The Work in the South

“Elmshaven”, Sanitarium, Cal.,

November 7, 1902.

I can not sleep after one o'clock. My mind is now clear in regard to matters about which I have been uncertain. I have been asking my heavenly Father to pardon me for looking to men, supposing that they must be wise. The Lord gave me warnings, which at first were presented to me in figures, but are now clearly opened before me. God has instructed me in regard to the work to be done in Nashville.SpM 269.5

In the past I have received much instruction regarding the work in the Southern field, and for years I have followed the work and workers with intense interest. This field, as it now is, stands as a reproach against those who claim to be fulfilling the commission that Christ gave His disciples just before His ascension.SpM 269.6

Recently the question was asked me by the Lord: “Will you do that which many of your ministering brethren would be only too pleased to see you doing? Will your voice no longer be heard presenting clearly and distinctly the needs of this long-neglected field? If so, you yourself will bear the reproach that rests on the minister and people who have not done for the Southern field the work He has given them to do, who have passed by on the other side those who are their neighbors, treating them indifferently and with cruel neglect.SpM 270.1

Oh, that the presidents of our Conferences would encourage the church members to take an active interest in the work in the South, and to do all in their power to wipe out the reproach resting upon Seventh-day Adventists because of the condition of this field. Our people are believers in the Bible, but they are pursuing a course that is bringing reproach upon themselves and upon the cause of God.SpM 270.2

There are ministers who have stood on Satan's side of this question, as men who do not desire to become interested in the work for the South. To those who were inclined to send help to the work in Nashville, they have talked their own unbelief so discouragingly that this place, which God has said plainly should have special advantages, has not received the help that it should have received. Over and over again, money that has been given to this field has been diverted into other channels. Thus is being repeated the mistake in the past in regard to the misappropriation of means. There are those who, instead of strengthening and sustaining the work in Nashville, have tried to tear it down by unjust criticism and evil surmisings. They have placed a mole close to the eye, and it has become to them a mountain. Nothing but it can they see. If they would remove this mole, as they could if they so desired, they would see the glory beyond. But will they do this, which would be an act of such mercy to themselves? They can not see the way in which the Lord regards their present attitude. They are picking at straws. They need not be as they are. Their condition depends on themselves. But they must submit to the will of God. Until they do this, the words spoken of Moab are applicable to them: “Moab... hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel; therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed.”SpM 270.3

There are many who have engaged in the work of gathering up titbits of evil, many who have made mountains out of molehills. Christ has told them plainly how He regards work of this kind. But they do not heed his holy instruction. Why? Because they do not will to do the will of God. They want to carry forward just the lines of work in which they themselves are interested, and they think that the means in hand should be used in these lines of work.SpM 270.4

The question was asked: “What influence are you bringing into the Lord's work by following such a course? You use time and money to impede the work already started. Might not this time and money be better employed? If you had striven to fulfill the commission given by Christ, if you had acted like sensible men, as Christ would have acted in their place, lines of work that would have glorified God might have been started and advanced in many places. But you have turned from the instruction given Christ.SpM 270.5

It is the Saviour's desire that unity and love and Christian fellowship shall prevail among His followers. The lesson that He gave his disciples in the fifth chapter of Matthew is the lesson that his disciples today are to spend their time in learning. Condemnation must follow a failure to learn this lesson. God can not cooperate with those who do not obey His teaching, who look upon their own way as better than His. The example of such ones is directly contrary to the lessons that God has given to aid His people in the formation of Christlike characters.SpM 271.1

Those who receive Christ as a personal Saviour, doing His work, and following His way, become members of the royal family. But there are many who, with the clearest evidence before them, are walking directly contrary to His instruction, following in the way of sinners. They do the very same work of accusation that open sinners are doing. In the place of being laborers together with God, washing their robes of character and making them white in the blood of the Lamb, that they may be representatives of the Saviour, setting in word and deed a Christlike example, they employ their faculties and powers in a way that the followers of Satan employ their faculties and powers. They think and speak evil. They spend time and money gathering together jot and titles of evil, and the mouth that ought to be employed in offering thanksgiving to God, is employed in reporting this evil. Many are engaged in Satan's work—worrying, finding fault, and accusing those who are trying to do the very work that they themselves ought to be doing. The talent of speech is used to destroy the confidence of believers in their brethren. And many Seventh-day Adventists stand before the world as fractious and fault-finding, instead of bound together by oneness with Christ.SpM 271.2