Danger in Rejecting the Testimonies

God’s people today have the privilege of learning many lessons from the experience of ancient Israel. On so many occasions, when counsels came from the Lord through His servants the prophets, the people turned a deaf car to them; they shrugged their shoulders; they neglected to give heed to the solemn warnings. Time after time not only did apostasy follow but also tragic national disaster. In this connection we would do well to recall some of the earnest counsel given by God’s messenger to the remnant church. Note the following pertinent paragraphs:BSPC 126.1

“It is Satan’s plan to weaken the faith of God’s people in the Testimonies. Next follows skepticism in regard to the vital points of our faith, the pillars of our position, then doubt as to the Holy Scriptures, and then the downward march to perdition. When the Testimonies, which were once believed, are doubted and given up, Satan knows the deceived ones will not stop at this; and he redoubles his efforts till he launches them into open rebellion, which becomes incurable and ends in destruction.”Testimonies for the Church 4:211.BSPC 126.2

“Let the Testimonies be judged by their fruits. What is the spirit of their teaching? What has been the result of their influence? All who desire to do so can acquaint themselves with the fruits of these visions. For seventeen years God has seen fit to let them survive and strengthen against the opposition of Satan’s forces and the influence of human agencies that have aided Satan in his work.”BSPC 126.3

“God is either teaching His church, reproving their wrongs and strengthening their faith, or He is not. This work is of God, or it is not. God does nothing in partnership with Satan. My work ... bears the stamp of God or the stamp of the enemy. There is no halfway work in the matter. The Testimonies are of the Spirit of God, or of the devil.”BSPC 126.4

“As the Lord has manifested Himself through the spirit of prophecy, ‘past, present, and future have passed before me. I have been shown faces that I had never seen, and years afterward I knew them when I saw them. I have been aroused from my sleep with a vivid sense of subjects previously presented to my mind; and I have written, at midnight, letters that have gone across the continent and, arriving at a crisis, have saved great disaster to the cause of God. This has been my work for many years. A power has impelled me to reprove and rebuke wrongs that I had not thought of. Is this work...from above or from beneath?’”Testimonies for the Church 5:671.BSPC 126.5