Chapter 18—Opposition Fulfills Prophecy

The best evidence one can give that he accepts the Bible as God’s message of love and salvation, is to take it as the man of his counsel—the lamp to his feet and the light to his path—and to reveal the power of the Divine Word in a life transformed by the Holy Spirit into the character of his Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is true as applied to the writings which come through the gift of prophecy. The best evidence which one can show of his faith in the divine origin of these writings is an earnest endeavor to bring his life into harmony with their teachings. He may differ with some of his brethren as to technicalities, but if he is seeking to regulate his own life—and if a leader in the church, to fashion the work of the church and the polity of this movement—by the instruction which has come to us through the Lord’s messenger, that is the best evidence he can furnish his brethren of his faith in the doctrine of spiritual gifts. Obedience, rather than definitions of technical points of difference, is the real test of faith as relates to the teachings both of the Bible and of the Testimonies.TOJ 144.3

In connection with the writings of Mrs. E. G. White are technical questions which may be difficult to understand, just as there are similar questions relating to the Holy Scriptures. Some of these questions we have discussed in preceding chapters. We regret that the limitations of space preclude further discussion of some of these technicalities at the present time. But whether understood or not, these questions should not be magnified to the place where they constitute a test of orthodoxy or to where they become a bone of contention or a line of division between brethren. Let us seek to draw near to those who may differ with us, emphasizing the great principles upon which we are agreed, and minimizing the details on which we differ.TOJ 144.4

There have always been two classes in the church of Christ—the fast and the slow, the progressive and the conservative. These two classes exist today. Some are counted by their brethren as too slow and unbelieving, as was Thomas; and others are regarded as being radical and impulsive, as was Peter. God permits various temperaments to be associated in order that each may learn from the other, that the lack of one may be supplied by the abundance of the other.TOJ 145.1

Where the spirit of Christian charity is cherished, we shall not hear so often the cry of fanaticism, on the one hand, because some brother grows ardent and enthusiastic in his expression of faith; nor the charge of unbelief, on the other hand, because someone cannot move so fast as his associates would elect to travel. Christian charity holds to liberty without license, and to conservatism without reaction.TOJ 145.2