.

To be called the beginning of the creation of God is to be presented as creation's origin and ruler. He is the Majesty of heaven, the King of glory, the mighty uncreated Lord and all-glorious Redeemer whose throne is of old, from everlasting, the first and the last, the beginning and the end, the Alpha and Omega. He is the Word of God incarnate, the fullness of both Jew and Gentile, the only Begotten of the Father, the Creator who reared nature's temple and numbered the stars, and who in condescension became an inhabitant of the world He made. In that same condescension and love He takes the humbling place of standing at the door of the heart, waiting and listening for response and pleading for father, mother, and children to open to Him, give Him their hearts, and yield united soul and service, because He wants them all and cannot spare one. His promise that He comes quickly is verity and truth, though quickly seems long to finite minds, and as the true Witness He pronounces blessing on those who keep the Father's commandments, with access to the tree of life and entrance into the city, while those who sincerely work unselfishly for souls improve their capabilities to the utmost and receive divine assistance.

The title faithful and true Witness also describes the Holy Spirit coming to the world as Christ's representative. The Spirit witnesses to the Word of God, speaks the truth and is the truth, searches hearts and knows every person's character, searching even the thoughts and purposes of the heart. He is the divine agency and source of efficiency for restoring the moral image of God in man, greatly needed in schools where His transforming influence brings even the thoughts into harmony with the will of God and establishes a living connection between earth and heaven, as was eagerly sought in the schools of the prophets. As the Spirit of the living God, the True Witness inspects the assembly of those who have had great spiritual light and advantages, and His testimony is that there is great waste in energy misapplied, in talents perverted to wrong uses, and in strength unemployed, with God-given abilities degenerating because they are not used for seeking and saving the lost.

As the true Witness He knows works, motives, purposes, unbelief, suspicions, jealousies, words, and acts, weighs actions without mistake, tests hearts, and brings every work including secret things into judgment. He faithfully exposes why hearts become as hard as steel toward brethren, whether love is lacking, and how self-love, self-deception, selfishness, and covetousness neutralize otherwise excellent qualifications, declaring that hardness of heart, holding to opinion and self-exaltation, and gross neglect to help brethren by encouraging words and deeds prove the love of Christ is not an abiding principle and true conversion is not perfected until self is crucified. His witness tests selfish, covetous hearts, exposing a profession of belief in Jesus' coming denied by works when people give nothing or offer only grudging, inadequate gifts, stinted offerings and lame sacrifices which He knows and hates. It exposes lukewarm professors as poor, miserable, blind, and naked, lacking the light of Jesus and a living experience of renewing grace, with pride, worldliness, empty talk, and selfishness weighing heavily against them as God tests them and prepares to judge among His professed people. It exposes covetousness and selfishness including withholding support from God's servants while benefiting from their labor, showing how lightly their work is valued, and declares that believers must answer to God for neglect or harm to souls they could have helped and for the use of time, influence, possessions, and resources entrusted to them. He speaks as counselor, and His warnings, reproofs, rebuke, and chastening come from love to save from ruin.

Setting and Symbolism

The messages to the seven churches portray seven successive states covering the whole Christian era from the first advent of Christ to His second appearing, with the number seven indicating completeness so that the message extends to the end of time and remains in force today. Laodicea is the last of these churches, following the message to Philadelphia, and its message continuing through Revelation 3:22 was given by the Lord Jesus as His last testimony to John under the command to write the things seen and the things that are and the things that shall be hereafter, as one message after another to Ephesus and Pergamos and Sardis and Philadelphia and Laodicea. It is a revelation given in the very last days of this earth's history, leaving no one without opportunity to hear what the Spirit says to the churches if he will, and it portrays the entire history of a church fully satisfied with its spiritual condition yet under terrible deception. The figures used are symbolic of the state of God's professed people, with wheat developing among tares and truth standing on its own eternal basis in contrast with error, calling for close self-examination under Christ's supervision who weighs characters and knows thoughts, words, acts, and whom each loves and serves. The sixth state represented those who with united voice proclaimed the coming of Jesus in the autumn of 1844, about to enter great trial and find relief by light from the heavenly sanctuary about the shut and open door, linking the past Advent movement with present duty to keep God's commandments and future glory, near whose close men would war against that truth by laboring to open the door shut and shut the door opened.

The historical Laodicean church had received great light and had been very faithful under Paul's labor and commendation, but had begun to grow cold and indifferent, living in carelessness with no zeal distinguishing it from the world. That self-satisfied spiritual condition to be dreaded is the unbelief and worldliness shown when the Jewish nation did not receive Christ, rejecting the Bible prophecies of His coming and choosing their own way according to natural preferences. Their history stands recorded as an admonition not to follow their example, warning against treating God's cautions, warnings, and reproofs as worthless, since rejecting divine instruction and choosing one's own way leads to spiritual failure. The message therefore demands giving Christ the whole soul, being, and heart, weaving life with Christ and holding Him by living faith until He puts on the robe of His righteousness, watching, praying, and working out character, because heaven, the golden crown, and Christ's words of welcome are at stake and lukewarmness cannot be afforded.

The message was made known by Christ Himself to John on the Isle of Patmos, setting before minds in these last days the last events of this earth's history and reminding of things which will be. The whole third chapter of Revelation, with special force given to its first three verses and then the whole chapter traced through as a most tremendous testimony, must be read, diligently studied, remembered, held fast, repented under, and understood now in the perils of the last days. It points out the danger of losing hold upon things heard and learned from the Source of all light, calling for refusal to listen for a moment to interpretations that would loosen one pin or remove one pillar from the platform of truth. Such human interpretations and reception of fables, and theories so subtle coming through mind upon mind by those departed from the faith, spoil faith, confuse understanding, make faith in Jesus of none effect, and imperceptibly imbue with a spirit drawing away from the faith, while men arising with claims of new light would, if received, destroy faith in truths tested for half a century. Confusion about it gives Satan victory in deceiving if possible the very elect, while clarity and heed is a matter of life and death, and the chapter belongs to the highest education from God Himself centered on obedience to all His commandments and His law pronounced from Sinai.

Among the churches the Laodicean message is one of condemnation, in contrast to the commendation given to the Ephesian church for patient labor, testing false apostles, and enduring for His name, since Ephesus represents the apostolic age while Laodicea describes a condition unlike that of a true, humble, sanctified child of God. It pictures indifference, neither cold nor hot but lukewarm and therefore rejected, describing the church now living very near the emptying and burning of the earth. The message of Revelation 3 makes an earnest appeal for decision between a right side and a wrong side, of highest consequence for young students and young men and women to know and to stand upon. The wrong side is the popular sustaining of sin and transgression of God's law by a world gone mad under Satan's training, as in Noah's day when the largest number chose the wrong side, but that popularity does not demerit or lessen one principle of Jehovah, and the church must not remain in indifference but decide where it will stand when the Lord comes out of His place to punish inhabitants of the earth for iniquity.

Present Day Audience

The message is addressed especially to God's professed people in the present time, to the church of today in the very last days just before the close of history when perils thicken. It is spoken to His own erring people who will suffer for truth's sake, calling them to repentance from erected idols and separation from God. It means those in the church who have long known the truth, stand in positions of trust, and have received great light with many privileges and opportunities, yet are feeble, inefficient, formal, colder, self-confident and fragmentary in power. It reveals the spiritual condition of God's people in the last days, especially a people who have received great light, and comes as a gracious and last call to repentance to a backslidden church that is determined to carry out its own ideas and plans, warning that God abhors indifference in religious things. It presses the question whether they have the Holy Spirit, calling them to healthy action, to become burning and shining lights by practicing Bible principles, for only thus comes revival.

It applies to those claiming to be Seventh-day Adventists, pointing out their position as neither cold nor hot but lukewarm and self-satisfied while saying they are rich and have need of nothing when they are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. The same mismatch between human self-assessment and God's judgment that exposed Laodicea though it believed and enjoyed the blessings of the gospel is applied to the church at Battle Creek and to many who profess to keep God's commandments. It belongs to the church in Los Angeles and to churches generally now, calling for a deep work of grace in the heart and for awakening so believers practice the truth they profess, give the unconverted evidence of heavenly truth, and do the work God has given them to do. It is a present warning when those who know present truth and have seen great light with large opportunities and many privileges walk in the same path as the Jewish nation in the days of Christ, and it calls every converted soul to personal responsibility to communicate graciously given light by good works as Christ's witness, with reception life or death. It calls each church in Oakland and Berkeley, in New York, in California and in America generally, and many churches everywhere, to read the whole chapter and make personal application and to awake and do God's work.

The Laodicean message with Christ's full authority as the sure and truthful witness over creation applies to many ministers and to many of the churches to which they have ministered. It is highly appropriate for churches to consider just now when men professing godliness cease to be faithful, calling for humbled hearts in sincere devotion by which victories are gained and the self-centered, boastful, accusing and faultfinding spirit put away, for many standing in positions of responsibility must repent and humble themselves or Christ cannot present their names to His Father. It applies to those in responsible places in God's publishing houses who allow presses to print error and false science side by side with Christ's work, showing indifference in religious practice, paralyzed sense of sacredness, feebleness of spiritual pulse, blindness unable to distinguish sacred from common, perverted taste and corrupted discernment, acting as the helping hand of the enemy by promulgating soul-ruining deception like that which deceived Adam and Eve until Christ finds words and deeds nauseating. It must be given clearly as warning of spiritual danger by those responsible for the institutions in Battle Creek which needed purification, and its condition of being unacceptable to Christ and unprepared to stand the judgment applies to the Medical Missionary Association. It is directed also to schools and workers, to families and homes, and to idlers in the vineyard called to find their place.

The message is commanded to be brought before churches living in transgression of the law of God, found in every church, and it is not directed to the common sinner or to those making no profession of piety but to professed Christians in the churches, including nominal Adventists and the religious world, who must hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He reproves and corrects His chosen people on earth who hold His law as sacred trust and eternal truth, who have had great light and have not walked in the light, who have made great profession but have not kept in step with the Leader, warning they will be spewed out unless they repent. It gives no authority to pronounce the church Babylon and call God's people out of her, and no heavenly messenger or human agent inspired by the Spirit brings such a message. Pride, self-sufficiency, stubborn unbelief and refusal to yield ideas despite accumulating evidence make the message applicable, but they do not blot out the organized church so it will cease to exist, for wheat and tares remain together until the harvest when angels separate them, with wheat developing among tares.

Lukewarm Condition Exposed

Lukewarm means neither cold nor hot, but a neutral position that professes to love truth and serve Christ while denying Him in daily life, having a name without zeal and showing by that profession without conversion that internal grace is wanting. It is deficient in Christian fervor and devotion, not engaging thoroughly and heartily in God's work and its interests but holding aloof, daring not to give up wholly and run the risk of the unbeliever yet unwilling to die to self and follow closely the principles of faith, ready to leave when worldly personal interests demand it. Like tepid water it is nauseous to Christ's taste, a disgusting morsel that He hates and loathes, and the lack of zeal and love is seen in failure to draw toward those who are erring and falling away and in worldly-mindedness, selfishness and covetousness that weaken spiritual life. The only hope is a clear view of standing before God and knowledge of the nature of the disease, recognizing spiritual poverty and blindness, putting away self-sufficiency, and heeding the warning to repent and overcome before it is too late to find repentance though sought with tears.

Though claiming to be rich and increased with goods and in need of nothing, Laodicea is in truth wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, and needs everything, its true condition exposed by the faithful and true Witness rather than left in mistaken self-estimate. This false confidence and self-satisfaction belongs to those who believe they already have the truth and are doing their best, and therefore reject messages that expose character defects. The deception comes by refusing correction and despising reproof, by unbelief that shuts out light, and by failure to discern spiritual things and detect sin, which leaves them spiritually blind and gives Satan power over them in the time of watching and waiting. Recognizing the need is necessary in order to receive heavenly treasure, and the remedy offered is to humble themselves before God and seek pure faith and love, spotless character made pure through Christ's blood, and grace to discern and obey truth.

Lukewarmness comes gradually by becoming worldly, cold and formal like the nominal church left behind, ceasing to war against the world and conforming little by little to its fashions, friendship and spirit until peculiarity is lost and the Spirit is withdrawn. It seeks human praise more than God's approval, and is shown in outward pride in dress as index of the heart, such as ruffles and bonnets covered with bows and ribbons among professors claiming to wait for Jesus to change their vile bodies and fashion them like His glorious body. Among very many church members it appears as envy, evil-surmising and circulation of false reports revealing lack of holiness, which alone is the bond between heaven and earth, with prevalent faultfinding, hardness toward brethren, selfishness, covetousness, neglect of prayer, and form without power. Delay since the message went forth develops character to bring out what is in the heart and separate the precious from the vile, calling those upon whom the light of truth has long shone to repent zealously and receive gold tried in fire, white raiment and eyesalve or be rejected.

Christ declares He knows this state, that they are neither cold nor hot but lukewarm, and He will spew them out of His mouth, reject lukewarmness, renounce those who continue in it, cease to bear their names to the Father, and leave them in darkness unless they repent. If cold there would be more hope, but lukewarm insensibility, self-satisfaction and absence of real religion make them offensive and abhorrent to Him and place them under terrible deception in danger of hopeless apostasy. It applies to halfhearted Christians unwilling to follow Christ fully while desiring to follow the fashions of the world, and to those who once knew and loved the truth but are now fully satisfied with their spiritual condition though God has loved and worked with them. Because it is the Lord Himself speaking His word will be vindicated to the letter, yet God leaves no one without opportunity to hear what the Spirit says to the churches if he will hear, calling for diligent searching of heart, denying self, taking up the cross that hinders perfecting Christian character, and earnest work for repentance now in the time to work.

Remedy and Invitation

The counsel to the Laodiceans is to buy from Christ gold tried in the fire that they may be rich, white raiment that they may be clothed and the shame of nakedness not appear, and eyesalve that they may see. The gold is precious character, pure faith and love refined by testing fire, offered by the heavenly Merchantman as true riches in place of self-deceived claims of being rich and increased with goods and needing nothing. The white raiment is a spotless character made pure through Christ's blood, His own righteousness imparted by obedience, to clothe spiritual wretchedness, misery, poverty, blindness and nakedness. The eyesalve is wisdom, grace and spiritual discernment to see, to detect sin and Satan's deceptions, to discern spiritual things and obey truth, for refusing reproof leaves blindness and gives Satan power in the time of watching and waiting.

Those whom He loves He rebukes and chastens, therefore the call is to be zealous and repent. Repentance is to be humble and earnest, with confession and forsaking of sins, cleansing the soul-temple from selfish grasping, wrong works, underhanded and unrighteous dealing, and talking principle while acting satanic principles, returning to first love and overcoming by whole-hearted obedience as He overcame. The message leaves no time to cavil or gossip over one another but demands personal heart work now in order to receive pardon and save the soul from death, for every evil work is coming into judgment.

The rebuke is not smooth or flattering assurance that all is well or that reproof was undeserved, but a solemn, pointed testimony that names sin, exposes the gap between felt prosperity and real need, and calls for practical self-examination and correction. It comes from divine, tender love as gracious mercy, with warnings and reproofs given as a counselor to save from ruin. It wounds in order to heal and restore, not to destroy or tear down, leading to clearing away what keeps Jesus out and welcoming Him as an abiding guest, while ministers are to apply it to themselves and the people and not shield others from it.

In condescension and love He takes the humbling place of standing at the door and knocking, waiting and listening for a response, pleading for father, mother and children to open, give Him their hearts, and yield united soul and service because He wants them all and cannot spare one. Whoever hears His voice and opens the door will have Him come in and sup with them in fellowship, which is the work of the Holy Spirit producing reflection of His image in the soul and intensity of love. To him that overcomes He will grant to sit with Him in His throne, even as He overcame and sat down with His Father in His throne, with precious promises to all with ears who hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Shaking and Destiny

The straight testimony of the True Witness to the Laodiceans causes a shaking among God's people, and the destiny of the church hangs upon it. Those who receive it are wrought upon in heart to exalt the standard and pour forth straight truth, to repent deeply, obey and be purified, while those who will not bear it rise up against it and resist its searching, heart-affecting presentation. The testimony has been lightly esteemed if not entirely disregarded and not half heeded, yet it must work deep repentance in all who truly receive it. Its work will bring division and continue onward, for some will reject it while others plead with God in earnest and the indifferent and careless are overcome by surrounding darkness, so that the resisters are shaken out and others take their places.

The message is God's word and not man's, and it must be received and acted upon in truth rather than barred out by unbelief and doubt toward message and messengers, lest it lose its effectual working on mind and heart and leave believers in darkness. It is already sounding and is to be taken in all its phases and sounded forth with power wherever opportunity opens, presenting to a perishing world justification by faith and the righteousness of Christ with His counsel to receive Him, open the heart's door, and buy gold tried in fire and white raiment. That arousing testimony is the exalting of the righteousness of Christ to stir a lukewarm church. Its renewal is a revival of spiritual life, by which spiritual energies long torpid rise from apparent death into renewed energy.

Its work is to arouse God's people, discover backslidings, lead to close examination of heart, confession of sin, deep humility and zealous repentance, and to purify the heart from sins that have shut Jesus out so they may be favored with His presence. It was not designed to finish its work in a few short months and cannot be judged by whether a powerful work appears in a short time, for God patiently bears and gives time to prove obedience rather than rejecting at once. He tests step by step what is prized above Jesus and truth, exposing cherished idols, selfishness, pride and evil passions, and though the message stirs feelings at first it afterward reveals whether action rests on principle and faith. The reason it has not accomplished a greater work is hardness of heart, yet where fully heeded God would work with greater power; even so it has stirred His people everywhere, sent angels to prepare unbelieving hearts, caused the cause to rise, made His people acquainted with their position, and brought many from error and darkness to rejoice in truth.

Heeded fully it brings humility, confession and purification, fitness for the loud cry of the third angel, preparation to receive the latter rain and be translated, and readiness for Christ's coming with power through wholehearted turning from the world's pride and folly so the Saviour may come into the heart. Those who heed the counsel through every test give up their idols and overcome, while those who resist the truth and refuse to overcome cherished sins face the warning of being spewed out. Resisted, it leaves blindness, loss of the candlestick, shame in judgment when works including secret things are opened, and ruin by disobedience.

Practical Duties Warned

The verse demands personal heart work rather than judging others, calling each one to examine inwardly, afflict the soul in mourning and prayer, and take hold of the work in earnest for oneself. It means to be zealous and repent, to right every known wrong, then to believe God accepts and receives, to take Him at His word instead of continuing to mourn, to seek Him diligently and climb up by faith because He is faithful who promised. Each must stand on individual responsibility, look away from others and stop measuring by them, lean wholly on God for victory, and look to Jesus as pattern and example, throwing away feeling as a guide. By such individual experience a downcast church that knows not how to arise can rise, work with energy together with God, move understandingly with confidence before God and one another, and drink of salvation with liberty instead of stiff, suspicious watching that makes a confessing person an offender for a word. Where the counsel is not heeded and zealous repentance is wanting, its influence upon the church is soon lost.

The True Witness who knows works tests selfish, covetous hearts and exposes profession denied by deeds. He hates stinted offerings and lame sacrifices from those who profess that Jesus is coming yet give nothing or only grudging, inadequate gifts, who withhold support from His servants while benefiting from their labor and lightly valuing their work. The same witness rebukes a low, worldly-minded state where the heart clings to treasure on earth, loving farms and property more than heaven, and calls for giving up the world out of the heart, laying property upon the altar to sell part or all for His cause through labor and prayer under shining light, even while family influence pulls back toward holding treasure here. He is now sifting His people by testing purposes and motives, judging works not profession, and many who profess heavenly citizenship while their selfish works prove them dwellers on earth and hinder souls will prove only chaff with no wheat and no value. Faith that unites to Christ stirs the soul to active service and good works and love's labor growing out of faith, though busy activity by itself does not secure salvation.

Lukewarm means professing Christians living cold-hearted, selfish lives and treating others heartlessly, which is nauseating and leads to rejection unless ended through courage and hope and pleasant, encouraging words. The faithful exposure shows hearts become as hard as steel toward brethren through lack of love, self-love, self-deception, selfishness, covetousness, holding to opinion and self-exaltation, and gross neglect to help by word and deed, proving the love of Christ is not an abiding principle and conversion is not perfected until self is crucified. To be zealous therefore means earnest, determined effort to overcome worldly, selfish love, to become consecrated and devoted, to cultivate the heart in tender warmth and love, or there will be failure of heaven. The counsel commands quick arousing from stupid indifference and zealous repentance by those who had light but neglected it, whose love of the world blinded perception and hardened hearts into selfishness, unsubdued will and temper, and neglect of sympathy for the unfortunate and motherless, breaking duty to neighbor and imperiling eternal life and marring heaven itself. Since every word and act is known and weighed, vulgarity, sensuality, harsh words, scandal, falsehood, exaggeration and deception must be put away from home speech, and love, truth, kindness, forbearance, purity and elevating conversation cultivated, with mercy now accepting a broken heart and contrite spirit.

Reform must begin in the home and be shown in home life, lest families remain in the Laodicean condition. Lukewarmness is seen in absenting from religious services, laying off spiritual garments, failing to assemble as active workers for prayer and praise near the throne, failing to keep lamps trimmed and burning so light is only feebly reflected, letting religion degenerate into form, running low in spiritual temperature, and having a name to live while dead. The Sabbath must not be merely cessation of physical labor but a sweet foretaste of the Sabbath above, and assemblies must not sing assigned songs without heart, in self-complacent lethargy without meekness, humility, joy, inspired lips and thankful hearts. The call is to humble the heart, seek the Lord earnestly, wrestle for perishing souls, improve in opening Scripture and in prayer, repent lest the candlestick be removed, be stirred by old heart-searching gospel truths bringing conviction, exercise true faith by which the Spirit molds the soul into a pure dwelling place with Christ formed within as hope of glory, and do personal evangelistic labor to invigorate others, with tame, lifeless, heartless prayers confessed as defective experience.

The message must have weight as a present message of mercy to be read with prayer for understanding of its import. It confronts false theories about God and pantheistic sophistry and fog that make the plain Word of no effect, leave souls lost and needing the fallow ground of the heart broken up and spiritual light to dawn before the Lord can work, and finally lead to looking upon the whole Bible as fiction. It rebukes unfairness, false statements, misrepresentation, harsh spirit and prejudice toward differing views when the righteousness of Christ in connection with the law is presented as precious old light long lost sight of, requiring fairness, the Spirit of Christ, keeping the commandments, loving God supremely and neighbor as self, refusing to bear false witness or receive finite words as God's voice, praying and studying more, and testing all by heaven's credentials, for God's Word is infinite and sure forever. It likewise addresses those not led by the Spirit who pursue a displeasing course at general meetings, speak boastful words bringing glory to men, threaten law against opposers, and think themselves clothed for the marriage supper while in civilian dress, needing conversion lest they lead in strange paths, with continued resistance of the Spirit making profession vain.

The rebuke leaves the lukewarm not to sink but appeals for repentance, offering the riches of grace, salvation and His own righteousness to those who face blindness with painful dissatisfaction leading to reform and open the heart's door to fellowship. Halfhearted Christians unwilling to follow fully while following worldly fashions are called to deny self, take up the cross hindering character, and follow in constant self-denial and sacrifice as true disciples, with humble work now to receive pardon and save the soul from death, putting away hay, wood and stubble, wrong works and underhand dealing that talk principle while acting satanic principles, since every evil work comes into judgment. The call is to have the name of Jesus on the lips, work for others' salvation, receive a higher realization of truth as it is in Jesus, reach a high standard, and wake up in earnest intensity in a life-and-death time when conditions break up in the cities, with all in responsibility and all others seeking the Lord wholeheartedly so He will renew His Spirit and give solid experience on the verge of eternity. Those insensible to mercy, with no warm love of God, no real religion at home or in church or in gifts, satisfied and asleep while the world perishes, are urged to be converted, come to His feet, humble, confess and forsake sin, become warm and leave all offensive things, that He may take their names on His lips to the Father, show hands graven with their names, keep them from snares by angels, and at last approve those who arouse, confess, seek wholeheartedly and keep the commandments in the day of opportunity with outstretched hand giving power to become sons of God and living channels of light.