The pursuit of truth is not to be confused with the possession of truth.
If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His, irrespective of profession, credentials, or position.
There is a vast difference between reading something that is in the Bible, and reading something into it that exits in our own minds. There should be no ;fatal confusion here.
He is not a foe but a friend of truth who acts as a check on inaccuracies, inconsistencies, or fanciful interpretations. Constructive critics are invaluable assets to the ,movement. Let us capitalize them.
Are you preaching a religious philosophy, or presenting the good news of real salvation from sin and its erroneous beliefs and practices? Are minds convinced, or are lives transformed by your presentations? The issue is fundamental.
The minister who fails to speak forth in a time of crisis is guilty of faithlessness to a divinely appointed responsibility. The blood of unwarned and thus unguarded souls may be upon him. Heaven's commission demands faithfulness.
God has not designated a select few to be the custodians of orthodoxy in His remnant church. It is a universal obligation shared jointly by every responsible laborer. Let none shrink, on the one hand, and none usurp unassigned prerogatives on the other hand.
When people get to admiring the preacher,— his learning, language, or logic,— they take their eyes off the Saviour. He will increase only as the preacher decreases.
Frenzied activity is no substitute for a living Christian experience, at least before God, however well it may pass with men. On the other hand, God-inspired labor is inevitable if the soul is transformed by the life of Christ.
Always through the past there was conflict between the prophet and the priest. Even so is it today. Let us make this year a time of revival of study, of understanding, and of appropriation into life of the counsels of the Spirit of prophecy.
On the great essentials of holy living, all true men agree. But on modes of achieving these desired results there is difference of conviction. Others who love their Lord as ardently as we, should not be subjected to suspicion and aspersion because they sincerely view methods in a different light.
Seventh-Day Adventists make use of every version or translation of the Bible, in any language, and can faithfully preach Christ and His message from each of them. Usually it is deemed 'best to use the common version of the people, such as the Authorized in English, or the Lutheran Version in German, but drafting freely upon other versions which clarify or give a more accurate rendering of the original. This has been the denominational practice through the years. And In this we have the inspired example, and therefore the indorsement, of Ellen G. White. Let no artificial issue be raised here.
L. E. F.
