Saturday, November 5, 2011

Battle cry!

Thousands are perishing every day, both in foreign fields, and at our doorstep. What are we doing about it? What are we doing about it? “Heaven stands indignant at the neglect shown to the souls of men.” 'The Desire of Ages', p. 825. It is, or should be, obvious to us all, that we don't have much time left. What will we do with this time? There are thousands, even in our church, that are despairing of the goal that we all long for. Will we help them? “You are not to shut yourselves up to yourselves, and be content because you have been blessed with a knowledge of the truth. Who brought the truth to you? Who showed the light of the Word of God to you? God has not given you His light to be placed under a bushel.” 'Christian Service', pg. 93. This hits home hard for me. How about you? “At our very doors, all about us, on every side, there are souls to be saved, souls perishing,--men and women dying without hope, without God,--and yet we feel unconcerned, virtually saying by our actions, if not by our words, 'Am I my brother's keeper?'...How should we who have the prospect of eternal life before us feel, if we do not make the little sacrifices that God requires of us, for the salvation of the souls of men?”--'Review and Herald', Aug. 14, 1888. Many of us, I know this especially of myself, have been in the habit of looking at our own lives, and thinking, 'Oh, how will I ever be saved?' Here is the answer! “I have read of a man who, journeying on a winter's day through the deep, drifted snow, became benumbed by the cold which was almost imperceptibly stealing away his vital powers. And as he was nearly chilled to death by the embrace of the frost king, and about to give up the struggle for life, he heard the moans of a brother traveler, who was perishing with cold as he was about to perish. His humility was aroused to rescue him. He chafed the ice-clad limbs of the unfortunate man, and, after considerable effort, raised him to his feet; and as he could not stand, he bore him in sympathizing arms through the very drifts he had thought he could never succeed in getting through alone. And when he had borne his fellow traveler to a place of safety, the truth flashed home to him that in saving his neighbor he had saved himself also. His earnest efforts to save another quickened the blood which was freezing in his own veins, and created a healthful warmth in the extremities of the body. These lessons must be forced upon young believers continually, not only be precept, but by example, that in their Christian experience they may realize similar results.”--'Testimonies', vol. 4, pp. 319, 320. Well, what do you think of that? Do you think it will work? I believe it will. I fear for us as a people, that we will be held accountable for the work we have not done. Noah preached for over a hundred years, to people that didn't even care, they mocked and derided him, and no one got on the ark but his family. But he did it because he knew their certain doom, if they were not at least warned. Noah put everything he had into the ark. Everything. How do I know? “He gave the world an example of believing just what God says. All that he possessed he invested in the ark.” 'Patriarchs and Prophets', pg. 95. Brothers and sisters, we have an ark to build as well. Noah's ark was built to God's specifications. Every detail was supplied to him. God has supplied every detail for us as well! We have had more time than Noah did. How have we used it? God has given us 167 years to build our ark, His ark. How many boards have been nailed up? Do we do a little building, and then tear it down? “Every blow struck upon the ark was preaching to the people. Noah directed, he preached, he worked, while the people looked on in amazement and regarded him as a fanatic.” 'Story of Redemption', pg. 63. So our work is not only to preach, it is also to work! And that work in itself is preaching to the people, that we believe in what God says. We discover what the ark is, by reading God's messages to us, His end time people, through The Bible and Spirit of Prophecy. It includes taking the gospel to the ends of the earth, country living, true education, the health message, fleeing worldliness, and so much more. If we can take a broad view of God's plan for us, and as a people, put that into practice, I believe our time here on earth will soon be done. Will it be worth the effort? We may lose our lives in the process, and we will certainly lose the things of this world. I will let you decide after reading the following quote. “In a town in New England a well was being dug. When the work was nearly finished, while one man was still at the bottom, the earth caved in and buried him. Instantly the alarm was sent out, and mechanics, farmers, merchants, lawyers, hurried breathlessly to the rescue. Ropes, ladders, spades, and shovels were brought by eager, willing hands. "Save him, O save him!" was the cry.

Men worked with desperate energy, till the sweat stood in beads upon their brows and their arms trembled with the exertion. At length a pipe was thrust down, through which they shouted to the man to answer if he were still alive. The response came, "Alive, but make haste. It is fearful in here." With a shout of joy they renewed their efforts, and at last he was reached and saved, and the cheer that went up seemed to pierce the very heavens. "He is saved!" echoed through every street in the town.

Was this too great zeal and interest, too great enthusiasm, to save one man? It surely was not; but what is the loss of temporal life in comparison with the loss of a soul? If the threatened loss of a life will arouse in human hearts a feeling so intense, should not the loss of a soul arouse even deeper solicitude in men who claim to realize the danger of those apart from Christ? Shall not the servants of God show as great zeal in laboring for the salvation of souls as was shown for the life of that one man buried in a well?” --Gospel Workers, pp. 31, 32. Was it worth it? Is it worth it? Jesus would have come and died for one soul, we are told. Will we give up our temporal comfort, for one soul, or two, or, by God's grace, maybe hundreds? Please join me in prayer that we will! I need prayer, that I will abandon self, and serve God with all my heart. I would be thrilled to keep you in my prayers as well. Will you join me in this battle? It will soon be over, whether we fight in it or not. God help us to fight!

Shouting for the battle!

-Schane



3 comments:

  1. A very heartfelt THANK YOU for sharing this. I saw this this morning and showed it to my academy canvassing team before we went out today. I had been praying because I was seeing a shift in focus in the team... they were getting more focused on material benefits of canvassing than on the love for souls and I was hearing a lot of complaints about how heavy the bag was, how long the streets, and just a total "are we done yet??" mentality in general. By God's grace, I preached my heart out to them this morning and then showed them this video. The Spirit COMPLETELY changed their attitude, their focus switched off of temporal comfort and they put their hearts and souls into reaching people. God really poured out His blessings in return and this was our highest day for this semester, complete with several divine appointments where people broke down into tears after receiving the books. Praise God! Thanks for your part in it! ;-)

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  2. Praise the Lord! It is quite a video, isn't it? :-) Thanks for sharing!

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  3. I just happened to stumble over your blog this morning...and now I know it wasn't by accident. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing, for preaching the truth. This post especially hit home. I have always wanted to be on the fighting side, but now I am determine to fight until there is no breath left in me. Lord help us to win this battle; to get on our knees more, to strive against the enemy, to unite together, so we can go home! Joining you in shouting the battle cry!

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