第十章 是发出直截证言的时候了

确实，每一位基督复临安息日会信徒认识老底嘉罪恶的时候已经到了——就是它的世俗化与骄傲，等等——并且加入那些大声疾呼之人的行列，反对这一属肉体与属灵令人厌恶的混合体的时候也已经到了。为要传扬老底嘉的信息，传道人与教友都必须甘愿冒着批评的危险。虽有一千种更悦人的题目，然而现在已经为时太晚不能以温和的事物取而代之了。沉睡的圣徒们再也不需要温和的信息了。现在是唤醒的时辰。

如果你觉得施洗约翰在其宣讲中太强烈太直接了，你或许就要起来反对今日上帝引导人宣讲的这类信息了。当约翰要求王对其不合法的婚姻作出表决时，他是否太直率了呢？如果是，我们必须更加直率。请思考以下证言：

“在这一可怕的时期，正在基督第二次来临前，上帝忠心的传道人将不得不作出比施洗约翰更加率直的见证。一项责任重大、重要的工作正摆在他们面前；那些传讲温和事物的人，上帝必不会承认为是祂的牧人。可怕的灾祸要临到他们。”——《证言卷一》，321面

对于被纠正错误，难道今日的宗教领袖们会比在约翰时期的那些宗教领袖们感觉好些吗？我们的确可以料想那些处在老底嘉舒适的、自以为义模式中的人，也会发出同样的愤慨：怎么可以有人胆敢用错行或是背道加罪于真理教会呢！

“古时，当上帝派遣以利亚传信息给人们时，他们并没有听从警告。他们想他没必要那么严厉。他们甚至想他一定是失去理性了，因为他谴责他们——上帝蒙爱之民——与罪人一样，并且他谴责他们的罪行是如此严重以致上帝的审判将兴起反对他们。撒旦与其全军一直在列阵对抗那些担负警告信息与斥责罪恶之人。未成圣的人也将联合众生之敌，来尽量使得上帝忠心仆人的工作非常艰难。”——《证言卷三》，261面

在这些分别与试炼的时候，身负重责的牧师与领袖们的传道事工务必不受惧怕之灵的影响。安慰那些已经在锡安睡熟了的人并非仁慈。我们或许倾向于像以利那样，非常温柔仁慈；然而不要忘记了，缺乏坚毅是如何导致以利被弃绝的。这个人有很多好的方面可以说，但是他太惧怕采取有力的、不妥协的立场，公开反对罪恶。

“以利为人温柔、仁慈、和蔼，而且真正关怀对上帝的服务和祂圣工的发达，他在祷告方面也大有能力，他从未起而反抗上帝的圣言，可是他仍有缺欠。他缺少品格上的坚毅来谴责罪恶，并向犯罪的人秉公执法，借此使上帝可以依赖他保守以色列民纯洁。他没有在信心上加上勇敢和毅力，得以在适当的时间和适当的场合说出‘不’。罪就是罪，义就是义。必须发出警告的号角声。我们正生活在一个极其邪恶的时代中。除非在各个职责岗位上都有高度清醒的人，否则对上帝的敬拜必将变得败坏。”——《证言卷四》，517面

上帝会让许多讨人喜欢的、温柔的牧师们为他们所没有勇气揭露并斥责的罪负责吗？

“倘若错误在祂的子民当中非常明显，而上帝的仆人竟熟视无睹，他们实际上就是维护罪人，证明罪人是正当的了；他们就同样有罪，也必同样遭到上帝的不悦；因为他们必要为这些罪负责。”——《证言卷三》，265，266面

“如果教会领袖疏忽了勤勉地寻找出招致上帝对教会不悦的罪，他们就要为这些罪负责了。”——《证言卷三》，269面

“那些缺少胆量，不敢谴责错误，或因懈怠懒惰，或从不关心，不努力使家庭或上帝教会洁净的人，必要为自己疏忽责任所引起罪恶的后果负责。我们对罪恶的责任也正是如此，我们要以作父母或牧师的威权去制止邪恶，否则就正像我们自己犯了这些罪一样。”——《先祖与先知》，578面

可以预见，撒旦在其最后垂死反抗的努力中要使上帝的特殊余民对律法失去信心，他要把不忠心的牧师与未悔改的教友渗入教会中，这岂不是合乎逻辑的吗？纵观历代战事的背景，很容易就发现他是如何努力运用这一长期战术策略的。

因为我们真实地生活在这一惊人的长篇大剧之最后阶段，我们就成了撒旦整个战略的正面看台的观众。现在他正聚合其已利用过的所有影响力来使守诫命的人软弱。我们看到许多特定事件正在会聚，这些事件是至今才能明白的，因为它们曾看似仅仅是使人忧伤的枝节问题。忽然，我们就看到它们都被聚集在一起，并且正被大仇敌亲自策划着。

请再看看该智力拼图开始显出来的这一惊人的次序。教会内部一个个单独的新生事物被看出是现在将近完成的巨大图样的一个个小部分。在撒旦最终目标的亮光下，一切都变得有意义了。用越来越加大的与世俗妥协的楔子慢慢地冲淡属灵的标准，撒但所设计的计谋还有比这个更好的吗？同时，撒旦利用许多人对于反对狂热主义与律法主义的惧怕，制造了惟独恩典、十字架上完成救赎之工以及不重视成圣的极端倾向。一些传道人已经陷入此趋势中，习惯于不要求完全顺服的果子就接纳新教友受洗。在这些没有悔改的人和一群以世俗为导向的教友的影响下，特别是因为从带有背离观点的无数年轻的提倡者们每周的证道中渗漏出来的“新神学”观点，教会就没有预备好对付“新神学”爆炸性的冲击。

我的心向往那数百位忠心的复临信徒，他们曾写信告诉我他们的努力，要阻止那持续不断的背道之潮。他们意识到一个接一个宝贵的原则被“裁减”了，他们正在设法坚持原则的孤单工作中寻求帮助。我的忠告一直都是一样的。留在教会里，特别是要用祷告与圣经学习保持与主耶稣亲近。确保自己坚持遵守可靠的、历史的真理，不可妥协！

今日在教会中我们所面对问题的真正解决之道是什么呢？当然，整体的答案就是大摇动，然而个人的解决之道就是建立一种跟基督非常深厚的属灵关系。我们没有一个人可以想象得到撒旦全面对抗圣徒的战略性质。他要真实地从其邪恶的武库中调用一切来攻击那些拦阻他的人。凡是能被震动的都要被震动。

大城市要成为暴虐与危险的中心。对于守安息日之人那里将没有安全之所。我们再三地收到警告要离开大城市地区，寻找在乡村的小地方。金钱和产业会成为那些等候太久而未将之投入上帝圣工之人的网罗与威胁。当复临信徒的数百万美元被扫荡到临近的经济崩溃中时，财富的真正谎言将要被揭开。

对于那些已将生命与财产都摆在祭坛上的人来说，他们必不害怕那些末后之事。借着每日省察己心的祷告与圣经学习，他们已经预备好自己面对哈米吉多顿大战了。当善恶大斗争升级到其最后阶段时，每一个人都要成为基督与撒旦之间激烈争战的对象。惟有那些已经预先准备好了的人才是安全的。那些已经发展了与世俗妥协态度的人必不能对付这场试炼。

上帝对老底嘉的呼召是悔改，并抓住信心、爱心、基督的义与圣灵。有盼望和应许给每一位要与上帝为我们成圣所提供的各媒介通力合作的人。正如古时的但以理一样，我们在预备面对死亡判决之前，必须先在小事上忠心。通过在每一境遇中发展毫不动摇的忠诚，心灵就得坚固，胜利就有保证。

你今日如何呢？你在等待更多的确据显明末日正临到我们吗？请问问你自己，为预备基督的复临，还需要在生命里作成哪些恩典之工呢？如果你没有一天花至少一个小时灵修祷告的话，你怎么证明自己的疏忽是正当的呢？对于我们真正想做的事，我们总是有空的。撒旦最喜欢的欺骗就是在那些只有挂名经验的人当中，制造一种虚假的安全感。

现在当趁着主可寻找到的时候寻找祂。请调整你每日的安排以在清早或傍晚保留最佳祷告与灵修的时间。通过持续的深思熟虑的选择将上帝置于你生命中的首位，就必获致一种非常惊人的灵性的锻炼。

“当我们归顺基督时，我们的心便与祂的心合而为一，我们的意志便合并在祂的意志之中，我们的心意就和祂的心意联合一致，我们的思想也要归顺于祂；我们就度着基督所度的生活了。这就是穿上祂义袍的真谛。”——《基督比喻实训》，312面

这是一件多么令人兴奋的可能发生之事啊！习惯性的全人降服于上帝，会导致与祂实际的联合！当我们渴慕那样的经历，胜过世界上任何别的事物时，我们就必得到它。并且当我们花时间在祂面前时，我们的渴慕就必增长。

这种关系的馨香之气将以无可言喻的喜乐充满任何一个人的生命。当你优先献上有质量的时间，以上帝的圣言为食物时，也就必有属灵的复兴——正如雨后万物随之生长一样。

“我们如能常将主显在我们面前，使我们的心不断地向祂表示感谢和赞美，我们的宗教生活必经常具有新的气象。我们的祈祷会呈现与上帝谈话的方式，如同与朋友谈心一样。祂要亲自将祂的奥秘启示给我们。我们便会时常获得耶稣与我们同在的甜蜜愉快的感觉。祂要时常与我们交谈，如同古时与以诺交谈一样，我们的心就必火热起来。”——《基督比喻实训》，129面

CHAPTER 10 TIME FOR THE STRAIGHT TESTIMONY

Surely the time has come for every Seventh-day Adventist to learn about the sins of Laodicea -its worldliness, pride, etc.-and to join those who will cry out against this nauseating mixture of flesh and spirit. Ministers and members must be willing to risk criticism in order to preach the Laodicean message. There are a thousand more pleasant subjects, but the hour is too late to substitute smooth things. Neither do the sleeping saints need any more soothing messages. This is the hour for an awakening.

If you think John the Baptist was too strong and direct in his preaching, you may rise up against the kind of messages God is leading men to proclaim today. Was John too blunt when he called the king into question for being unlawfully married? If so, we must be more blunt. Consider this statement:

"In this fearful time, just before Christ is to come the second time, God's faithful preachers will have to bear a still more pointed testimony than was borne by John the Baptist. A responsible, important work is before them; and those who speak smooth things, God will not acknowledge as His shepherds. A fearful woe is upon them." Testimonies, Vol. 1, p. 321.

Will the religious leaders of today feel any better about being corrected than those in John's day? Surely we can expect the same outrage to be expressed by those who are settled in the comfortable, self-righteous mold of Laodicea. How dare anyone charge the true church with wrong-doing or apostasy!

"Anciently, when Elijah was sent with a message from God to the people, they did not heed the warning. They thought him unnecessarily severe. They even thought that he must have lost his senses because he denounced them, the favored people of God, as sinners and their crimes as so aggravated that the judgments of God would awaken against them. Satan and his host have ever been arrayed against those who bear the message of warning and who reprove sins. The unconsecrated will also be united with the adversary of souls to make the work of God's faithful servants as hard as possible." Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 261.

In these days of separation and testing, the spirit of fear must not mold the ministry of responsible pastors and leaders. It is no kindness to comfort those who are asleep in Zion. We may be inclined, like Eli, to be very gentle and loving, but don't ever forget how that lack of firmness led to Eli's rejection. Much good can be said about the man, but he was too fearful of taking a strong, uncompromising, public stand against sin.

"Eli was gentle, loving, and kind, and had a true interest in the service of God and the prosperity of His cause. He was a man who had power in prayer. He never rose up in rebellion against the words of God. But he was wanting; he did not have firmness of character to reprove sin and execute justice against the sinner so that God could depend upon him to keep Israel pure. He did not add to his faith the courage and power to say No at the right time and in the right place. Sin is sin; righteousness is righteousness. The trumpet note of warning must be sounded. We are living in a fearfully wicked age. The worship of God will become corrupted unless there are wide-awake men at every post of duty." Testimonies, Vol. 4, p. 517.

Will God hold many sweet, gentle pastors responsible for sins they find no heart to expose and rebuke?

"If wrongs are apparent among His people, and if the servants of God pass on indifferent to them, they virtually sustain and justify the sinner, and are alike guilty and will just as surely receive the displeasure of God; for they will be made responsible for the sins of the guilty." Testimonies, Vol. 3, pp. 265, 266.

"If the leaders of the church neglect to diligently search out the sins which bring the displeasure of God upon the body, they become responsible for these sins." Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 269.

"Those who have too little courage to reprove wrong, or who through indolence or lack of interest make no earnest effort to purify the family or the church of God, are held accountable for the evil that may result from their neglect of duty. We are just as responsible for evils that we might have checked in others by exercise of parental or pastoral authority as if the acts had been our own." Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 578.

In anticipation of his last-ditch effort to make God's special remnant lose confidence in the law, would it not be logical for Satan to infiltrate the church with uncommitted pastors as well as unconverted members? When viewed in the context of the age-long warfare, it is easy to see how he would attempt such a long-range tactical ploy.

Because we live literally in the final stages of this tremendous drawn-out drama, we become grandstand spectators of Satan's total strategy. Right now he is pulling together all the lines of influence which he has manipulated to weaken the commandment keepers. We see a converging of many circumstances which could not be understood until now, because they appeared only as distressing side issues. Suddenly we see that they were all tied together and were being masterminded by the great adversary himself.

Look once more at the amazing order which the jigsaw puzzle begins to reveal. The isolated developments within the church are seen to be small portions of a giant pattern which is now approaching completion. It all makes sense in the light of Satan's ultimate objectives. What better plan could he have devised than to dilute the spiritual standards slowly by worldly wedges of compromise that grew bigger and bigger. At the same time, Satan exploited the fears of many against fanaticism and legalism, causing a radical swing toward grace-only, the finished work of the cross, and a down-play of sanctification. Some ministers were caught up in the trend, and were conditioned to accept new members for baptism without the fruits of full obedience. Under the influence of these unconverted ones, and a worldly-oriented membership, the church was not prepared to cope with the explosive impact of the "new theology," especially since it filtered through the weekly sermons of numerous young advocates of the divergent views.

My heart goes out to the hundreds of faithful Adventists who have written me about their efforts to stem the relentless tide of apostasy. They recognize the "snipping away" of one cherished principle after another, and are seeking support in their lonely work of trying to hold the line. My counsel is always the same. Stay in the church, and especially stay close to the Lord Jesus in prayer and Bible study. Be sure that you stand on sound, historic truth, and DON'T COMPROMISE!

What is the real solution to the problems we face in the church today? The corporate answer, of course, is the shaking, but the personal solution is a very deep, spiritual relationship with Christ. None of us can ever imagine the nature of the full-blown opposition program of Satan against the saints. He will literally throw everything in his arsenal of evil at those who stand in his way. Everything that can be shaken will be shaken.

The large cities will be centers of violence and dangers. There will be no safe place there for Sabbath-keepers. We have received warning after warning to leave the great metropolitan areas and secure small places in the country. Money and property will become a snare and threat to those who waited too long to put them into the work of God. The real deceitfulness of riches will be exposed when millions of Adventist dollars are swept away in the approaching economic collapse.

For those who have placed their lives and possessions upon the altar, there will be no fear of the final events. By daily heart-searching prayer and Bible study, they have prepared themselves for the maelstrom of Armageddon. When the great controversy rises to its final stages, each person becomes the subject of a raging battle between Christ and Satan. There will be security only for those who have prepared in advance. The ones who have developed a conciliatory attitude toward the world cannot meet the test.

God's call to Laodicea is to repent and lay hold of faith, love, the righteousness of Christ, and the Holy Spirit. There is hope and promise for every soul who will cooperate with the agencies God provides for our sanctification. Like Daniel of old, we must be faithful in little things before we are prepared to face the death sentence. By developing unswerving loyalty in every circumstance, the soul is fortified, and victory is assured.

How is it with you today? Are you waiting for more signs that the end is upon us? Ask yourself what work of grace still needs to be done in your life in preparation for Christ's coming. If you are not spending at least an hour a day in study and prayer, how do you justify your neglect? We find time for what we really want to do. Satan's favorite deception is to create a false security in those who have only a nominal experience.

Seek the Lord now while He may be found. Adjust your daily program to reserve choice prayer and study time in the early morning or evening. By consistent and deliberate decisions to make God first in your life, an amazing discipline of spirit will result.

"When we submit ourselves to Christ, the heart is united with His heart, the will is merged in His will, the mind becomes one with His mind, the thoughts are brought into captivity to Him; we live His life. This is what it means to be clothed with the garment of His righteousness." Christ's Object lessons, p. 312.

What an exciting possibility! The habitual yielding of the entire being to God results in an actual union with Him. When we hunger for that experience more than for anything else in the world, we shall receive it. And the desire grows as we spend time in His presence.

The fragrance of such a relationship will fill any life with joy unspeakable. As you give priority, quality time for feeding on God's Word, there will be spiritual revival also-just as surely as growth follows the rain.

"If we keep the Lord ever before us, allowing our hearts to go out in thanksgiving and praise to Him, we shall have continual freshness in our religious life. Our prayers will take the form of a conversation with God as we would talk with a friend. He will speak His mysteries to us personally. Often there will come to us a sweet joyful sense of the presence of Jesus. Often our hearts will burn within us as He draws nigh to commune with us as He did with Enoch." Christ's Object Lessons, p. 129.