Special Testimonies Relating to Various Matters at Battle Creek
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Special Testimonies Relating to Various Matters at Battle Creek
Ellen G. White
1896
SPECIAL TESTIMONIES.
RELATING TO VARIOUS MATTER IN BATTLE CREEK.
July, 1894.
(Hitherto unpublished.)
In the night season I was in a dream or vision, which revealed some things in Battle Creek. My guide said, “Follow me.” I was directly in Battle Creek; the streets were alive with bicycles ridden by our own people. There was a witness from heaven beholding our people indulging their desire for selfish gratification, and using the money in this way that should be invested in foreign missions to unfurl the banner of truth in the cities, and in the by-ways of the land. There was an infatuation, a craze upon the subject. The course of those who invest money in these things when starvation is at the very door of thousands, does not bear a telling testimony to the truth that the end of all things is at hand. These things are counterworking against the messages that God has given his messengers to proclaim in order to arouse the world to the great event which is just before us.
The Witness from heaven said, “I will turn my face from you for your pleasant picture and your selfish practices which are misrepresenting the religion of Jesus Christ, and preparing a people, through denying him in practise, to be ensnared by the deceptions of these last days.” Every device that Satan can invent to make our people disloyal to Jesus Christ, the Captain of our salvation, will be ready at hand. The notices given in our papers extolling bicycles might better be cut out and in their place the destitute foreign fields be represented. “My people,” saith the Lord, “do err and separate from the Source of their strength. In their works they deny me, and I will turn my face from them, unless they repent and do their first works.”
America, and especially Battle Creek, where the greatest light from heaven has been shining upon the people, can become the place of greatest peril and darkness because the people do not continue to practice the truth and walk in the light. What was the meaning of the movement last winter (1893-94) in giving up jewelry and ornaments? Was it to teach our people a lesson? Were they prompted by the Holy Spirit to do those things, and to use the avail in the advancement of the work of God in foreign countries? And has Satan been counteracting the movement of the Holy Spirit upon human hearts, that reaction shall be allowed to take place, and another evil exist? The present manifestation is strikingly inconsistent with that movement of stripping off the ornaments and giving up selfish indulgences which absorb the means, the mind, and the affections, diverting them into false channels.
The light given me of God is that there is a work to be wrought in the heart which will not permit the mind and means to be thus perverted from the great subject that should absorb every mind,—the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Prepare, prepare for the great day of God. How can the people of Battle Creek interpret such movements, so difficult to harmonize one with the other? May the Lord help his representative men to turn their influence into channels which he can approve.
It is the work of the Holy Spirit to act as a reprover. This I am bidden to say to you, is the work that has been and must continue to be carried on in every church in our land. The more nearly we approach the closing scenes of this earth’s history, the more pronounced will be the work of Satan; every species of deception will take the lead to divert the mind from God through Satan’s devices. The imagination will be intensely awakened in human minds to absorb money in buildings for convenience or to expend it unnecessarily through some excuse or invention of Satan; so that there will be less money to support laborers in the field, and less money for the opening of new fields, and money will be unwisely appropriated to do things that are really good works, but by doing which the larger and more essential work is cramped, and many things cannot be undertaken at all, in the lifting of the banner of truth in new fields, with the proper dignity that should characterize the proclamation of warning that should be given to our world. If at the great heart of the work the pulse beats are violent and erratic, the peril to spiritual life affects the whole body.
Brethren and sisters in Battle Creek, I inquire, Who hath bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth, not only by profession, but by practice? Shall the idols be expelled from the heart, and Jesus be enthroned there? He is standing knocking at the door of every heart; do you hear his voice saying, Open unto me, I have heavenly treasures, goods of imperishable value; buy of me gold tried in the fire that you may be rich; buy white raiment and eye-salve? These are the goods you need, which, if you possess, will open to you the pearly gates of the city of God. He has been calling, calling, in the rich gospel feast he has presented to you, that you may be fed with the Bread of Life, and Christ is still knocking at the door of your hearts.
Many go to Battle Creek expecting to find an influence similar to that of heaven, but they soon find practices not at all in accordance with their ideas of truth, and the separate, peculiar people who are to represent the most pure, holy principles of religion that were ever given to the world. Many have been led to walk in false paths through being brought in connection with those who are not consecrated, self-denying followers of Jesus Christ. These false professors have served as decoys to divert souls from the principles of truth and righteousness.
Where are the faithful sentinels in Battle Creek to keep the fort? Where are the minute men to be on guard and not relax their vigilance for one moment,—men who watch, men who pray, men who walk humbly in meekness and lowliness, after the example of the greatest Missionary that ever visited our world, who is our Pattern?
My soul is weighed down continually as a cart beneath sheaves. O why do men become so spiritually blind? Poor triflers prefer their idols to Jesus Christ, admitting them into the heart, while Jesus is left standing without. Will you compel God to work, and dash one after another of your idols to the ground, that those who claim to be Christians may be driven from the perishable to the eternal?
You have been made the depositaries of sacred, solemn messages of warning to an idolatrous and impenitent world, and the Lord is not pleased with your ways; he cannot prosper you in thus misrepresenting the truth, denying the message by your own course of action. Will our124people awake? Will they continue to strain every nerve to purchase things they do not positively need, which are making them a by-word before the world? The Lord has money in the hands of his stewards, which they are misappropriating, binding it up in idols of some description.
We have set before you our wants in this foreign field, but you have not had ears to hear and hearts to feel, and instead of considering our position in this new region beyond, instead of denying yourselves that we may have facilities, you bind up the things of God in the things which he names idols. It is time that there was a different order of things in Battle Creek, else the judgments of God will surely fall upon the people. His blessing has rested upon you in large measure; has it made you laborers together with him? Are not our people in Battle Creek demonstrating to unbelievers that they do not believe the truth which they claim to advocate? God has been calling them away from every species of self-indulgence, and all manner of extravagance. When the church has had great light, then is her peril if she does not walk in the light, and put on her beautiful garments, and arise and shine; darkness will becloud the vision, so that light will be regarded as darkness, and darkness as light. When the believers in Battle Creek shall not only be penitent occasionally, but shall walk in humility, doers of the word, the world will take knowledge of them that they have been with Jesus. O how can the Spirit speak to impress hearts so that they will obey his voice.
ELLEN G. WHITE.
Norfolk Villa, Prospect St.
Granville, N. S. W.,
July, 1894.
I WISH to remind my brethren of the cautions and warnings that have been given me in reference to constantly investing means in Battle Creek in order to make a little more room, or to make things more convenient. New fields are to be entered, the truth is to be proclaimed as a witness to all nations. The work is hindered, so that the banner of truth cannot be uplifted, as it should be, in these new fields. While our brethren in America feel at liberty to invest means in buildings which time will reveal that they would do just as well and even better without, thousands of dollars are thus absorbed that the Lord called for, to be used in “regions beyond.” I have presented the warnings and the caution, as the word of the Lord; but my heart has been made sad to see that, notwithstanding all these, means has been swallowed up to satisfy these supposed wants, building has been added to building, so that the money could not be used in places where they have no conveniences, no building for the public worship of God or to give character to the work, no place where the banner of truth could be uplifted. These things I have set before you, and yet you have gone on just the same, absorbing means, God’s means, in one locality, when the Lord has spoken that too much was already invested in one place, which meant that there was nothing in other places where there should be buildings and facilities to make even a beginning. What call had you to invest thousands of dollars in additional school buildings? You supposed you needed all this outlay, but did not entreaties come for you not to do this?
I was shown that a terrible condition of things is seen to exist in our world. The angel of mercy is folding her wings, ready to depart. Already the Lord’s restraining power is being withdrawn from the earth, and the power of Satan is working in the world to stir up the religious elements, under the training of the great deceiver, to work with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in the children of disobedience. Already the inhabitants of the earth are marshalling under the leadings of the prince of darkness, and this is only the beginning of the end. The law of God is made void. We see and hear of confusion, perplexities, want and famine, earthquakes and floods; terrible outrages will be committed by men; passion not reason bears sway. The wrath of God is upon the inhabitants of a world that is fast becoming as corrupt as were the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. Already fires and floods are destroying thousands of human beings and the property that has been selfishly hoarded by the oppression of the poor. The Lord is soon to cut short his work, and put an end to sin. O that the scenes which have come before me, of the iniquities practiced in these last days, might make a suitable impression on the minds of God’s professed people.
As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be when the Son of man shall be revealed. The Lord is removing his restrictions from the earth, and there will be death and destruction, and increasing crime, and evil, cruel workings against the rich who have exalted themselves above the poor. Those who have not God’s protection will find no safety in any place or position. Human agents are being trained, and are using their inventive power to put in operation all the most powerful machinery to wound and kill. Instead of our enlarging and erecting additional buildings in Battle Creek or other places where our institutions are already established, there should be a limiting of the wants. Let the means and workers be scattered to represent the truth and give the warning message in “regions beyond.”
When the children of Israel were on their journey through the wilderness, the Lord protected them from the venomous serpents; but there came a time when, because of Israel’s stubbornness and impenitence and transgression, the Lord removed his restraining power from these reptiles whose sting was deadly, and many were bitten and died. Then it was that the brazen serpent was uplifted, that all who repented and looked to it in faith might live. In the time of confusion and trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, the uplifted Saviour will be presented to the people in all lands and in all places, that all who look may live.
But in view of the terrible crisis before us, what are those doing who claim to believe the truth? I was called by my Guide, who said, “Follow me,” and I was shown things among our people that were not in accordance with their faith. There seemed to be a bicycle craze; money was spent to gratify an enthusiasm in this direction that might better, far better, have been invested in building houses of worship where they are greatly needed. There were presented before me some very strange things in Battle Creek. There seemed to be a bewitching influence which was passing as a wave over our people there, and which will be followed by other temptations. Anything that can absorb means in meeting supposed wants in any direction, Satan will use with intensity of purpose to induce our people to invest their time and money. It is all a species of idolatry. The example will be followed, and while hundreds are starving for bread, while famine and pestilence are being seen and felt, because God cannot, according to his own name’s glory, protect those who are determinedly working contrary to his will, shall our people who profess to love and serve God, be acting as did the people in the days of Noah, following the imagination of their own hearts?
While you have been gratifying your inclination in the appropriation of money—God’s money—for which you must give an account, missionary work has been hindered, and bound about for want of money and workers to lift the banner of truth in localities where they have never even heard the message of warning. Will God say to those who are selfishly pleasing their own imagination and gratifying their own desires, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord? Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things.” What kind of witness for the truth are you in Battle Creek bearing to the unbelieving world? I have been shown that the Lord does not look upon your course with favor, for your practice contradicts your profession of faith. You are not doers of the words of Christ.
I was told by my Guide, “Look ye, and behold the idolatry of my people, to whom I have been speaking, rising up early, and presenting to them their dangers. I looked that they should bring forth fruit.” There were some who were striving for the mastery, each striving to excel others in the swift running of their bicycles. There was a spirit of strife and contention among them as to which should be the greatest. The spirit was similar to that manifested in the base ball games on the College ground. Said my guide, “These things are an offense to God. Both near and afar off, souls are perishing for the bread of life and the waters of salvation. When Satan is defeated in one line, he will be all ready with other schemes and plans which will appear attractive and needful, and which will absorb money and thought and encourage selfishness, so that he can overcome those who are so easily led into a false and selfish indulgence.
The question will arise, What burden do these persons carry for the advancement of the work of God? Wherein do they realize the importance of the work for this time? Christ said to his disciples, “Ye are the light of the world. Let your light so shine before men that they by seeing your good works may glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Is this investment of money, and this spinning of bicycles through the streets of Battle Creek, giving evidence of the genuineness of your faith in the proclamation of the last most solemn warning to be given to human beings on the very verge of the eternal world?
Brethren and sisters in America, I make my appeal to you. God is not mocked; whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. The lives of many are too delicate and dainty; they know nothing of bearing hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. They themselves are obstructions in the way of soul-saving. They have many wants, everything must be convenient, and easy, and nice, to suit their taste; they themselves will not move, and those who would move they hinder by their suppositions and imaginary wants and their love of idols. They think themselves Christians, but do not know what the practical Christian life signifies. What is the definition of Christian? It is to be Christ-like. “He who will come after me,” said Jesus, “Let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” When the Lord sees his people binding about their imaginary wants, practicing self-denial, not in a mournful, regretful spirit, as Lot’s wife left Sodom, but joyfully, for Christ’s sake, and because it is the right thing to do, then the work will go forward with power. Let nothing, however dear, however loved, absorb your mind and affections, diverting you from the searching of the Scriptures, or from most earnest prayer. Watch unto prayer, live your own requests, co-operate with God by working in harmony with him, expel everything from the soul temple which assumes the form of an idol. Now is God’s time, and his time is your time. Fight the good fight of faith, refuse to think unbelief or to talk unbelief. There is a world to hear the last warning of mercy.
ELLEN G. WHITE.
NORFOLK VILLA
PROSPECT ST.,
GRANVILLE, N. S. W.
JULY 20, 1894.
I AM reminded of a family of children. One is more prepossessing than the others, and that one is favored. Gifts and considerations are made without stint and partiality, and the others are left to get along as best they can. I think this is a good symbol of the present things in America and this country. God knows that we have done what we could, but have been crippled in every way,—our hands tied,—without workers or money. The places that have nothing done in them, need money and devising and planning to create an interest. I rejoiced when I heard that the Holy Ghost had been poured out upon our people in America, and I have been anxiously waiting new developments there, as was seen after the Holy Ghost descended on the day of Pentecost. I thought similar fruits would be seen, that the missionary spirit of God would burn in the hearts of all upon whom the Spirit of God was manifestly moving.
There should be a decided change in the spirit and character of the word, where men and women have received increased light. What are they doing to warn men and women who do not understand that the Lord is soon coming? He goeth out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the world for their iniquity. “The earth shall disclose her blood and no more cover her slain.” Where, I asked, is the burden for souls that are perishing out of Christ? Who will go forth without the camp, bearing the reproach? Who will leave pleasant homes and dear ties of relationship, and carry the precious light of truth to far-off lands, but not beyond the domain of God? Every day and every moment comes to those who have entrusted to them the light of truth with the terrible significance that men and women in every clime and land are fitting themselves for weal or woe, fixing their own destinies for eternity.
God has expended amazing sacrifices upon men, and mighty energies for the reclaiming of man from transgression and sin to loyalty and obedience, but I have been shown that he does nothing without the co-operation of human agencies. Every endowment of grace and power and efficiency has been liberally provided, and the strongest motives presented to arouse and keep living in the human heart the missionary spirit, that divine and human agency may be combined. What more has been done in self-denial in moving out of Battle Creek, in carrying the light, the influence of God’s Spirit testifying to the truth in regions where the standard has never yet been lifted? Did the Lord of heaven open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing at the last Conference? What use have you made of the gift of God? He has supplied the motive forces of which he has made a lodgment in your hearts, that with patience and hope and untiring vigilance you might set forth Jesus Christ and him crucified, that you send the note of warning that Christ is coming the second time with power and great glory, and calling men to repent of their sins.
If Battle Creek does not arouse now and go to work in missionary fields, they will fall back into death-like slumber. How did the Holy Ghost work upon your hearts? By the energies of the Holy Spirit it was stimulating you to exercise the talents God has given you, that every man and woman and youth should employ them to set forth the truths for this time, making personal efforts, going into the cities where truth has never been and lifting the standard. Have not your energies been quickened in the blessing God has bestowed upon you, and the truth more deeply impressed upon your soul, and its relative importance to perishing souls out of Christ? Are ye witnesses for Christ in a more distinct and decided manner, after the manifest revealing of God’s blessing upon129you? The Holy Spirit’s office is to bring decidedly to your minds the important, vital truths. Is this to be bound up in a napkin and hidden in the earth?—No, no, it is to be put out to the exchangers; and as man uses his talents, however small, the Holy Spirit takes the things of God, and presents them anew to the mind. He makes the neglected word to be a vivifying agency through the Spirit; it is quick and powerful upon human minds, not because of the smartness, the educational power of the human agency, but because the divine power works with the human; and it is the divine that deserves all the credit.
Shall selfishness and ease of those who have earthly comforts and attractive homes allure us? Shall we cease as moral agencies to use our powers to the saving of souls? Shall our voices be indistinct? Then God will put his curse upon us that have had so great light, and inscribe upon the walls of our homes, “Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.” He will put a tongue in the stones, and they will speak; but God commands of you in Battle Creek to go forth. Resolve not in your own strength, but in the strength and grace given of God that you will consecrate to God, now, just now, every power, every ability. You will follow Jesus because he bids you, and you will not ask where, nor what reward shall be given? It is well with you, if you obey, “Follow me.” Your work is to lead every one to the light by judicious, well-put-forth effort; under the guardianship of the divine Leader, will to do, resolve to act, without a moment’s delay, to make terms with God.
When you die to self, when you surrender to God to do your work, to let every ray of light which God has been giving you, shine forth in good works, you are not alone. God’s grace stands forth to work with every effort to enlighten the ignorant and those who do not know that the end of all things is at hand. But he will not be your substitute to do your God-given work. Light may shine in abundance, but the grace given will not convert your soul only as it arouses you to co-operate with divine agencies. You are called upon to be active soldiers, to put on the divine armor, and put forth energies, divine power working with the human, to break the spell of the worldly enchantments.
Again I call for the help that we ought to have had, the means we must have if anything is accomplished in this country. Let your minds be drawn out for perishing souls. Obey the impulse given by high Heaven. Grieve not the Holy Spirit by delay. Resist not God’s methods of recovering poor souls from the thralldom of sin. To every man is given his work. Then do the very best with the powers God has given you, and he will accept your efforts put forth with an eye single to his glory. To every man he has given his work according to his several ability.
ELLEN G. WHITE.