MR No. 1337—To Our Churches in Oakland and Berkeley: An Appeal to Repent, Be Converted, and Reform
(Written September 26, 1909, from Sanitarium, California.)
(18MR 232)
I have been instructed to give a message of warning to our churches in Oakland and Berkeley. Many who profess to believe the truth for this time are unconverted in heart. I have been shown that many whose names are on the church books are unprepared for the coming of Christ. There are whole families who are deceived in regard to their spiritual fitness to stand the test of the judgment.
(18MR 232.1)
Many who love self-indulgence and who murmur at the straight testimony of the Laodicean message, are ignorant of how sinful their actions really are; but in the judgment they will be ashamed of their course of ingratitude and rebellion against the One who has borne so long with them, and who has not cut them off in their sins. No confession, no weeping, will then avail for those who have spoiled their record. Many who now claim to be the disciples of Christ will be numbered among those who would not repent, but who have deceived their souls unto their eternal ruin. The evasion of truth will not give courage to any soul in the day of judgment to open his lips in self-defense. Then the books will be opened that bear the record of the works of every individual.
(18MR 232.2)
I am instructed to say that the Lord regards false professors as rebels against Him, for their actions bring reproach to His name. Oh, that their 233murmurings might be turned to self-reproach, and their complainings to repentance!
(18MR 232.3)
God has sent messages from His Word to the souls who are living careless lives, and who are unashamed of their wrong course of action. I heard the words spoken: “Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of His understanding” [Isaiah 40:27, 28]. If the careless, self- indulgent souls would seek the Lord and confess their sins, they would see how their unconverted lives lead others astray, and they would repent and be converted.
(18MR 233.1)
Many parents conclude that because their children have been baptized, that they are therefore quite safe. But baptism is not necessarily an evidence that the converting power of God is constantly at work in the daily life of the individual.
(18MR 233.2)
I am bidden to lift up my voice like a trumpet, and to speak plainly concerning the perils that surround our children and youth. Satan is actively at work, laying stumbling blocks in the way of their Christian advancement. He has many schemes by which to deceive souls and to destroy the spiritual discernment, that evil may be interpreted as righteousness. One of his most successful schemes is to place within their reach the foolish storybook to read, when they need the convicting power of the Word of the living God to impress mind and heart how to develop a Christlike character.
(18MR 233.3)
God is constantly appealing to the human heart, bidding it recognize His love and mercy, and accept His righteousness in the place of the principles of evil. Thus He has pleaded with mankind in all ages. In Noah’s day Christ spoke 234to men through a human agency and preached to those who were in bondage to sin. He came to Israel enshrouded in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. He it was who educated that vast multitude in their wilderness wandering.
(18MR 233.4)
Israel needed just the experience that God gave to them, and there was no other power that could deal with them as Christ did through all that long journey in the wilderness. The education of Israel was not entrusted to any human agency; they were taught by One who was infinite in wisdom. They were daily learners of what God required His church on earth to be.
(18MR 234.1)
There are many who do not weigh these things sufficiently. The instruction given to Israel should be understood today by every soul living. Man may claim great intelligence, but he needs more than human intelligence in order to grasp the revelations of the gospel, which the Lord declares has been hidden for ages. The deceiving works of Satan beguile the conscience in regard to individual weaknesses and sins, and hundreds are caught in his snares.
(18MR 234.2)
In Oakland there has been for years a strong influence against the principles of health reform, which has counterworked the messages the Lord has given concerning the use of flesh meats and the use of drugs.
(18MR 234.3)
When the Lord sent instruction regarding the principles of health reform and the dangers attending the use of flesh meats and the use of drugs, there were physicians standing in our sanitariums who chose to hold to their own ideas, to carry out their own plans for the table. They were opposed to the reforms that were called for, and indulgence of appetite was permitted in the rooms of the patients which was contrary to the principles for the maintenance of which our sanitariums were established.
(18MR 234.4)
The Lord gave light outlining a different order of things, but His messages were disregarded, and opposing principles were allowed for a time to rule. Sanitarium work which is carried on under the name Seventh-day Adventist should stand clearly for the true principles of health reform, otherwise a complicated condition of things will follow, and the work will be made severely hard for the genuine reformers.
(18MR 235.1)
The men chosen by our churches to stand as leaders and burden-bearers, should be those who are sound in the faith, and not men whose general influence has been to counterwork the messages the Lord has given to the church to point out the dangers of His people. In our churches in Oakland and Berkeley there has been exercised an unbecoming jurisdiction which the Lord does not approve.
(18MR 235.2)
My brethren and sisters, the end is nearer than when we first believed. I would say to the believers who have met at Berkeley, You are a mixed company. I might mention the names of some whom I have been shown stand in a wrong relation to God and His work, but this would not be best at this time. If things continue as they have been, I shall have to do this. There are others who will understand when the converting power of truth shall take hold of them. Those who have seen and heard so much to confirm their faith, and yet have not manifested genuine repentance, need to experience a true conversion. If their repentance is not thorough, they will work out the same plans in the future that they have carried in the past. There is a decided work to be done in the Berkeley church. If they will receive the messages of God, and will humble their hearts and be converted, then the union of the two companies will result in lasting good.
(18MR 235.3)
Marvelous blessings may be expected by the faithful, humble followers of Jesus Christ who follow on to know the Lord. “God so loved the world that He 236gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”“The world by wisdom knew not God, but it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. As it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” [1 Corinthians 2:9, 10].
(18MR 235.4)
The Lord has light and wisdom for His people, which they should expect, receive, and cherish. Let there be decided changes made. Let those who have been accusers, and who have stood ready to take offense at any word or move that seemed to them to be ill-advised, humble their hearts, and pray that the spirit of division and dissension may be taken away. The Lord has a work for all to do who will submit to be worked by His Holy Spirit.
(18MR 236.1)
Study the ninth chapter of Ezekiel. These words will be literally fulfilled; yet the time is passing, and the people are asleep. They refuse to humble their souls and to be converted. Not a great while longer will the Lord bear with the people who have such great and important truths revealed to them, but who refuse to bring these truths into their individual experience. The time is short. God is calling. Will you hear? Will you receive His message? Will you be converted before it is too late? Soon, very soon, every case will be decided for eternity.—Letter 106, 1909.
(18MR 236.2)