December 7
How Do We Stand Today?
TESTIMONY
Key Text: Matt. 7:1, 2, 15-20
In a practical application of Matthew 7:15-20, Ellen White suggests the fol-
lowing questions. “What message do they bring? Does it lead you to reverence and
fear God? Does it lead you to manifest your love for Him by loyalty to His com-
mandments? If they tell you that they are not concerned about teaching or observ-
ing the law, be afraid of them, even though they heal the sick and cast out devils.
They are doing the very work that originated with the prince of darkness, the
enemy of God. The beginning of all the sin and woe and death that have deluged
our earth, was this very disregard for the plain commandment of God.”!
Within the context of warning against false prophets, God’s people are further
instructed to avoid the spirit of criticism (verses 1, 2). “Christ puts his rebuke upon
those who are criticising others, upon those who are self-sufficient, presumptu-
ous, and censorious, judging the motives of others, and seeking to condemn them.
This class give evidence that they are looking for failings in others, and these are
what they will see and comment upon. They pass by many estimable qualities, to
dwell upon and distort and magnify seeming inconsistencies.”
“Christ puts his rebuke upon those who are
criticizing others.”
Satan works to organize things in the church so that people become lethargic
to their duty. “The ordained minister is depended upon to pray, and to open the
Scriptures to the people who assemble for worship; but God would have every one
do a work for the Master. . . . It is humble men whom God will use,—those who
will open their hearts to the voice and knock of Jesus, that he may come in and
abide with them. And because they have neglected their God-given work, many
have lost their first love. A hard, selfish spirit has taken possession of a large
number of those who, if they had loved the souls for whom Christ has died, would
work for them in a variety of ways as God’s instrumentalities.””
“The Lord has rich blessings for the church if its members will seek earnestly
to arouse from this perilous lukewarmness. A religion of vanity, words devoid of
vitality, a character destitute of moral strength,—these are pointed out in the
solemn message addressed by the True Witness to the churches, warning them
against pride, worldliness, formalism, and self-sufficiency. . . . But to the lowly,
the suffering, the faithful, the patient, who are alive to their weakness and insuf-
ficiency, are given words of encouragement: ‘Behold, I stand at the door.”
1. The Signs of the Times, April 13, 1888, “Sanctification.”
2. The Signs of the Times, March 14, 1892, “Judge Not.”
3. Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, October 6, 1896, “Whosoever Will, Let Him Come.”
4. Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 484.
By Lisa (Eisele) Poole, co-minister with her husband, Glenn, in the Mattoon, Noble,
and Stewardson (Illinois) Seventh-day Adventist churches.
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