How to Deal With Error

NBL.015.001

When errors come into our ranks, we are not to enter into controversy over them. We are to present the message of reproof and then lead the minds of the people away from fanciful, erroneous ideas, presenting the truth in contrast with error. Presenting heavenly scenes will open up principles that rest upon a foundation as enduring as eternity.

NBL.015.002

Christ is the root, His people are the branches. This makes a perfect whole. Those people are most serviceable to the Master whose Christian convictions are so consistent and so commendable that their characters are of solid worth. Nothing can move them from the faith. Truth is to them a precious treasure. The truth of God is found in His Word, and those who feel that they must seek elsewhere for present truth need to be converted anew. They have habits to mend, evil ways to be abandoned. They need to seek anew the truth as it is in Jesus, that their character building may be in harmony with the lessons of Christ. As they abandon their human ideas and take up their duties, beholding Christ and becoming conformed to His image, they say, «Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee, e’en though it be a cross that raiseth me.»

NBL.015.003

Sanctifying Truth With the Word of God in hand, we may draw nearer, step by step, in consecrated love, to Jesus Christ. Let those who have been deluded give up all their fallacies. The love of Jesus will not endure such rivals. As the Spirit of God becomes better known, the Bible will be received as the only foundation of faith. God’s people will receive the Word as the leaves of the tree of life, more precious than fine gold purified in the fire and more powerful to sanctify than any other agency. To talk of Christ without the Word leads to sentimentalism. And to receive the theory of the Word, without accepting and appreciating the Author, makes men legal formalists. But Christ and His precious Word are in perfect harmony. Received and obeyed, they open a sure path for the feet of all who are willing to walk in the light as Christ is in the light.

NBL.015.004

If the people of God would appreciate His Word, what a heaven we should have here below in the church. Christians would be eager, hungry to search the Word. They would be anxious for time to compare scripture with scripture and to meditate upon the Word. They would be more eager for the light of the Word than for the morning papers, magazines, or novels. Their greatest desire would be to eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God.

NBL.015.005

And as a result their lives would be conformed to the principles and promises of His Word. Its instruction would be to them as the leaves of the tree of life. It would be in them a well of water, springing up unto everlasting life. Refreshing showers of grace would refresh and revive the soul, causing them to forget all weariness and toil. They would be strengthened and encouraged by the words of inspiration.

NBL.016.001

Then the ministers would be inspired by divine truth. Their prayers would be characterized by earnestness, filled with the divine assurance of truth. Weariness would be forgotten as the soul basks in the sunlight from the heavenly atmosphere. Truth would be interwoven with their lives, and its heavenly principles would be as a fresh running stream, continually satisfying the soul. «And thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. . . .

NBL.016.002

Bible Piety The Lord’s philosophy is the rule of the Christian’s life. The entire being is imbued with the life-giving principles of heaven. The busy nothings which consume the time of so many shrink into their proper subordinate position before a healthy, sanctifying, Bible piety. The Bible, and the Bible alone, can produce this good fruit. It is the wisdom of God and the power of God, and it works with all power in the receptive heart. Oh, what might we not each if we would conform our wills to the will of God. Oh, it is the power of God we need, my dear brother and sister, wherever we are. The mass of frivolity that cumbers the church makes it weak and inefficient. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are seeking and longing for channels through which to communicate the divine principles of truth to the world.

NBL.016.003

Artificial Lights Artificial lights may appear, claiming to come from heaven, but they cannot shine forth as the star of holiness, the star of heavenly brightness, to guide the feet of the pilgrim and the stranger into the city of our God. Shall we allow heaven’s bright beams to be eclipsed by artificial lights? False lights will take the place of the true, and many souls will be for a time deceived. God forbid that it should be so with us. The true light now shineth, and will light up the windows of the soul that are opened heavenward.— Letter 43, 1901 . —

NBL.016.004

Angels Looking for Co-operation Satan uses human agents to bring the soul under the power of temptation, but the angels of God are searching for human agents through whom they may co-operate to save the tempted ones. Angels are looking for those who will work in Christ’s lines, who will be moved by the realization that they belong to Christ. They are looking for those who will feel that those who fall under temptation, whether high or low, are the ones who need their special labors, and that Christ looks on those who are passed by, neglected, wounded, and bruised by the enemy, and ready to die, and is grieved at the hardness of men, who refuse to exercise the faith that works by love, which will purify the soul.

NBL.016.005

Angels of God will work with, and through, and by those who will co-operate with the heavenly agencies for the saving of a soul from death, and the hiding of a multitude of sins, that will lead them to consider themselves, lest they also be tempted.

NBL.016.006

It is the sick that need a physician, not those who are whole. When you expend labor on those who do not need it, and take no notice of the very ones whom your words and actions could bless, you are forming a character that is not after the likeness of Christ— Letter 70, 1894 .