Seek For The Old Paths

Chapter 13

“HIS SOUL’S SALVATION IS AT STAKE…”

If there is any subject that could rightly be called a “two-edged sword,” this next one is it.

God in His infinite wisdom and love has made it clear that the ministry can be the greatest of blessings; or, it can be the greatest of curses.

Because this point is so important, while also being such a delicate issue, I will refrain from adding any of my own thoughts; instead, I will simply share a selection of inspired quotes. Some of them will set before us the sacredness and blessedness of the true minister of God; others will set before us our need to be exceeding careful. I will break them into two groups:

Group #1:

 “There is nothing more precious in the sight of God than His ministers.”  {Acts of the Apostles 369}

 “To the physician equally with the gospel minister is committed the highest trust ever committed to man.”  {Ministry of Healing 119}

 “The minister stands as God’s mouthpiece to the people.”  {Gospel Workers 20}

 “Since His ascension, Christ the great Head of the church, has carried forward His work in the world by chosen ambassadors, through whom He speaks to the children of men, and ministers to their needs.”  {Gospel Workers 13}

 “The sweet influences that are to be abundant in the church are bound up with God’s ministers.”  {Acts of the Apostles 586}

 “It is hardly possible for men to offer greater insult to God than to despise and reject the instrumentalities He would use for their salvation.”  {Patriarchs and Prophets 402}

Group #2:

 “O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err.”  {Isaiah 3:12}

 “For the rejection of Christ, with the results that followed, they were responsible. A nation’s sin and a nation’s ruin were due to the religious leaders.”  {Christ’s Object Lessons 305}

 “As the light and life of men was rejected by the ecclesiastical authorities in the days of Christ, so it has been rejected in every succeeding generation.”  {Desire of Ages 232}

 “The church will rarely take a higher stand than is taken by her ministers.”  {5 Testimonies 227}

 “Parents are not to trust their own souls and the souls of their children to the minister, but to God, whose they are by creation and by redemption. Parents should search the Scriptures for themselves, for they have souls to save or to lose. They cannot afford to depend for salvation upon the minister. They must study the truth for themselves.”  {Child Guidance 513}

 “It becomes us to be diligent Bible students, that we may know what is according to the law and the testimony. We are safe in no other course of action.”  {2 Selected Messages 99}

 “It is not enough to do what a man thinks is right or what the minister tells him is right. His soul’s salvation is at stake, and he should search the Scriptures for himself. However strong may be his convictions, however confident he may be that the minister knows what is truth, this is not his foundation…With divine help we are to form our opinions for ourselves as we are to answer for ourselves before God.”  {Great Controversy 598}

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Next: Chapter 14: ~ “FINALLY BRETHREN”