Copyright 1951, by

MINISTERIAL RECRUITING COMMISSION

All Rights Reserved

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THE WHITE-HOUSE RECRUITER

A-Bombs, Flying Saucers, World War III

A Post For Every Ministerial Graduate

By V. H. Jezreel, H.B.

Never did the clouds of war, so strange and so dark hang in an angry thunder-head over the world, and never did the world see itself as it does today. Everywhere, — in government, in industry, in halls of learning, in churches, in homes, on the streets — in every walk of life, the question uppermost is, Whitherbound mankind?-WHR 3.1

From pre-eminent scientific and journalistic spokesmen come such representative utterances as these:-WHR 3.2

“…What is the story of Man? It is that men die, Man survives. Now men are measurably nearer the most terrible of all the climaxes they have brought upon themselves in their long history of struggle. If the climax comes it will change life and change the world. But it will not end life, it will not destroy the world. In this utmost climax, or perhaps in its prospect, men may at last find the secret of peace and the way to live without destruction. That is a hope. The certainty is that Man will be on earth, making a world.” — Life, Oct. 3, 1949, p. 22.-WHR 3.3

“…Einstein…agrees…that other nations can rediscover our secret processes by themselves; that no military defense can be expected and preparedness is futile, that if another war breaks out, atom bombs will surely destroy civilization…-WHR 3.4

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“‘It is important,’ he went on to say, ‘to enlighten public opinion on the real situation about the bomb. Only the prevention of war by action on an international scale, which will make preparation for war unnecessary and even impossible, can save us from its consequences.'” — Newsweek, March 10 1947, p. 58.-WHR 4.1

“…History, in large areas of the world, has been rolled back. Fanaticism has replaced reason; terror, compromise; hate, friendship. Science, education, and philosophy, the vehicles of progress to Western man, have been perverted, distorted and retooled into weapons against civilization.” — John Edgar Hoover, in a report sent out by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.-WHR 4.2

“The First World War was a decided shock to the earlier period of optimism,… Today the shock is almost incredibly greater. Insecurity and strife are so general that the prevailing attitude is one of anxious and pessimistic uncertainty.” — John Dewey, Reconstruction in Philosophy, p. 8.-WHR 4.3

“There is only too much reason to fear that Western civilization, if not the whole world, is likely in the near future to go through a period of immense sorrow and suffering and pain…” — Bertrand Russel on the subject, “If We Are To Survive This Dark Time,” in the New York TIMES magazine, September 3, 1950.-WHR 4.4

“We have now arrived at the ultimate stage in history. What is ultimately required of us is required of us now… It is very late. Perhaps nothing can save us. But the handwriting on the wall is plain enough. It says to the people of earth, ‘Unite or die.'” — Dr. Robert M. Hutchins.-WHR 4.5

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“Everyone is agreed that an atomic war is world suicide, the no one can win. No scientist of repute doubts the fact that every country with an industrial capacity will have the atomic bomb in five years. We therefore have just five years to build for peace.” — Dr. Robert M. Hutchins, Chancellor of Chicago University, in Chicago Daily Tribune, March 26, 1946.-WHR 5.1

“There can be no doubt about the world crisis. We are living at one of those turning points of history which offers two roads, one of which leads to death and the other to life.-WHR 5.2

“The fact is, the H-bomb represents mankind’s final suicide triumph, the unlocking of the inmost secrets of nature for purposes of total destruction. It brings into absolute focus the failure of a materialistic civilization which has sought to organize its life apart from God.” — G. Ashton Oldham, formerly bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Albany, on “The World Crisis and the Future,” in the bulletin of the Church Peace Union for June.-WHR 5.3

“People are discovering a frightful queerness has come into life, even unobservant people are betraying, by fits and starts, a certain wonder, a shrinking, fugitive sense that something is happening so that life will never quite be the same.-WHR 5.4

“Spread out and examine the pattern of events and you will find yourself face to face with a new scheme of being hitherto unimaginable by the human mind….-WHR 5.5

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“Writers are convinced there is no way out, around or through the impasse. It’s the end.” — H.G. Wells, Los Angeles Examiner, October 21, 1945.-WHR 6.1

In the thoughtfully considered opinion of these eminent on-the-scene observers, this generation is at the zero hour of civilization. Whether we realize it or not, the day of doom is shortening its shadow, and we are face to face with the most momentous issues ever to confront a generation of men. Atomic warheads, lethal rockets, poison gas bacterial bombs, super-submarines boring through the mighty deeps, and supersonic aircraft stabbing through space above, — what mean these and other dread devices of destruction? What do these signs of the times portend for the Church and for all the world? Had the question flung itself at any generation in the days of God’s ancient prophets, then beyond doubt they would have answered: “As the Church lives, and as it is certain that God lives it would be impossible that He leave His people in darkness concerning the signs of their times.” And their answer must certainly be our answer, too. Moreover it is a self-evident fact that if we want to know, God will enable us to know the true meaning of these unprecedentedly destructive things.-WHR 6.2

From the outset this much is clearly manifest: If the super-bombs, superbombers, and superall import nothing else, they without question threaten civilization. A faint idea of the devastating and demoralizing consequences of their use is to be gained from the scene of aerial destruction depicted on the cover page.-WHR 6.3

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Manifest, too, is the certainty that Heaven has permitted these instruments of destruction to come in order to rouse Christendom, ministry and laity alike, to a concerted, enlightened, all-out action as the Lord leads ahead to save man from himself and from the Devil. Christianity failing this task, and leaving the world to save itself as best it can, the Enemy will ere long wipe out not only the knowledge of God and of salvation but also civilization itself. Indeed every open-eyed observer can distinctly see that while Heaven and earth wearily wait upon Christians to take the offensive against all unrighteousness, the power of evil is exerting an utterly sinister influence through Christless men and women such as bear the red torch of Communism.-WHR 7.1

Grim indeed, is the picture. And the stark peril of it hurls its challenge at Christendom as a whole. What shall we do about it? Close our eyes tight to it? or arise in the face of it, and be Noahs, Gideons, Davids, Elijahs, Daniels, Luthers, and all such with a faith to do something about it while the light still shines and while opportunity still remains us? Will we lay well to heart the tragic truth that “the sin of the world’s impenitence lies at the door of the church”? — The Great Controversy p. 389. Will we all accept the supreme annunciation, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14), as the supreme trust and duty of the Church more than of the State? Our country and the whole world need the Church, and God is waiting for her members, both laity and ministry, to “arise, shine.” Isa. 60:1.-WHR 7.2

Every Christian who truly knows that the gospel “is the power of God unto salvation,” knows that if the masses were converted to Christ, there would not, indeed could not, be any aggressive Communistic or other totalitarian power in the world, and therefore no such threat as militant Communism now presents to civilization. And every Christian also knows that there is no power on earth, other than “the sword of the Spirit,” that can cut off the head of the Goliath of today. What pity, then, and what recreancy to trust, should the Church not immediately lift from the shoulders of the State her own neglected part, which is the greater part, of the burden of peace-making, but continue to leave Government to bear the whole load and to do the best it can without Divine enlightenment and without power which only the Church can impart.-WHR 7.3

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In virtually pushing the church out of all Communist-dominated countries, the Enemy has already stolen a long and victorious march on her, and is now fiercely fighting to extend his victory to final triumph in pushing her from the very face of the earth. But there is yet hope if only she will in courageous loyalty respond to the Divine command now ringing forth to every defender of the faith:-WHR 8.1

“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” Isa. 60: 1-3.-WHR 8.2

In the power-crazed, rule-or-ruin, war-bent and hell-bent, self-destructive course of mankind, in the angry and catastrophic upheavals and out-breakings of the elements of nature, and in the cumulative fulfillment of the fast unfolding prophecies in the Word of God, the signs of the times thunder the warning appeal that we arise in God’s light and make haste to rescue His people from the ills which threaten to devastate the world. If such is not the Church’s great mission and duty at this crisis hour, what need, then, do the Lord and the world have of her? But what can the Church do unless her members, both lay and clerical, arise together as one man, and throw their all into the conflict?-WHR 8.3

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Well knowing as we do the answer to these urgent questions, what excuse will we have if we do not now arouse ourselves and all saints in Christendom along with us to do what the gospel commands us to do? Regardless how dramatic and impressive any demonstrations the church may put on, it is no secret that even if she is not pushed out of any place or country, still at her present pace of preaching the gospel of the Kingdom a temporal millennium will not suffice her in which to warn the world, finish the work, and bring the Kingdom in. And every enlightened mind knows this to be the inevitable truth.-WHR 9.1

Just look at the brute, predatory forces loose and lurking everywhere, and causing the whole earth to erupt with violence, tumult and terror. Verily, they are making “men’s hearts [to fail] them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth….” Luke 21:26. Will not all Christians everywhere be aroused by these things to “put on the whole armour of God” and to “take…the sword of the Spirit” (Eph. 6:11, 17) while following the Lord as He leads ahead? If not, then certain it is that the Church and the World as well are hopelessly doomed. To be sure, though, the few who do arouse to make the total surrender which the hour demands, God will save from, the conflagration to come.-WHR 9.2

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How, though, shall He deliver any one who fails to heed the signs of the times, the thunderings of the dread drums of Doom’s Day, now flashing in our eyes and rumbling in our ears with warning more awful than the flaming thunders of Sinai? No, He could no more deliver such spiritually blind, deaf, and dumb incurables than He could have delivered the antediluvians who failed to go into Noah’s ark.-WHR 10.1

And now what do the flying saucers add to the already grim picture? Whether they are earth-produced mechanisms or celestial, interplanetary space ships, they paint still grimmer the picture for the sinner.-WHR 10.2

One may he incredulous, another startled, at the thought of Heaven’s having flying saucers. But why? If God has given man knowledge to develop aerial mechanisms, no one can reasonably suppose that Heaven does not have incomparably superior ones. Let us not forget what covered a whole mountain in Elisha’s day (2 Kings 6:17). To be sure, Elisha called them chariots, but if they were not flying saucers of some type, how did they come to the earth? It matters not what one calls them, it’s what they are, and what they do, that counts.-WHR 10.3

Be they what they may, however, the signs round about us unmistakably warn that thick black clouds the globe around are consolidating to pour down upon a shelterless world the most terrific storm since time began. To all who have an ear to hear and an eye to see, the signs of the times reveal that we are fast coming face to face with the “time of trouble such as never was.” Dan. 12:1.-WHR 10.4

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A clear grasp of the terrible potential of the weapons now available, can leave no doubt of the global peril in the picture. Everyone of us knows that if the flying saucers are secret military weapons of the Unite States, then other nations besides ourselves will soon have them, too, if they do not have them already. If so, what then can they be designed for but to snuff out lives, even the lives of the elect, if possibIe?-WHR 11.1

And if the flying saucers are indeed the Lord’s, then what else are they come for but to deliver every one whose name is found written in the Book (Dan. 12:1), and to slay those who oppress them (Isa. 66:16)? Or if perchance none of Heaven’s are yet come, still nothing is more certain than that the day hasteth greatly when they will come. What is of first and supreme importance to each, however, is to know for a surety that his name is written in the Book. To have this most blessed assurance, one must first know what will keep one’s name out of the Book, and what will put it in.-WHR 11.2

One of the many things that will keep one’s name out of the Book of God, is one’s turning a deaf ear to the Lord’s warning that he who puts his hand to the plow, then looks back (he who starts in the gospel work, then turns away from it) is not “fit for the Kingdom.” Luke 9:62. The fact is that all who have graduated from ministerial colleges have already put their hand to the plow. Will they now turn back? We devoutly hope not.-WHR 11.3

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To us (Seventh-day Adventists) in particular, the meaning of what we see around us should be window-clear, making manifest that the time has now come for every church member to engage in proclaiming the Three Angels’ Messages. There are, moreover, thousands of pastoral posts now waiting to be filled by both graduates and undergraduates of Seventh-day Adventist ministerial colleges. So let no one with such qualification any longer be found either standing idle or engaging in secular occupation while the Lord’s work languishes and watts.-WHR 12.1

At this very hour millions without hope are wasting and withering away, perishing in the fields of sin, and on the fields of battle, because no one has won them to Christ with the everlasting gospel. Who will go for them? Who has the vision, the heart, and the will to go out in the rescue of humanity for Christ? For all college graduates, undergraduates, and Bible workers who have the ability and the will to equip themselves for the work, both the opportunity for service and the means for upkeep and traveling expenses are ready and waiting. Hence there are no grounds for an “I pray thee have me excused.” Luke 14:18. Inspiration’s appeal, “Arise and shine,” is to every soul. Will you not respond, Brethren? Will you not earnestly pray for yourselves and for other laborers to help gather in the precious golden grain? Or will you fail in this unforgiving responsibility, and forfeit this most lofty privilege?-WHR 12.2

The issue is of greatest gravity. Christ foreknow it would; be, and in supreme concern He projected it in the crowning lesson of His parable of the vineyard. Now that time has come to the last parabolical hour, He has set the parable ablaze with light. To be progressive as Truth Itself is, let us look deeper into the parable now while the light of God is shining on it:-WHR 12.3

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“For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into His vineyard. And when He had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, He sent them into His vineyard. And He went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said undo them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. Again He went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour He went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto Him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.” Matt. 20:1 -7.-WHR 13.1

How can we know for a certainty in which hour we find ourselves, and if our own call to service has come? We can know only by establishing the time in which the last parabolic hour expires. And to do this we must first establish the time of the first call for servants, then in turn the time of each successive call, culminating with the last. First, though, pursuant to this end, we must bring into focus the parable’s significant points:-WHR 13.2

(1) The “Householder,” as every Bible student knows, is the Lord Himself. (2) The Laborers are His servants. (3) The penny is their reward. (4) His vineyard is the place where they are to labor. (5) The day is parabolical — representing a period of time which is illuminated by some great light. (6) The period of labor is both preceded and succeeded by a night — else there could be no “early” and no “late” part of the day. (7) The Householder hires laborers at five different times. (8) There are four three-hour periods. (9) In each of the first three periods, only one group is hired. (10) In the fourth and last period of three hours, two groups are hired. (11) The agreement for a penny a day is made only with the first group. (12) The other groups are to receive “whatsoever is right.” (13) At the day’s end all are given the same pay — a penny, even through the last worked only an hour. (14) The first were paid last; the last, first.-WHR 13.3

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Now to find out in which hour we are told, “Go ye also,” we must here at the outset of this go-to-work study, determine where in time the parable begins and where it ends. To gain this vital knowledge is simply to reckon with the sequentially amplifying facts that the parabolical night which preceded the parabolical day must necessarily be the period before the spiritual “Light of the world,” the Bible, came up — before the light of the Scriptures, the written Word of God, began to shine forth into the hearts of men. For back there, it must be remembered, the will of God was transmitted, not by the Bible, but orally from father to son, just as the light of the sun at night is transmitted to the earth by the moon, rather than directly by the sun itself. For this reason it has come to be regarded as the time of oral tradition.-WHR 14.1

But the day of labor obviously represents the period in which “the Light of the world,” the Bible Itself, lightens man’s path. Thus it is that in His parable, the Master, the Lord of the vineyard, regards the Old and New Testament dispensations as the only day period of all probationary time, in which He goes to the market-place at five consecutive times to hire servants to work in His vineyard.-WHR 14.2

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Finally, the night following the day can only represent the period after the gospel work is finished, after probation for man’s salvation is closed. Then, as the “Light of the world” (the Word of God) sinks beyond the horizon of the day, darkness covers “the earth, and gross darkness the people.” Isa. 60:2. It is the time which finds the destiny of every being forever fixed. Then follows the Lord’s irrevocable finality:-WHR 15.1

“He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.” Rev. 22:11.-WHR 15.2

It is the time when men “shall run to and fro to seek the Word of the Lord, and shall not find It” (Amos 8:12); the time when the unmindful of the Master’s call, and the impenitent of sin realize and cry out in frenzied and agonized despair: “The harvest is past, and the summer is ended, and we are not saved”20.-WHR 15.3

The truth is now become clear that the parable divides the time of salvation into two equal parts of twelve symbolical hours each — the period before the Bible (the night), and the period during the Bible (the day). Lending additional force to the fact that the parable thus divides time, Jesus declares:-WHR 15.4

“Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the Light of this world.” John 11:9.-WHR 15.5

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Proceeding now, we come to another point of special significance: the first four groups were hired at consecutive intervals three parabolical hours apart; whereas the fifth, the last group, the one hired at the eleventh hour, came only two, instead of three, hours later than the fourth group, and thus only one parabolical hour before the day’s end — shortly before probation closes.-WHR 16.1

This two-hour period, from the ninth hour to the eleventh hour, is a singularity which comes as a climactic exception to the master pattern of sequential and regular three-hour intervals between calls. It obviously reveals that the last call comes unexpectedly and surprisingly within the period of the ninth-hour group. Hence there are only two parabolical hours for the one group, and only one parabolical hour for the other group.-WHR 16.2

To determine the identity of the laborers participating in each of the five different calls, we necessarily begin our quest with THE SERVANTS OF THE FIRST CALL:-WHR 16.3

We have already seen that it is the Bible, the spiritual “Light of the world,” that makes the parabolical day. We all know, moreover, that the Bible arrived with the Exodus movement also the since the arrival, the Lord never bargained, as it were with another people, and that they were the only ones to whom He ever committed the ceremonial covenants and all their rewards and promises. Inescapably, therefore, the first group of the parable, those who went to labor “early in the morning,” at the rising of the spiritual light, the Bible, and with whom the bargain was made to receive a penny a day, were ancient Israel as they were going out of Egypt, the time of which was early in the parabolical day. In concord the Spirit of Prophecy declares:-WHR 16.4

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“The Jews had been first called into the Lord’s vineyard….” -Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 400.-WHR 17.1

At that early hour, as God began to indite the Scriptures (as the Light that lightens the hearts of men began to rise), “He…remembered His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations. Which covenant He made with Abraham, and His oath unto Isaac, and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant.” Ps. 105:8-10.-WHR 17.2

Having thus by the first call for servants solidly established the time in which the parabolical go-to-work calls started, we are now to ascertain the call-time and work-period of THE SERVANTS OF THE SECOND CALL:-WHR 17.3

The second group, those sent at the third parabolical hour, must necessarily be the ones who were called to the work next. And they were, of course, the early Christians. Significantly enough, too, the Lord was crucified at the third hour of the day (Mark 15:25), and likewise Pentecost came at the third hour of the day (Acts 2:15).-WHR 17.4

Another point of significance of which we should take note is the fact that the messages borne by these first two groups, by ancient Israel and by the early Christians, were not of a reformatory nature; they were not old, forgotten truths in process of revival and restoration; rather each was a new revelation, “meat in due season” — present Truth especially adapted fully to meet the needs of the people in their respective times. The former group were inspired and commissioned to teach and practice the truths of salvation as embodied in the ceremonial system, the latter group were inspired and commissioned to teach and practice the same immutable truths in their advanced light-advanced from typical to antitypical representation, from the ministration in the earthly tabernacle to the ministration in the heavenly one; that is, from the sacrifice of a lamb of the flock to the sacrifice of Christ Himself, the Lamb of God. Thus the latter group taught the old truths in a new and original light, in the light of the gospel — that Christ was crucified for the remission of sin, resurrected in triumph over sin and death, and ascended to make atonement and reconciliation for the penitent sinner, not in an earthly, but in an heavenly, tabernacle.-WHR 17.5

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Since the messages of the first two groups (the one carried by the Exodus Movement, and the other carried by the Christians) were each in their respective times fresh from glory, that fact logically establishes itself as Divine precedent and pattern for all the messages of the parable. Accordingly, each of the three remaining groups must likewise be entrusted with a message of new and distinctive revelation, of “meat in due season” — truth adapted especially and fully to meet the needs of God’s people at the time then present. Therefore we need only to trace down through the annals of church history the unfolding of the scroll, till we come upon a newly and originally revealed and proclaimed truth subsequent to the message of the first advent of Christ It must point out THE SERVANTS OF THE THIRD CALL:-WHR 18.1

The Protestant Reformation, being purely an endeavor to restore old, down-trodden truths, and not to reveal new, advanced ones, had no new message of its own – nothing that had not already been taught in times past. It therefore follows that the third group and message must be sought during the years following the Reformation.-WHR 18.2

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The only revelation of new prophetic truth, subsequent to the Reformation, is the announcement of the year in which was to begin the work of cleansing the sanctuary, primarily in behalf of the dead (based on Daniel 8:14, but not then fully understood). As its announcement was made by the First-day Adventists, it necessarily follows that they were the third group of servants with a new and distinctive message. And as is well known, they started proclaiming it in the year 1833, announcing that the cleansing of the sanctuary was to commence in the year 1844. Thus in 1833 the clock of parabolic time struck the hour of six.-WHR 19.1

The statement, “Again He went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise,” in speaking of the two calls, not singly, as in the cases of the two preceding calls, but conjointly, shows that the “sixth hour” message and servants were to be closely related to and associated with the message and with THE SERVANTS OF THE FOURTH CALL:-WHR 19.2

So it was that the sixth-hour group and message, that of the First-day Adventists, and the ninth-hour group and message, that of the Seventh-day Adventists, fused into one because the message of the former was in itself Divinely designed to bring the message of the latter to light. Moreover, as soon as the terminus of the prophetic “2300 days” (Daniel 8:14) was reached in October, 1844, just then Daniel 8:14; Daniel 7:9, 10; Daniel 12:10-12, along with Revelation 14:6, 7 (the First Angel’s Message in its primary phase), were first proclaimed by the Seventh-day Adventists’ “saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” Rev. 14:7.-WHR 19.3

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Thus the Seventh-day Adventists in 1844 began to proclaim what they termed “the investigative judgment of the dead,” which in Scriptural terms is the casting out of those who have not the wedding garment on (Matt. 22:11 – 13), the shutting out of the five foolish virgins (Matt. 25:10), the dividing of the sheep and goats (Matt. 25:32, 33), the separating of the bad “fish” from the good “fish” (Matt. 13:48) — each of these among the dead. Synonymously, they rightly understood it to be “the antitypical day of atonement” — the day in which are removed from the Books in Heaven the names of those who in closing their life’s career failed to attain eligibility to come up in the first resurrection, in the resurrection of the holy ones (Rev. 20:5, 6), All these aspects are comprehended in the words: “Then shall the Sanctuary be cleansed.” Dan. 8:14.-WHR 20.1

As the cleansing of the Sanctuary in behalf of the dead is necessarily purely a book transaction, that is the reason for its taking place only in the Heavenly Sanctuary. Hence, the names of the ineligible for the “first resurrection” are screened from the names of the eligible ones That Heaven’s books deal with all aspects of life is evident from Ps. 56:8; 69:28; 139:16, Dan. 12:1; Mal. 3:16; Phil. 4:3; Rev. 3:5, etc. Hence, prophecy reveals that when “the judgment was set,…the books were opened.” Dan. 7:10.-WHR 20.2

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As the judgment-hour message is of a character and importance singular in all church history; also as it is the only prophetic message to sound subsequent to the sixth-hour message; nothing can be more certain than that as it went forth in 1844 for the first time, God’s parabolic timepiece then struck nine.-WHR 21.1

Consequently the ninth-hour group in the parable can be none other than the Seventh-day Adventists, who were then on foot to proclaim that “the judgment was set, and the book; were opened” (Dan. 7: 10), and that any one who then, during the antitypical Day of Atonement for the dead, should be found among the dead with his sins unconfessed (his soul not afflicted, and without the wedding garment on) would be “cut off from among his people.” Matt. 22:11-13; Lev. 23:29. In brief, the message declared that the separation in the congregation of the dead had then begun.-WHR 21.2

Now that for the first time the parable is ablaze with light none but the eye that is hopelessly gone out in dungeon darkness can fail to see distinctly that the message with which we Seventh-day Adventists were entrusted in 1844, at the ninth hour, is not the eleventh-hour message, not the message of the judgment of the living, but rather only of the judgment of the dead.-WHR 21.3

As prospective servants of God, let each here, at this focal point of the parable, pause a moment to fix firmly in mind its all-important lesson as brought out in the following illustration:-WHR 21.4

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The next decisive point of truth is that the judgment of the dead was to be proclaimed to “many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.” Rev. 10:11. Mark the word “many.” It never means “all,” and never means “every.” Since this verse of scripture foretells the expansion of the ninth-hour group and message, it will highly repay each one carefully to examine what Revelation 10:11 says on the subject. You dare not add to the Word nor subtract from It. Then compare it with the scriptures to follow, foretelling the expansion of the eleventh-hour group and message, and you will have the whole truth in reference to the finishing of the work.-WHR 22.1

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Now that the time has finally come for the Lord to recruit His eleventh-hour servants, this priceless parable is unfolded, and for the first time it is plainly seen that whereas the judgment of the dead was to be proclaimed to many nations and people, the judgment of the living is to be proclaimed to all nations and to every people on earth. Here is what Inspiration Itself says:-WHR 23.1

“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” Rev. 14:6, 7.-WHR 23.2

That the servants of the eleventh-hour call — those who “escape,” who are not “cut off” (Lev. 23:29) while “the house of God” is being judged (1 Pet. 4:17), the event which signalizes the commencement of the judgment of the living, world-wide — are to he sent to all nations, Inspiration attests through the prophet Isaiah:-WHR 23.3

“For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with His chariots like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many…. And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard My fame, neither have seen My glory; and they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles. And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules and upon swift beasts, to My holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord” Isa. 66:15, 16, 19, 20.-WHR 23.4

-23-

With these solemn words the Lord warns that the slaughter (the antitypical Passover — Testimonies, Vol. 5, pp. 505, 211; Testimonies, Vol. 1, pp. 190, 198) is to take place among those who are of the household of God, the church, for the escaped ones are sent to the Gentiles who as yet have not heard of God’s fame and His glory. Obviously the angels who execute this slaughter are to take away from the church the unrighteous — those who are figuratively depicted in one instance as bad “fish” and in another instance as “guests” not having “the wedding garment” on.-WHR 24.1

Here, let every serious-minded reader pause to ponder what Inspiration says: Isa. 66:19 and 20 explain that those who escape the slaughter of Isa. 66:15 and 16, are to be sent as missionaries to the Gentiles, who as yet know not God. Hence these escaped (remaining) ones are God’s remnant, His first fruits of the harvest, His guileless servants, the 144,000 — the elect. And only they, none others, the Scriptures declare, shall bring all their brethren from all nations, is a clean vessel, into the purified house of the Lord — His White House. What is more, no right-thinking mind can even begin to conceive of the possibility that with any less holy and formidable an agency than such a mighty ministry — one escaped from sin, sinners, and judgment — can and will the Lord ever “finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness” (Rom. 9:28), thereby saving His people from the terrible tempest that is now about to break upon the earth and last it length and breadth.-WHR 24.2

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Satan grimly knows this. He knows his time is short and growing fearfully shorter. He knows that this faithful ministry are soon to be disclosed to view, and to take the field against him. He knows that will be his Waterloo. Hence his supreme effort now to eliminate them. Finding out at last, though, that he cannot do so, his consequent aim will be to bring the time of trouble such as never was (Dan. 12:1), in hope of destroying all.-WHR 25.1

It was a similar mass-murder method that he employed in the days of Pharaoh, in his drowning the Hebrew male children (Ex. 1:22), in hope of doing away with Moses, and again in the days of Herod, in his fiendishly slaying all the infants “from two years old and under” (Matt. 2:16), in hope of doing away with Christ. But as God spared His own then, He will likewise spare His own today: Michael, the great Prince and Deliverer, shall stand up (Dan. 12:1) for all who stand up for Him, and whose names consequently are retained in the Book of Life, and shall gloriously deliver them. These two aspects of the conflict — Satan’s aim to destroy God’s elect and Michael’s aim to deliver them — bring “the great and dreadful day of the Lord.-WHR 25.2

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Although the newly revealed light of Truth now shining on the subject is new to all of us, it is not, of course, new in the Bible. To keep us wide awake and on the alert to progressive unfoldment of Truth, the Spirit of God has through the years signaled our attention in the ensuing statements:-WHR 26.1

“Wonderful possibilities are open to those who lay hold of the divine assurances of God’s word. There are glorious truths to come before the people of God. Privileges and duties which they do not even suspect to be in the Bible will be laid open before them. As they follow on in the path of humble obedience, doing His will, they will know more and more of the oracles of God.” — Testimonies, Vol. 8, p. 322.-WHR 26.2

“We talk about the first angel’s message and the second angel’s message, and we think we have some understanding of the third angel’s message. But as long as we are content with a limited knowledge, we shall be disqualified to obtain clearer views of truth.” — Gospel Workers, p. 251.-WHR 26.3

“There is yet much precious truth to be revealed to the people in this time of peril and darkness, but it is Satan’s determined purpose to prevent the light of truth from shining into the hearts of men…. Precious truths that have long been in obscurity are to be revealed in a light that will make manifest their sacred worth; for God will glorify His Word, that it may appear in a light in which we have never before beheld it.” — Testimonies On Sabbath School Work, p. 62; Counsels On Sabbath School Work, p. 25.-WHR 26.4

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“…We need never expect that when the Lord has light for His people, Satan will stand calmly by, and make no effort to prevent them from receiving it. He will work upon minds to excite distrust and jealousy and unbelief. Let us beware that we do not refuse the light God sends, because it does not come in a way to please us. Let not God’s blessing be turned away from us because we know not the time of our visitation. If there are any who do not see and accept the light themselves, let them not stand in the way of others. Let it not be said of this highly favored people, as of the Jews when the good news of the kingdom was preached to them, ‘They entered not in themselves, and them that were entering in they hindered.'” — Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 728.-WHR 27.1

The prophecies, we all know, are Heaven’s light to our feet. If we fail to open our eyes and hearts to them at the time the Lord would have us profit by the unrolling of the Scroll, how then shall we escape being like the blind leading the blind?-WHR 27.2

Brethren, for your soul’s sake, do not pass lightly over this life-and-death matter, for, as you have seen, the light shining on the subject illuminates the fact that subsequent to the ninth-hour group and message, there were first to come an addition to the message, then sealed servants — the all-consequential message of the judgment of the living, and the all-powerful servants, “the escaped” ones, who are to go to “all nations,” rather than only to “many.” Initial assurance that there was to be an addition to the Third Angel’s Message, came to us long ago in the following words:-WHR 27.3

“I saw angels hurrying to and fro in heaven, descending to the earth, and again ascending to heaven, preparing for the fulfillment of some important event. Then I saw another mighty angel commissioned to descend to the earth, to unite his voice with the third angel, and give power and force to his message…. This message seemed to be an addition to the third message, joining it as the midnight cry joined the second angel’s message in 1844.” — Early Writings, p. 277.-WHR 27.4

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Plainly then, it is the eleventh-hour servants, with the additional message, the message of the judgment of the living, who rescue God’s people out of Babylon. Indeed never until the Church herself has been freed from the hypocrites and the abominable, and thus made white and clean, can God morally pour out His Spirit in pentecostal power upon His people, and sound the cry: “Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Rev. 18:4.-WHR 28.1

Note that the Voice which calls God’s people out of Babylon, clearly implies that there is no sin in the place to which the Voice calls them. Moreover, there could be no justification in calling them out of Babylon, to save them from the plagues which are to overtake her because of her sins, if the called-out ones are to be brought into another place of sin. The wages of sin could be no more or no less damaging in one place of sin than in another.-WHR 28.2

From these now unfolding scriptures it is plainly seen, too, that the message of the judgment of the living is Heaven’s final edition of glad tidings for the saints, and of sad tidings for the sinners. Hence it is to be proclaimed by guileless servants, the 144,000 — THE SERVANTS OF THE ELEVENTH HOUR:-WHR 28.3

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Thus far, the fact stands out that this final call comes at the last hour of the parabolical day, just before the gospel work closes. Being the last message of mercy to the world, and also the last call for servants, it must therefore be borne by Elijah the prophet, by him who appears just before “the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” Mal. 4:5; Matt. 17:11. Accordingly, the servants of the eleventh hour must be called to the work by him during the time he is announcing the day of the Lord, the day in which the Lord takes His fan in His hand (Matt. 3:12; Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 80; Testimonies To Ministers, p. 373), and purges “His floor” — blows away the chaff and burns the tares. Once He puts the wheat into His “barn” (Matt. 13:30), into His Kingdom-church, it ever remains without tares, and hence “a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but…holy and without blemish.” Eph. 5:27. God’s White House indeed1, Joel 3:17, and Nahum 1:15.)-WHR 29.1

In other parabolic terms, the “great and dreadful day of the Lord” is His casting out the bad “fish” and putting “the good into vessels.” Matt. 13:47, 48. It is the day in which He sets “the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.” Matt. 25:33. It is the judgment day of the living, the cleansing of the sanctuary on earth — the work which purifies the church and makes it “white” (Dan. 12:10; Mal. 3:1-3).-WHR 29.2

True, we Seventh-day Adventists, have heretofore not known and not taught these additional aspects of the Judgment, but only because Truth is ever timely, ever unfolding as time goes on. So it is that our knowledge of one phase of a message is followed by God’s revealing another phase of it. How glad and how anxious, then, ought we to be to keep pace with the unfolding of the Scroll, as we keep pace with time. And how joyous we should be to know that God has not forsaken us, but has again “visited His flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as His goodly horse in the battle.” Zech. 10:3.-WHR 29.3

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Now that Time and Truth have locked arms and are hastening on together, we must quickly take hold and follow on, too. We cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of the Jews and of the nominal churches, and thus be left behind (Counsels On Sabbath School Work, pp. 28-30; Testimonies, Vol. 5 p. 728). We dare not. We must not.-WHR 30.1

The terms inspect, cleanse, purify, cut off, cast out, judge, harvest, and separate, etc., are now seen to be general synonyms, all pointed to one event — the Lord’s coming to “His temple” (church) to purify His living saints. This work He has variously illustrated: first, as separating of the tares from among wheat (Matt. 13:30); next as separating of bad fish from among good (Matt. 13:48); then, as separating of sheep from among goats (Matt. 25:32); again, as casting out those who fail to put on the wedding garment (Matt. 22:12, 13); and last, as casting from the guest chamber (the church) those who fail to multiply the talents given them (Matt. 25:28-30). This variously depicted judicial work (the controlling concept in Christ’s parables of the Kingdom), the Lord likens to a “refiner’s fire,” to “fullers’ sope,” and to a “purifier of silver.” Mal. 3:2, 3.-WHR 30.2

So it is clear to be seen that the spiritual “harvest” is exactly like the natural harvest — both separate their grain from the tares and the chaff, the good from the bad. In the words of Daniel, it is “the judgment,” or the time when “the Sanctuary” shall “be cleansed” (Dan. 8: 14); in the words of the Apostle Peter, it is “judgment….at the house of God” (1 Pet. 4:17); in the words of John the Revelator, it is “the hour of His judgment” (Rev. 14:7); and in the words of the prophet Malachi, it is “the great and dreadful day of the Lord” (Mal. 4:5): “the Lord…suddenly come to His temple” (His church) to refine as with “fire,” to wash as with “fullers’ sope,” and to “purge…as gold and silver” “the sons of Levi” (Mal. 3:1-3) — the priests of the Sanctuary during the eleventh hour.-WHR 30.3

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With well over two billion mortals ripe or ripening in the great harvest field, we may well consider the greatness of the harvest. The Lord Himself affirms: “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few.” Matt. 9:37. Most dreadful, though, are its consequences for the tares and the chaff, when the realization that they are lost sweeps over them, and in horror they cry out: “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved20.-WHR 31.1

Thus adding evidence to evidence, the Scriptures overwhelmingly show the harvest to be the judgment of the living, the Lord’s gathering the “wheat,” His own, from among all nations, and His destroying the tares and the chaff. The harvest therefore, is truly “the end of the world.” It is the time in which the Lord sits “upon the throne of His glory” (the church purified — Matt. 25:31; Isa. 62:1-3; 66:18, 19). It is His separating the sheep from the goats — the work that brings this sinful world to an end.-WHR 31.2

Let us not, however, forget that there is an enemy who is determined to keep God’s people in darkness, in ignorance of timely Truth. (See Testimonies, Vol. 5, pp. 709, 728). And what more damaging darkness could he seek to keep them in than in ignorance of that which God would have them to know while their judgment is pending, while they are being weighed in the balances of the Sanctuary? None, absolutely none.-WHR 31.3

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Consequently it is to be expected that now, more than ever before, all of us are to meet with the fiercest opposition. So called great men, having not so much even as a spark of Divine light, will, acting like mad men, hastily spread confusion everywhere. This they will do by engendering prejudice, by exalting baseless theories, by fabricating and propagating falsehood, by hurling scorn and ridicule, by mongering gossip and hearsay, and by engaging in character assassination. But none of this will phase those whose fortress is the Lord, and who heed His priceless, precious, inspiring counsel in the following passages:-WHR 32.1

“…Do not be unbelieving. The more you are jostled, misapprehended, misstated, misrepresented, the more evidence you have that you are doing a work for the Master, and the more closely you must cling to your Saviour.” — Testimonies, Vol. 8, p. 130.-WHR 32.2

“All who in that evil day would faithfully serve God according to the dictates of conscience, will need courage, firmness, and a knowledge of God and His word; for those who are true to God will be persecuted, their motives will be impugned, their best efforts misinterpreted, and their name cast out as evil.” — Gospel Workers, p. 264.-WHR 32.3

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“‘The wrath of man shall praise Thee,’ says the psalmist; ‘the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain.’ God means that testing truth shall be brought to the front, and become a subject of examination and discussion, even if it is through the contempt placed upon it. The minds of the people must be agitated. Every controversy, every reproach, every slander, will be God’s means of provoking inquiry, and awakening minds that otherwise would slumber.” — Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 453.-WHR 33.1

Everything that can be done against God’s message of today will be done with even a greater vengeance than was manifest against Heaven’s message in the days of Christ’s first advent, for the Devil knows that if he loses now, he loses forever — that he is to have no other chance. Unparalleled, therefore, is the urgency that every eleventh-hour church member now quickly and solidly brace himself against the Enemy’s effort to deliver a knockout blow. We must be alert, too, to realize that the blow is to come from surprisingly unsuspected foes — from professed friends of the gospel, who are no less pious than were priests in Christ’s day. It is, moreover, but to be expected that the Adversary will employ every agency possible to prevent the Lord from disclosing to view His now obscure 144,000 first-fruit servants, who are to go gather in the second fruits (Rev. 7:9). The Enemy will try everything conceivable to confuse, becloud, and cover up the Truth, especially on the subject of the 144,000.-WHR 33.2

These 144,000 “servants of God,” being the first increment of the harvest, are called “firstfruits.” And as all of them are “of all the tribes of the children of Israel” (Rev. 7:4), they are therefore necessarily harvested from the Israel of today — the Church Itself. Whereas the great multitude which no man can number, are gathered subsequently from “all nations” (Rev. 7:9) over whom the harlot, Babylon the Great, then reigns. Her reigning is symbolically shown by her riding (ruling) the scarlet colored beast — the next and last symbol of this world (Rev. 17; 18:1-4). These called-out ones are unmistakably the second fruits: for the law of number is that for there to be a first, there must follow a second.-WHR 33.3

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So, through the medium of the 144,000 first-fruit servants, the eleventh-hour ministry, the Spirit of God will cause the Three Angels’ Messages to swell to a Loud Cry during the harvest, and will “garner in the sheaves of good from the fields of sin” all nations over — that great multitude of second fruits who have not as yet heard of God’s fame nor seen His glory (Isa. 66:19, 20). What an august privilege, Brethren Would not he who would scorn it for whatever, deserve to die a beggar by the bargain?-WHR 34.1

With the completed judgment-message during the eleventh hour, the angels are to separate the people of God from the people of the world. And precisely this, Inspiration long ago declared:-WHR 34.2

“I then saw the third angel. Said my accompanying angel, ‘Fearful is his work. Awful is his mission. He is the angel that is to select the wheat from the tares, and seal, or bind, the wheat for the heavenly garner. These things should engross the whole mind, the whole attention.'” — Early Writings, p. 118.-WHR 34.3

Consequently, all who respond to the Spirit’s call now at this late hour will acutely realize that they have no time to waste on getting and spending and laying waste their powers; no time to waste on anything. Their only goal will be to finish the task assigned them by Him Who calls them, to go to work in His vineyard. They will be fully conscious that there is a city prepared for them, a city whose builder and maker is God, and that ere long, therein, their whole being shall thrill to the triumphant acclaim:-WHR 34.4

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“The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people. Gather My saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare His righteousness: for God is judge Himself. Selah.” Ps. 50:1-6.-WHR 35.1

“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. God is known in her palaces for a refuge. For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together. They saw it, and so they marveled; they were troubled, and hasted away. Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail. Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind. As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever. Selah.-WHR 35.2

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“We have thought of Thy loving-kindness, O God, in the midst of Thy temple. According to Thy name, O God, so is Thy praise unto the ends of the earth: Thy right hand is full of righteousness. Let Mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of Thy judgments. Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following. For this God is our God for ever and ever: He will be our guide even unto death.” Ps. 48:1-14.-WHR 36.1

Because time and the gospel are at their climatic hour, and the work is consequently of transcendent scope, expansion, and importance, yet of exceeding short duration, God has inspired man to invent and build time and labor-saving, wonder-working, earth-mastering, tools and machinery of all kinds — marvels which would have staggered the imagination and beggared the credulity of former generations, notwithstanding that centuries aforehand “the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity” (Isa. 57:15), declared: “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” Dan. 12:4.-WHR 36.2

The fact that this parable of the Kingdom thus stands fully open to view now for the first time since Christ uttered it, is indisputable evidence in itself that the stroke of the eleventh hour is about to be heard even to the four points of the compass. This event will signalize the great fact that His last group of servants are “disclosed to view” to the whole world. Glorious disclosure-WHR 36.3

How does this Truth find the Laodiceans, the last of the “seven churches” in which are commingled the wheat and the tares, the sheep and the goats, the good fish and the bad? Alas, in an attitude of self-complacency, imagining themselves rich and in need of nothing, whereas in tragic truth the Lord emphatically declares that they are “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” — in need of everything: and yet unwitting of their perilously povertied plight (Rev. 3:14-18). They are even destitute of the knowledge that the judgment of the living, not of the dead, is the last message, and that only those who give ear to the eleventh-hour call are to be spared in the separation, and to make up the last group of servants with the last message. How hitherto blind all of us Laodiceans. How accurate the Lord’s diagnosis. How grave the condition. Let all of us immediately, therefore, the more earnestly ask ourselves the solemn question:-WHR 36.4

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When finally the judgment passes from the dead to the living, thus outmoding by expiration the initial phase of the First Angel’s Message (the judgment of the dead), what timely Truth will the church then have for herself and for the world? What, indeed, if she does not now accept and practice the message of very present Truth, the final phase of the First Angel’s Message, which is presently announcing the stealthy approach of judgment upon the living, and which is knocking at each heart’s door?-WHR 37.1

Tragically, those who now fail to fill their vessels (Matt. 25:1-4) with this extra oil (the additional truth — that of the judgment of the living) flowing from the golden bowl (Zech. 4) will finally see their lamps flicker out forever like a gutted candle. O, in what consternation then will they search for the precious golden oil But, alas, then like Esau, though they seek it “carefully with tears,” they shall find “no place of repentance”: they purchase their oil too late. The door is closed when they reach it. And to their frantic knocking at it comes the terrifying reply, “I never knew you.” Matt. 7:23. Then is the harvest of the first-fruits past, the fruits garnered in, and the tares shut out unto destruction, there in agony to wail and to gnash their teeth: “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” Jer. 8:20.-WHR 37.2

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“The time of the Judgment is a most solemn period, when the Lord gathers His own from among the tares. Those who have been members of the same family are separated. A mark is placed upon the righteous.” — Testimonies To Ministers, p. 234.-WHR 38.1

“…The pure ore and the dross will no longer commingle.” — Testimonies To Ministers, p. 236.-WHR 38.2

“…The church is to be fed with manna from heaven, and to be kept under the sole guardianship of His grace. Clad in complete armor of light and righteousness, she enters upon her final conflict. The dross, the worthless material, will be consumed, and the influence of the truth testifies to the world of its sanctifying, ennobling character….” — Testimonies To Ministers, p. 17, 18.-WHR 38.3

To safeguard from corruption His “jewels” (Mal. 3:17) while making them up, He sets them in a House white and clean, apart from the counterfeit ones — the hypocrites. This He does as the parabolical day draws to its close. Consequently, the eleventh-hour servants are the first to receive their reward — the “penny.” They live on to meet their God: to hear Him speak unto them the thrilling commendation, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant:…enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” Matt. 25:21. “And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the Lord, we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” Isa. 25:9. Whereas the servants of the previous calls wait in the grave to come forth at the resurrection day to join the living in this transporting, antiphonal chorus, and to receive their penny pay — eternal life. Thus “the last shall be first, and the first last” (Matt. 20:16) — the last group, the servants of the eleventh hour, paid first, and the servants of the previous hours paid last.-WHR 38.4

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All who have perused these pages to this point, have surely become aware of the fact that even this very restricted representation of the “additional message” — that of the judgment of the living — gives, in itself, tremendous “power and force” to the Three Angels’ Messages (Early Writings, p. 277). But in what way is it to give absolute power and force to them? — First by bringing to light the heretofore unrevealed aspects of the Judgment, and then subsequently by freeing God’s people from both sin and sinners, thereby bringing into existence the long-looked-for purified church “that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners.” — Song of Solomon 6:10; Prophets and Kings, p. 725. A veritable powerhouse indeed-WHR 39.1

Thus “clad in complete armor of light and righteousness, she enters upon her final conflict,” “polished to shine as an emblem of heaven, radiating in all directions the bright, clear beams of the Sun of Righteousness.” — Testimonies to Ministers, p. 17. “This is the glory of God, which closes the work of the third angel.” — Testimonies, Vol. 6, p. 19.-WHR 39.2

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These challenging facts are, of course, a mighty rebuke to those who may have long neglected their God-given duty to educate both ministry and laity to expect, watch for, and upon sight gladly welcome the “additional message,” that of the eleventh hour. Had they been faithful to their trust, they would now recognize the message that is knocking at their door, as that long-awaited one, and would know it is the one variously designated: (1) the judgment of the living, (2) the harvest, (3) the great and dreadful day of the Lord, (4) the loud cry (as the message lightens the earth with the glory of Christ’s righteousness beaming from the 144,000 guileless servants of God). And, accordingly, they would know that it is thus that the Lord will sift the nations (Isa. 30:28), “finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness.” Rom. 9:28.-WHR 40.1

But despite their dereliction of duty and consequent blindness, Inspiration is anxiously endeavoring to alert them to what it long ago faithfully forewarned:-WHR 40.2

“…The time past has shown that both teachers and students know very little in regard to the awful truths which are living issues for this time. Should the third angel’s message be proclaimed in all lines to many who stand as educators, it would not be understood by them.” — Testimonies, Vol. 6, p. 165.-WHR 40.3

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“…books and papers that contain little of present truth are exalted and men are becoming too wise to follow a ‘Thus saith the Lord.’…many of the watchmen are asleep. They are as the blind leading the bind. Yet the day of the Lord is right upon us. As a thief it is coming with stealthy tread, and it will take unawares all who are not watching. Who among our teachers are awake, and as faithful stewards of the grace of God are giving the trumpet a certain sound?” — Testimonies, Vol. 6, p. 166.-WHR 41.1

“…The present attitude of the church is not pleasing to God. There has come in a self-confidence that has led them to feel no necessity for more truth and greater light. We are living at a time when Satan is at work on the right hand and on the left, before the behind us; and yet as a people we are asleep. God wills that a voice shall be heard arousing his people to action.” — Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 709.-WHR 41.2

“A message that will arouse the churches is to be proclaimed. Every effort is to be made to give the light, not only to our people, but to the world. I have been instructed that the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation should be printed in small books, with the necessary explanations, and should be sent all over the world. Our own people need to have the light placed before them in clearer lines.” — Testimonies To Ministers, p. 117.-WHR 41.3

“The rebuke of the Lord will rest upon those who would bar the way, that clearer light shall not come to the people. A great work is to be done, and God sees that our leading men have need of more light, that they may unite with the messengers whom He sends to accomplish the work that He designs shall be done.” – Gospel Workers, p. 304.-WHR 41.4

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“I saw angels hurrying to and fro in heaven, descending to the earth, and again ascending to heaven, preparing for the fulfillment of some important event. Then I saw another mighty angel commissioned to descend to the earth, to unite his voice with the third angel, and give power and force to his message. Great power and glory were imparted to the angel, and as he descended, the earth was lightened with his glory…. The work of this angel comes in at the right time to join in the last great work of the third angel’s message, as it swells to a loud cry. This message seemed to be an addition to the third message, joining it as the midnight cry joined the second angel’s message in 1844.” — Early Writings, p. 277.-WHR 42.1

“…To souls that are earnestly seeking for light, and that accept with gladness every ray of divine illumination from his holy word, — to such alone light will be given. It is through these souls that God will reveal that light and power which will lighten the whole earth with his glory.” — Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 729.-WHR 42.2

“In the manifestation of the power that lightens the earth with its glory, they will see only something which in their blindness they think dangerous, something which will arouse their fears and they will brace themselves to resist it. Because the Lord does not work according to their expectations and ideas, they will oppose the work. Why, they say, should we not know the Spirit of God, when we have been in the work so many years?” — Review and Herald, Nov. 7, 1918.-WHR 42.3

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“Brightness, glory, and power are to be connected with the third angel’s message, and conviction will follow wherever it is preached in demonstration of the Spirit. How will any of our brethren know when this light shall come to the people of God? As yet we have certainly not seen the light that answers to this description. God has light for His people, and all who accept it will see the sinfulness of remaining in a lukewarm condition.” — Review and Herald, April 1, 1890.-WHR 43.1

“…Unless those who can help in ______ are aroused to a sense of their duty, they will not recognize the work of God when the loud cry of the third angel shall be heard. When light goes forth to lighten the earth, instead of coming up to the help of the Lord, they will want to bind about His work to meet their narrow ideas. Let me tell you that the Lord will work in this last work in a manner very much out of the common order of things, and in a way that will be contrary to any human planning. There will be those among us who will always want to control the work of God, to dictate even what movements shall be made when the work goes forward under the direction of the angel who joins the third angel in the message to be given to the world. God will use ways and means by which it will be seen that He is taking the reins in His own hands. The workers will be surprised by the simple means that He will use to bring about and perfect His work of righteousness.” — Testimonies To Ministers, p. 300.-WHR 43.2

“I asked the meaning of the shaking I had seen, and was shown that it would be caused by the straight testimony called forth by the counsel of the True Witness to the Laodiceans. This will have its effect upon the heart of the receiver, and will lead him, to exalt the standard and pour forth the straight truth. Some will not bear this straight testimony. They will rise up against it, and this is what will cause a shaking among God’s people.-WHR 43.3

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“I saw that the testimony of the True Witness has not been half heeded. The solemn testimony upon which the destiny of the church hangs has been lightly esteemed, if not entirely disregarded. This testimony must work deep repentance; all who truly receive it will obey it, and be purified.” — Early Writings, p. 270.-WHR 44.1

“…They will question and criticize everything that arises in the unfolding of truth, criticize the work and position of others, criticize every branch of the work in which they have not themselves a part. They will feed upon the errors and mistakes and faults of others, ‘until,’ said the angel, ‘the Lord Jesus shall rise up from his mediatorial work in the heavenly sanctuary, and shall clothe himself with the garments of vengeance, and surprise them at their unholy feast; and they will find themselves unprepared for the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ Their taste has been so perverted that they would be inclined to criticize even the table of the Lord in his kingdom.” — Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 690.-WHR 44.2

“As never before, we should pray not only that laborers may be sent forth into the great harvest-field, but that we may have a clear conception of truth, so that when the messengers of truth shall come, we may accept the message and respect the messenger.” — Testimonies, Vol. 6, p. 420.-WHR 44.3

“Prophecy must be fulfilled. The Lord says: ‘Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.’ Somebody is to come in the spirit and power of Elijah, and when he appears, men may say: ‘You are too earnest, you do not interpret the Scriptures in the proper way. Let me tell you how to teach your message.'” — Testimonies To Ministers, p. 475.-WHR 44.4

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For worse or for better, Brethren, you are now, in the blazing light of God’s Word, left to make your own decision. Whatever it be, though, you will never have a just cause either to exalt or to blame another for it; the responsibility is now entirely yours. If your choice before the worse, then, to repeat, as soon as the oil in your lamps is spent (as soon as the message of the judgment of the dead is past, and the judgment of the living about to commence), you will find yourselves in dense spiritual darkness, with your lamps burned out to the last flicker, and with no extra oil in your vessels — with neither knowledge or nor preparation for the judgment of the living; therefore, spued out.-WHR 45.1

“But if shine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness23.-WHR 45.2

If you fail now to store up this extra oil of Truth, you will in a little while with naked terror see the need of it. But when this terrifying realization bursts upon you, it will be in utter vain, for by the time you make a move to get the oil, and to go the rest of the way, then, as sure as you live, the Door will swing shut, and all your frantic knuckle-knocking at it will but quickly bring the fateful, rueful answer from within: “Verily I say unto you, I know you not.” Matt. 25:12. And O, what measureless, wordless tragedy that will be, Brethren.-WHR 45.3

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But if you make your decision for the better, then you will receive God’s mark (Ezek. 9; Testimonies To Ministers, p. 445) in your foreheads, be accounted faultless before His judgment throne, and be privileged either to come up in the resurrection of Daniel 12:2, or to stand aforehand with the Lamb on Mount Zion (Rev. 14:1), thence to carry God’s message to all nations and bring all your brethren for an offering to “the house of the Lord.” Isa. 66:19, 20. You will become part of the first fruits, the nucleus, of the Kingdom Church, the token of the second fruits of the living, of those whom you subsequently bring in.-WHR 46.1

As present-truth adherents in the first-fruit period, may God help us all, Brother Sister, to be either among or along with the first fruits, the 144,000. It is left to every one himself to determine his own destiny. And of this be certain, that the only unerring way of achieving eternity is in hearing and in following God’s voice; in making your decision in the closet of secret prayer; and in abounding in close and reverent study of revealed Truth for this particular time. Whereas the surest way of erring and of losing out is to give ear to the voice of men in the place of the voice of God.-WHR 46.2

Of still further importance is the truth that the eleventh-hour-call finds its laborers “standing idle” “in the market place” (the church), doing nothing, their excuse being, “no man hath hired us.” In view of these facts, it is manifest that the eleventh-hour servants are not made up of the ministry, not of those already at work; no, no more than were the servants of the previous calls. History bears the proof that virtually only the idle ones, the laity, ever responded first to any divine call-WHR 46.3

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“…In the last solemn work,” declares the Spirit of Prophecy, “few great men will be engaged. They are self-sufficient, independent of God, and he cannot use them. The Lord has faithful servants, who in the shaking, testing time will be disclosed to view. There are precious ones now hidden who have not bowed the knee to Baal. They have not had the light which has been shining in a concentrated blaze upon you….-WHR 47.1

“When trees without fruit are cut down as cumberers of the ground, when multitudes of false brethren are distinguished from the true, then the hidden ones will be revealed to view, and with hosannas range under the banner of Christ. Those who have been timid and self-distrustful, will declare themselves openly for Christ and his truth. The most weak and hesitating in the church, will be as David — willing to do and dare….” — Testimonies, Vol. 5, pp. 80, 81.-WHR 47.2

The statements, “will be disclosed to view,” “precious ones now hidden,” and “hidden ones will be revealed to view,” nakedly unveil the fact that although the servants of the eleventh hour are not now men of prominence, not persons now generally known, they will, nevertheless, assuredly come into their own, finally. This work of Christ’s righteousness, Brethren, will not appear so strange a thing to you when you consider that every male (save two) over twenty years of age in the Exodus movement after it crossed the Red Sea, perished in doubts, or in fault-finding against Inspiration, or in office-seeking, or in craving for the flesh pots of Egypt, and that only the youth of the movement lived to cross the Jordan and to possess the Promised Land. These things, remember, “happened unto them for ensamples,” for “types” (margin), to admonish us now in the end of the world. 1 Cor. 10:11.-WHR 47.3

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Of those who are to “escape” and to be “disclosed to view” in the antitypical Exodus movement, Inspiration joyfully declares:-WHR 48.1

“…they are men wondered at:…and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them.” Zech. 3:8; 12:8.-WHR 48.2

Obviously these “men wondered at” (the “escaped” and “disclosed to view” at the eleventh hour) are the “servants” who make up the long-looked-for “Layman’s Movement” (Testimonies, Vol. 9, pp. 125, 126). The eleventh hour is, therefore, the time to which the Spirit of Prophecy points when it says:-WHR 48.3

“…In the last solemn work few great men will be engaged…. God will work a work in our day that but few anticipate. He will raise up and exalt among us those who are taught rather by the unction of his Spirit, than by the outward training of scientific institutions…. God will manifest that he is not dependent on learned, self-important mortals.” — Testimonies, Vol. 5, pp. 80, 82.-WHR 48.4

Indeed how could it possible be otherwise unless “learned,” “great” men either humbly descend or never ascend that man-exalted but God-condemned throne upon which sit the mighty who never accept unpopular Truth, and who ever keep others from doing so, unless it finds its origin in themselves? What is more, only the foolish, never the truly great and wise, assume to mount that God-forbidden seat of self-importance. The truly great know this, they know, too, that God has never once been able to use the so-called great — the popular — as instrumentalities through whom to reveal and disseminate fresh Truth. Rather, we are told:-WHR 48.5

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“But the Holy Spirit will, from time to time, reveal the truth through its own chosen agencies; and no man, not even a priest or ruler, has a right to say, You shall not give publicity to your opinions, because I do not believe them. That wonderful ‘I’ may attempt to put down the Holy Spirit’s teaching. Men may for a time attempt to smother it and kill it; but that will not make error truth, or truth error. The inventive minds of men have advanced speculative opinions in various lines, and when the Holy Spirit lets light shine into human minds, it does not respect every point of man’s application of the Word. God impressed His servants to speak the truth, irrespective of what men had taken for granted as truth.-WHR 49.1

“Even Seventh-day Adventists are in danger of closing their eyes to truth as it is in Jesus, because it contradicts something which they have taken for granted as truth, but which the Holy Spirit teaches is not truth.” — Testimonies To Ministers, p. 70.-WHR 49.2

“But beware of rejecting that which is truth. The great danger with our people has been that of depending upon men, and making flesh their arm. Those who have not been in the habit of searching the Bible for themselves, or weighing evidence, have confidence in the leading men, and accept the decisions they make; and thus many will reject the very messages God sends to His people, if these leading brethren do not accept them.-WHR 49.3

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“No one should claim that he has all the light there is for God’s people. The Lord will not tolerate this. He has said, ‘I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.’ Even if all our leading men should refuse light and truth, that door will still remain open. The Lord will raise up men who will give the people the message for this time.” — Testimonies to Ministers, pp. 106, 107.-WHR 50.1

Will you not now, Brethren, quickly arise? or will you repeat the mistakes of Joshua’s day, and let the youth take your places?-WHR 50.2

“The Lord has appointed the youth to be His helping hand.” — Testimonies, Vol. 7, p. 64.-WHR 50.3

“We have an army of youth today who can do much if they are properly directed and encouraged.” — General Conference Bulletin, Vol. V, No. 2, p. 24. (Jan. 29, 30, 1893).-WHR 50.4

“With such an army of workers as our youth, rightly trained might furnish, how soon the message of a crucified, risen, and soon-coming Saviour might be carried to the whole world” — Education, p. 271.-WHR 50.5

“Young men should search the Scriptures for themselves. They are not to feel that it is sufficient for those older in experience to find out the truth, that the younger ones can accept it from them as authority. The Jews perished as a nation because they were drawn from the truth of the Bible by their rulers, priests, and elders. Had they heeded the lessons of Jesus, and searched the Scriptures for themselves, they would not have perished.-WHR 50.6

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“Young men in our ranks are watching to see in what spirit the ministers come to the investigation of the Scriptures; whether they have a teachable spirit, and are humble enough to accept evidence, and receive light from the messengers whom God chooses to send” — Testimonies To Ministers, p. 109.-WHR 51.1

Now that the eleventh-hour call is sounding, the Lord is at the outset calling into His vineyard all ministerial and Bible-work candidates who are graduates or undergraduates of Seventh-day Colleges, and who are standing idle, waiting to be “hired.” In addition He is calling up for this glorious final service, all still able-bodied sustentation workers. Will you not, Brethren, all of you, now respond to this last and most glorious call? You can start out for the vineyard immediately after successfully completing an intensive three-month seminar course of study on present Truth revelations which give power and force to the Third Angel’s Message (Early Writings, p. 277), and which unveil the judgment of the living, the great and dreadful day of the Lord.-WHR 51.2

*You will need no money for tuition of for room and board while taking this three-month course at the Davidic-Levitical Institute, Mt. Carmel Center, and upon the completion of your studies you will be given a permanent position with wages plus traveling expenses around the Seventh-day Adventist world first, then finally to every nation throughout the whole vineyard of the Lord. This is the opportunity of a life — to secure a place “in the closing work for the church, in the sealing time of the one hundred and forty-four thousand” (Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 266), and a subsequent place among these “escaped ones,” who go forth to bring “into the house of the Lord” all their brethren out of all nations, as Isaiah vividly declares:-WHR 51.3

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“And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard My fame, neither have seen My glory; and they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles. And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to My holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord.” Isa. 66:19, 20.-WHR 52.1

Here the prophet envisions two companies of saints, — those who escape, and those who are brought in by the escaped ones — by the 144,000. The first group of servants being the first fruits of the great harvest, then it is utterly inescapable in logic that those whom they bring to the Lord are the second fruits. Indeed, where there is first, there must necessarily be second. And first and second groups are exactly what John the Revelator saw (Rev. 7:3-9). Note that these eleventh-hour servants who go to all nations to rescue all their brethren, bring them as “in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord” (Isa. 66:20), into the purified church, the church with no hypocrites to carry on their abominations in it — a house truly white.-WHR 52.2

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Do not, though, let any one fool you into believing that the Recruiter is calling you out of the Seventh-day Adventist Denomination and into something else. Such allegations and insinuations come only from those who are enemies of God’s eleventh- or Judgment-hour Truth, and who are therefore neither His servants not your friends. God’s servants get their orders from God, and friends are ever cautious not to push their friends into accepting propagated falsehood, especially when the Scriptures are under consideration. The plain truth about the Recruiter is that Its mission is to make sure that you stay in the Denomination, and to keep you from being cast out, not by men, but by the Lord when He proceeds to inspect the guests therein and to cast out those who have failed to put on the “wedding garment” which the Recruiter brings.-WHR 53.1

The wise will not let the enemies of Truth fool them. Rather they will do their level best to disillusion these pretended friends and to encourage them to let the Recruiter anoint their eyes so they may see that “In that day shall the Branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel [God’s denomination of today].-WHR 53.2

“And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion [at Headquarters], and he that remaineth in Jerusalem [in the church after the purification], shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall he a defence. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.” Isa. 4:2-6.”…for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.” Nah. 1:15.-WHR 53.3

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Now that “all things are ready.” Brethren, this is your Divine call at the eleventh hour. God forbid that you let slip away from you this never-so-precious opportunity “to make your calling and election sure.” 2 Pet. 1:10. Act decisively, for the newly unsealed prophecies reveal that the work of the judgment of the dead is about over — the very reason for this Divinely planned and urgent call to service now as this Heavenly Recruiter breaks through the iron-like barriers behind which the enemies of Truth hold God’s elect in darkness and Laodicean blindness.-WHR 54.1

By having instilled in rank and file throughout Laodicea an unprecedented fear and prejudice against reading or hearing anything but that which enjoys someone’s official sanction and blessing, Satan’s subversives have sought to sever the lines of communication between the Spirit of Truth and the people of God. Then to hold them in subjection to themselves and their worldly standards, they threaten with disfellowshipment and perdition any who, fearing God more than man, would dare venture to know the Truth for themselves. And the few who do have the courage to carry out their convictions, straightway in consequence become targets for the Enemy’s fiercest darts of opposition, — bitterest prejudice, scandalizing falsehood and character defamation, ridicule and scorn and hatred embarrassment and hardship. Thus “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:12) find themselves “outcasts” (Isa. 66:5; Luke 6:22; Acts 24:14) at the hands of persecutive forces perpetuating and even outdoing the worst that was ever in Judaism and Romanism. And what is still worse, when these revivalists of tyranny, clothed in apostlelike robes, succeed in confusing and overthrowing the faith of an investigator or of a follower of Truth for this very time, they compel him to submit to rebaptism in order to be readmitted into church fellowship, even though he has become more faithful than ever before-WHR 54.2

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It is devoutly to be hoped that God’s people will now see that it is of no importance whatsoever, as to whether Heaven’s eleventh-hour harbinger — the Recruiter — bears this, that, or any other human stamp of approval, but that it is all-important that It bear the Divine stamp, and that every “sheep” of the flock assert his God-given right to inspect It with his own eyes, and then, without the influence of any voice but that of the indwelling Spirit of Truth, to determine for himself the facts in the case.-WHR 55.1

The present despotic and foul spirit began to manifest itself years ago, and even then the Spirit of Truth warned:-WHR 55.2

“But beware of rejecting that which is truth. The great danger with our people has been that of depending upon men, and making flesh their arm. Those who have not been in the habit of searching the Bible for themselves, or weighing evidence, have confidence in the leading men, and accept the decisions they make; and thus many will reject the very messages God sends to His people, if these leading brethren do not accept them.” — Testimonies to Ministers, pp. 106, 107.-WHR 55.3

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“Precious light is to shine forth from the word of God, and let no one presume to dictate what shall or what shall not be brought before the people in the messages of enlightenment that He shall send, and so quench the Spirit of God. Whatever may be his position of authority, no one has a right to shut away the light from the people. When a message comes in the name of the Lord to His people, no one may excuse himself from an investigation of its claims. No one can afford to stand back in an attitude of indifference and self-confidence, and say: ‘I know what is truth. I am satisfied with my position. I have set my stakes, and I will not be moved away from my position, whatever may come. I will not listen to the message of this messenger; for I know that it cannot be truth.’ It was from pursuing this very course that the popular churches were left in partial darkness, and that is why the messages of heaven have not reached them.” — Counsels on Sabbath School Work, p. 28.-WHR 56.1

“…I am constrained to appeal to our workers: Whatever your position, do not depend on men, or make flesh your arm.” — Testimonies To Ministers, pp. 349, 350.-WHR 56.2

Secure in the saddle, and unmindful of Inspiration’s counsel, these conscience-drivers herd the laity on like cattle, as if the Spirit of Truth led none but the herders. Through these far-reaching line of unlawful clerical domination, abristle with ever increasing misrepresentation, this Heavenly Recruiter must make its way to rescue all who will be rescued.-WHR 56.3

Similar persecutive clerical control in Nicodemus’ day caused him not to dare to be seen in company with Jesus, but to go stealthily by night to see Him. Since, though, it is not expedient for most of God’s elect now to come even by night to hear the Truth for the eleventh hour, this Heavenly Recruiter is under necessity going forth to them in an unfamiliar garb (as clothed with night) — the only way It can reach and rescue the willing.-WHR 56.4

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Again, at Israel’s mighty trumpet blast, after their seventh silent encirclement of the impregnable walls of Jericho, the great iron gate suddenly fell as the walls mysteriously came crashing down, and Israel marched in — triumphant17. Consequently, ere long the tight-closed gates now bolted, barred, and barricaded against Heaven’s rescuers with provisions of Truth meat in due season, for the captive flock will suddenly fall open as the walls come tumbling down Jericho-like at the Recruiter’s seventh round and trumpet blast. Then all God’s hidden ones shall be gloriously “disclosed to view”.-WHR 57.1

“…then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey. And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.” Isa. 33:23, 24.-WHR 57.2

“…Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.” Zech. 4:6, 7.-WHR 57.3

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The same Divine principle obtained when, with trumpets and with lighted candles concealed within the pitchers, Gideon and his 300, under Divine guidance and protection, encircled the enemy encampment as silently as a tiger stalking its prey. Suddenly a signal blast, and an instant burst of blaring trumpets, smashing pitchers, flaming light, and shouting voices threw the ranks of Midian into wild panic, causing them to wreak havoc and destruction upon themselves. Thus with this Heaven-born stratagem, Gideon delivered the imperiled hosts of Israel.-WHR 58.1

And now, opposition such as compelled Gideon to employ a suitable stratagem through the medium of his 300 chosen ones, unavoidably compels Jezreel likewise to employ as suitable a stratagem through the medium of his three chosen divisions — (1) The Entering Wedge, (2) the 1950 General Conference Special, and (3) this White-House Recruiter. Silently ablaze with the light of life, these are making their way through the opposition and are reaching captive hearts. But what fearful obstructions, entanglements, and hazards of Devilism the Truth has to break through-WHR 58.2

Always it has been so. And no one can realistically look for the obstacle today to be less than those which the incarnate Truth Himself, Jesus in person, encountered in his day. For example, when the “feast of tabernacles was at hand,” “His brethren…said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judaea, that Thy disciples also may see the works that Thou doest…. Then Jesus said unto them,… Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast: for My time is not yet full come…. But when His brethren were gone up, then went He also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.” John 7:2, 3, 6, 8, 10.-WHR 58.3

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Think of it, the Lord Himself in person having to resort to the same sort of expedient at the third symbolical hour in order to accomplish His purpose at the feast, as this Recruiter is having to resort to in order to accomplish Its purpose now at the eleventh hour. Of necessity He told His disciples that His time was not yet come, then just as soon as they were gone He hurried off by Himself in secret-WHR 59.1

When one knows the present peril as it actually is, there is no longer any wondering why many years ago Inspiration made the following startling exposures of conditions in Laodicea:-WHR 59.2

“Who can truthfully say, ‘Our gold is tried in the fire, our garments are unspotted by the world’? I saw our Instructor pointing to the garments of so-called righteousness. Stripping them off, He laid bare the defilement beneath. Then He said to me: ‘Can you not see how they have pretentiously covered up their defilement and rottenness of character? “How is the faithful city become an harlot?” My Father’s house is made a house of merchandise, a place whence the divine presence and glory have departed For this cause there is weakness and strength is lacking.'” – Testimonies, Vol. 8, p. 250.-WHR 59.3

“…our own course of continual backsliding has separated us from God. Pride, covetousness, and love of the world have lived in the heart without fear of banishment or condemnation. Grievous and presumptuous sins have dwelt among us. And yet the general opinion is that the church is flourishing, and that peace and spiritual prosperity are in all her borders.-WHR 59.4

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“The church has turned back from following Christ her Leader, and is steadily retreating toward Egypt. Yet few are alarmed or astonished at their want of spiritual power. Doubt and even disbelief of the testimonies of the Spirit of God, is leavening our churches everywhere. Satan would have it thus. Ministers who preach self instead of Christ would have it thus. The testimonies are unread and unappreciated. God has spoken to you. Light has been shining from his word and from the testimonies, and both have been slighted and disregarded. The result is apparent in the lack of purity and devotion and earnest faith among us.” — Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 217.-WHR 60.1

“The message to the church of the Laodiceans is a startling denunciation, and is applicable to the people of God at the present time.-WHR 60.2

“…The people of God are represented in the message to the Laodiceans as in a position of carnal security. They are at ease, believing themselves to be in an exalted condition of Spiritual attainments. ‘Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.’-WHR 60.3

“What greater deception can come upon human minds than a confidence that they are right, when they are all wrong The message of the True Witness finds the people of God is a sad deception, yet honest in that deception. They know not that their condition is deplorable in the sight of God. While those addressed are flattering themselves that they are in an exalted spiritual condition, the True Witness breaks their security by the startling denunciation of their true condition of spiritual blindness, poverty, and wretchedness. The testimony, so cutting and severe, cannot be a mistake, for it is the True Witness who speaks, and his testimony must be correct.” — Testimonies, Vol. 3, pp. 252, 253.-WHR 60.4

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It is a terrible tragedy that the vast majority of the shepherds in Laodicea, into whose hands God’s flock is fallen, are so beguiled by the Enemy as unwittingly to join with him in daring to oppose and trying to defeat even the all-powerful Deliverer. How, O, how can these errant shepherds and their captive flock be rescued from their peril? Herewith in latest effort to liberate not only their victims from them but also them from themselves, the Spirit of Truth is gone forth to recruit as many as will respond to the Call to come up “to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.” Judges 5:23.-WHR 61.1

Now at the eleventh hour, therefore, the Recruiter is marshalling forces the world around to the standard of the great Prince of Truth, in preparation for Heaven’s immanent D-day assault against the abominations that are carried on by the hypocrites — by the dragon’s flood (Rev. 12:15). Soon, though, the earth will open its mouth and swallow up “the flood.” Then those who are left, “the remnant,” the escaped of Israel” (Isa. 4:2), the first contingent of commandos for Christ, “will put such firmness and decision into their testimonies that they will make a break against the barriers of Satan.” — Testimonies to Ministers, p. 413. They will “bruise his head” when he goes to make war against them (Gen. 3:15; Rev. 12:16, 17).-WHR 61.2

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The supreme importance of decisive action at once in this matter, on the part of all, finds fearsome emphasis in the imminence of the day of the Lord, and of the consequent shortness of the time left us in which to secure the necessary preparation to stand through the dross-consuming fires of that day. In view of this fact the following familiar lines are indeed more timely now than ever before:-WHR 62.1

“…now time is almost finished, and what we have been years learning, they will have to learn in a few months. They will also have much to unlearn, and much to learn again.” — Early Writings, p. 67.-WHR 62.2

“Time is short, and what you do must be done quickly. Resolve to redeem the time. Seek not your own pleasure. Rouse yourself Take hold of the work with a new purpose of heart. The Lord will open the way before you. Make every possible effort to work in Christ’s lines, in meekness and lowliness, relying upon Him for strength. Understand the work the Lord gives you to do, and, trusting in God, you will be enabled to go on from strength to strength, from grace to grace. You will be enabled to work diligently, perseveringly, for your people while the day lasts; for the night cometh in which no man shall work .” — Testimonies, Vol. 9, p. 200.-WHR 62.3

“…the final movements will be rapid ones.” — Testimonies, Vol. 9, p. 11.-WHR 62.4

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The call to matriculate now, further demands immediate decision for the reason that the school is capacitated for the first part of the year to prepare for the “vineyard” only about 60 ministerial students. Applications for admissions will be sent upon request. Address all communications to *The Ministerial Recruiting Commission, Mt. Carmel Center Waco, Texas. Let not procrastination rob you, Brethren, of this greatest opportunity of a life time. The Spirit is pleading with you in the name of all that is sane and sensible. Do not disregard or delay your preparation of the epoch-making work ahead. You must not miss out. Let Isaiah’s thrilling vision of the unparalleled results of the eleventh-hour work stir and inspire you to instant, all-out action:-WHR 63.1

“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.-WHR 63.2

“Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged, because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense, and they shall shew forth the praises of the Lord. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall come up with acceptance on Mine altar, and I will glorify the house of My glory. Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows? Surely the isles shall wait for Me and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because He hath glorified thee. And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in My wrath I smote thee, but in My favour have I had mercy on thee.-WHR 63.3

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“Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles and that their kings may be brought. For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.” Isa. 60:1.-WHR 64.1

The prophet Hosea, too, was shown this great ingathering of all God’s people now at the eleventh hour:-WHR 64.2

“For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.” Hos. 3:4, 5.-WHR 64.3

“Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.” Hos. 1:11.-WHR 64.4

Hosea’s aforequoted vision not only projects God’s tearing down His ancient (typical) Kingdom, and His consequently scattering His people world-wide, thus causing them, to lose their identity and to become assimilated by the Gentile nations during these many centuries, but also projects the glorious restoration of His Kingdom (the antitype), and His subsequently gathering into It His people from all nations, while He is closing the work of the gospel. Moreover the contents of Hosea’s timely vision decisively point out that this great world-wide work of ingathering cannot begin till “Jezreel” appears on the scene. And who can sanely suppose that Satan will let this crowning, eleventh-hour achievement of the gospel come to pass without a last-ditch encounter with the mightiest forces of darkness? Nor may anyone even for a moment suppose that the Almighty did not foreknow the situation and did not provide the means by which to meet it, one of which is the allegorical name Jezreel, the pen name for His eleventh-hour agent. Through this simple expedient (unfamiliar name) Heaven disarms the opposition, secures a welcome reception for the Recruiter (the voice of Jezreel), and thereby enables It to survive the waste basket and stove, and thus to reach minds confused by falsehood, and hearts hardened by prejudice.-WHR 64.5

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Thanks to this means of victory over Satan’s conspiracy, not only the elect but even the whole earth as well “shall hear Jezreel,” and “great,” therefore, “shall be the day of Jezreel.” Hos. 2 22; 1:11. (A detailed exposition of Hosea’s entire prophecy can be secured upon request.)-WHR 65.1

In these pages, Brethren, God’s burdened appeal to you represents only a small part of the eleventh-hour message that is now sounding throughout Laodicea like the clear ringing of a fire alarm commingled with church chimes. Will you not with Isaiah respond to “the voice of the Lord, and resolutely say, ‘Here am I; send me”? Isa. 6:8.-WHR 65.2

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With your eyes open wide to the Word of God, your ears closed tight to hearsay, and your heart emptied clean of prejudice and preconception, take heed for your soul’s sake to the trumpet call herein sounding. Settle it with yourself once for all that since the old message, the judgment of the dead, is already being eclipsed by the new message, the judgment of the living, there is but one wise choice for one to make for his own sake and for the sake of others, and that is to come out fully in the open as one of the Lord’s eleventh-hour workers, and thus enable Him soon to disclose you to view before the whole world. Otherwise it will be but a little while, and you will have no message at all. Let your minds not be influenced by reports and hearsay. Heed the counsel:-WHR 66.1

“O that the Lord might guide you You should never in a single instance allow hearsay to move you to action.” — Testimonies To Ministers, p. 299.-WHR 66.2

“Never, never be influenced by reports.” – Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 507.-WHR 66.3

You may have been told that no good thing can come out of this place. So was Nathaniel told that no good thing came out of Nazareth. It is sensible, though, to do as he did — to “come and see,” and thus you, too, be “an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.” Refuse to be influenced by evil reports, hearsay, ridicule, and character defamation. Instead, faithfully use your own eyes, ears, and mind. Then you will be as glad as was he, and how glad he was-WHR 66.4

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Ever remember, also, that there are and will always be those who expect denominational theories of all sorts to harmonize with Heaven’s revealed Truth. The impossible. Those who would be faithful Seventh-day Adventists, will, therefore, lay well to heart the ensuing warning and counsel:-WHR 67.1

“…these leaders…do not consider the possibility that they themselves have not rightly understood the Word. They will not open their eyes to discern the fact that they have misinterpreted and misapplied the Scriptures, and have built up false theories, calling them fundamental doctrines of the faith…. Even Seventh-day Adventists are in danger of closing their eyes to truth as it is in Jesus, because it contradicts something which they have taken for granted as truth, but which the Holy Spirit teaches is not truth.” — Testimonies To Ministers, p. 70.-WHR 67.2

“…Let not men feel that it is their prerogative to give to the world what they suppose to be truth, and refuse that anything should be given contrary to their ideas. This is not their work. Many things will appear distinctly as truth, which will not be acceptable to those who think their own interpretations of the Scripture always right. Most decided changes will have to be made in regard to ideas which some have accepted as without a flaw.” — Testimonies To Ministers, p. 76.-WHR 67.3

It is but to be expected, too, that there will also be those whom the Enemy will persuade neither to read nor to discuss unpopular doctrines. But as sure as God lives, the Devil has all such already in hell ever before fire is kindled in it We do hope they will get out now while they can. Wise students do not judge, by any man’s theories, any claimant to Bible truth. They judge him by the Bible alone.-WHR 67.4

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“Come and see” for yourself, Brethren. Then, only, will you realize why the Lord makes the serious charge against all us Laodiceans:-WHR 68.1

“Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint shine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.” Rev. 3:17-20.-WHR 68.2

May it be fully realized now, Brethren, that to open one’s door to the Lord does not mean to open one’s ears to the so-called wise who never embrace unpopular truth, yet are ever fast on the run with theories of their own. The followers of Christ take time to examine for themselves what the Word Itself says, not what God’s enemies try to make it say. They know that “neither young nor old are excusable in trusting to another to have an experience for them. Said the angel, ‘Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm.’ …-WHR 68.3

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“Men, women, and youth, God requires you to possess moral courage, steadiness of purpose, fortitude and perseverance, minds that cannot take the assertions of another, but which will investigate for themselves before receiving or rejecting, that will study and weigh evidence, and take it to the Lord in prayer.” — Testimonies, Vol. 2, p. 130.-WHR 69.1

In fine, God’s people are fearless, candid, diligent students, not automatons, not bigoted dogmatists, nor surface-skimmers.-WHR 69.2

“How many men in this age of the world fail to go deep enough. They only skim the surface. They will not think closely enough to see difficulties and grapple with them, and will not examine every important subject which comes before them with thoughtful, prayerful study, and with sufficient caution and interest to see the real point at issue. They talk of matters which they have not fully and carefully weighed.” — Testimonies, Vol. 4, p. 361.-WHR 69.3

The Enemy will certainly do all in his power to make all believe that the scriptures treated of herein are erroneously interpreted, and that the Testimonies are “taken out of their setting.” Already he has firmly planted in the minds of both laity and ministry the fiction that there is “no necessity for more truth and greater light” (Gospel Workers, p. 300), and that the Spirit of Prophecy so declares46. The only defense and protection for anyone, therefore, will be not to let him control the mind: humans are not horses for riders to control with bits in their mouths. Let each vigorously assert his God-given right and responsibility to put every enemy claim to the acid test, and to respectfully demand that the Recruiter’s enemies produce something better, or at least as good, in the place of what It brings from the Scriptures, or else that they becomingly lapse into “golden” silence and start diligently studying the Scriptures. Oblige them to produce chapter and verse, page and paragraph, proving the authenticity of the often quoted statements, “We have enough truth to carry us through to the end;” “We have all the light we need.” Of course no such proof will be forthcoming, for no such statements are to be found within the pages of Inspiration. Rather the very contrary is the fact, as is evidenced in the terrible Laodicean rebuke for their erroneous thinking. (See Testimonies, Vol. 3, pp. 252, 253).-WHR 69.4

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”Though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.” Eze. 14:20.-WHR 70.1

“…As the student sacrifices the power to reason and judge for himself, he becomes incapable of discriminating between truth and error, and falls an easy prey to deception. He is easily led to follow tradition and custom…. The mind that depends upon the judgment of others is certain, sooner or later, to be misled.” — Education, pp. 230, 231.-WHR 70.2

Finally, Brethren, you who are discerning students of the Bible and of the Spirit of Prophecy will be acutely sensible of the fact that the vast majority simply cannot realize that the Lord’s “startling denunciation” of the Laodiceans (Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 252) applies to themselves. And if they choose to stay blind, you will have no cause to wonder that they consequently reject this clear-cut “renewal of the straight testimony” of the True Witness (Gospel Workers, p. 307) “upon which the destiny of the church hangs.” — Early Writings, p. 270. Neither will you have cause to wonder over the connected fact that the long-awaited shaking (Early Writings, p. 270) is to result from some taking their stand, along with the messenger of Light, on the Lord’s side, and from others’ taking their stand, along with the emmisaries of darkness, on the Enemy’s side.-WHR 70.3

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All who have had the integrity to read thus far, and the discernment to recognize Truth when seen, will no longer go along with the Laodicean crowd, holding still to the fatal conceit that they have “need of nothing” (that they have all the Truth necessary to carry them through the Pearly Gates), even though such position makes the Lord a liar “Whereas I was blind, now I see.” John 9:25. “Lord,…here am I, send me.” Isa. 6:8. Only then will you see that the 1844 phase of the Third Angel’s Message, the judgment of the dead, is its preliminary, not its final, phase — not the judgment of the living.-WHR 71.1

Since in unforgiving responsibility you owe this saving Truth to yourselves and to the world, will you not now resolve to answer God’s merciful call, and take advantage of this unparalleled opportunity that enables you to feast on “meat in due season” while here, and to gain Glory Land beyond, with out having to invest or risk a single cent? You have nothing to lose but your sins, your fears, your worries, your uncertainties, your tears, and everything to gain.-WHR 71.2

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Be it never lost sight of, however, that standing for progressive Truth is a principle and practice that have ever come at an exceeding high price — too often as high a martyrdom, and never lower than excommunication.-WHR 72.1

“To punish those who were supposed to be evil doers, the church has had recourse to the civil power. Those who differed from the established doctrines have been imprisoned, put to torture and to death, at the instigation of men who claimed to be acting under the sanction of Christ. But it is the spirit of Satan, not the Spirit of Christ, that inspires such acts. This is Satan’s own method of bringing the world under his dominion. God has been misrepresented through the church by this way of dealing with those supposed to be heretics.” — Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 74 .-WHR 72.2

But as the church today is virtually everywhere in subordination to the state, and therefore utterly powerless to impose the penalty of imprisonment, torture, and death, as her predecessors frequently did, in punishment for supposed heresy, the threat of excommunication is consequently the highest price that the Denomination is able to impose upon any who would dare to awaken her sleepers. Likewise it is become her strongest weapon for persuading the awakened to retract and to lapse back into Laodicean slumber and sleep. Actually, though, this : tyrannical practice is itself now deepening the realization, among the followers of Inspiration, that Satan’s subversive agents are in complete control of the Denomination, and are doing everything possible to cast out everyone who dares give heed to the Voice of Omnipotent God above the voice of idolized men, in spite of the fact that she ever roundly condemned other denominations for excommunicating nonconformists. Indeed we hear her loudly decrying such tyranny no further back that a bare fifteen years ago, when, in the following editorial, she declared:-WHR 72.3

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“Popular religion has moved miles and miles away from the views its founders had. To be a heretic now one has only to espouse the doctrines originally laid down in the platform of his denomination….-WHR 73.1

“Thrown out of the church because one believes the Bible Isn’t that a sad commentary on present-day religion? No wonder Jesus said, ‘When the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?'” — Alonzo Baker, Signs of the Times, Feb. 5, 1935, p. 11.-WHR 73.2

But her now condoning in her own house the very evil which she so vigorously condemned in others, leaves her as unfit and useless for her Divine task as a dumb dog would be (Isa. 56:10) if put to watch its master’s house. She not only “will not bark” (Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 211) but also will not even hear the voice of God, condemning her unholy practice, while He is strengthening the faith and fortitude of her “outcasts,” as prophetically uttered in the following passage:-WHR 73.3

“Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at His Word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for My name’s sake said, Let the Lord be glorified: but He shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.” Isa. 66:5.-WHR 73.4

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“Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in Heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.” Luke 6:22, 23.-WHR 74.1

Brethren, may you make the good and wise choice, make sure to stand on Mount Zion with the Lamb, ready to board Heaven’s flying saucer (Early Writings pp. 287, 288) at the sound of the trumpet, the blast which will be heard round the world as God finishes His judicial work with His people and with His ministry and its headquarters — the General Conference.-WHR 74.2

Ministerial Recruiting Commission.

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