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Arbitrary Power ( 18 )

Quotations from the writings of Ellen G. White with the phrase . . .

arbitrary power

Related Phrase: excercising arbitrary power

No man was to exercise an arbitrary power over another man's conscience. Christ gave no ecclesiastical right to forgive sin, nor to sell indulgences, that men may sin without incurring the displeasure of God, nor did he give his servants liberty to accept a gift or bribe for cloaking sin, that it may escape merited censure. Jesus charged his disciples to preach the remission of sin in his name among all nations; but they themselves were not empowered to remove one stain of sin from the children of Adam. Nor were they to execute judgment against the guilty; the wrath of an offended God was to be proclaimed against the sinner; but the power which the Roman Church assumes to visit that wrath upon the offender is not established by any direction of Christ; he himself will execute the sentence pronounced against the impenitent. Whoever would attract the people to himself as one in whom is invested power to forgive sins, incurs the wrath of God, for he turns souls away from the heavenly Pardoner to a weak and erring mortal. {3SP 245.1}

When the earth was repeopled, men again lost the fear of God out of their hearts. Satan worked to array them against God. Thus he was seeking to gain full possession of the earth. He misinterpreted the character of God, and charged him with the very attributes that he himself possessed, while he concealed his own character from them. He professed to be their best friend, one who was working so that God's arbitrary power should not bring them into abject slavery. Through fallen man he renewed his hostilities to God, and triumphed in the very face of Heaven. {RH, August 14, 1900 par. 10}

The judge who is here pictured had no regard for right, nor pity for suffering. The widow who pressed her case before him was persistently repulsed. Again and again she came to him, only to be treated with contempt, and to be driven from the judgment seat. The judge knew that her cause was righteous, and he could have relieved her at once, but he would not. He wanted to show his arbitrary power, and it gratified him to let her ask and plead and entreat in vain. But she would not fail nor become discouraged. Notwithstanding his indifference and hardheartedness, she pressed her petition until the judge consented to attend to her case. "Though I fear not God, nor regard man," he said, "yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me." To save his reputation, to avoid giving publicity to his partial, one-sided judgment, he avenged the persevering woman. {COL 164.3}

If this judge had had the mind that is in Christ Jesus, he might have saved himself all trouble. He might have saved the woman the earnest, soul-harassing persistency that finally moved him. He understood the difference between right and wrong. Had he feared God, the widow need not have gone to him again and again, to be treated with contempt by those who had no sympathy, and to be torn from the judgment-seat. But he did not possess Christlike attributes. He cared only for that which would further his ambition. He could have relieved the woman, but he would not. He could have restrained wrong, and his position before God required him to do this; but this course was not in harmony with his hard-hearted determination to let the widow ask and seek and knock in vain. He wanted to show his arbitrary power. He wrapped his garments of selfishness about him, and let her plead in vain. When he saw that he was revealing his true character, when his position was made uncomfortable by some who pitied the widow, he listened to her. "Tho I fear not God, nor regard man," he said, "yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me." Self was his god, and to save his reputation, to avoid giving further publicity to his partial, one-sided judgment, he avenged the persevering woman. {ST, September 8, 1898 par. 4}

This is not an act of arbitrary power on the part of God. The rejecters of His mercy reap that which they have sown. God is the fountain of life; and when one chooses the service of sin, he separates from God, and thus cuts himself off from life. He is "alienated from the life of God." Christ says, "All they that hate Me love death." Eph. 4:18; Prov. 8:36. God gives them existence for a time that they may develop their character and reveal their principles. This accomplished, they receive the results of their own choice. By a life of rebellion, Satan and all who unite with him place themselves so out of harmony with God that His very presence is to them a consuming fire. The glory of Him who is love will destroy them. {DA 764.1}

You have peculiar views in regard to managing your family. You exercise an independent, arbitrary power which permits no liberty of will around you. You think yourself sufficient to be head in your family and feel that your head is sufficient to move every member, as a machine is moved in the hands of the workmen. You dictate and assume authority. This displeases Heaven and grieves the pitying angels. You have conducted yourself in your family as though you alone were capable of self-government. It has offended you that your wife should venture to oppose your opinion or question your decisions. {AH 226.1} {2T 253.2}

The Protest denied the right of civil rulers to legislate in matters between the soul and God, and declared with prophets and apostles, "We ought to obey God rather than men." It rejected also the arbitrary power of the church, and set forth the unerring principle that all human teaching should be in subjection to the oracles of God. The protesters had thrown off the yoke of man's supremacy, and had exalted Christ as supreme in the church, and his word in the pulpit. The power of conscience was set above the State, and the authority of the Holy Scriptures above the visible church. The crown of Christ was uplifted above the pope's tiara and the emperor's diadem. The protesters had moreover affirmed their right to freely utter their convictions of truth. They would not only believe and obey, but teach what the word of God presents, and they denied the right of priest or magistrate to interfere. The Protest of Spires was a solemn witness against religious intolerance, and an assertion of the right of all men to worship according to the dictates of their own consciences. {4SP 162.2} Note: similar to Great Controversy, page 203.4

It is the Lord's design that the church shall stand as His representative in a revolted world. No authority should have place in it, no laws be acknowledged, that would limit its influence. The laws of God's kingdom are to be honored and obeyed. Its members are to be those who have renounced the service of sin, cut loose from Satan's arbitrary power, and taken their stand under the blood-stained banner of Prince Emmanuel. They are to know the meaning of the words, "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. {PUR, December 15, 1904 par. 1}

exercising arbitrary power

A neglect on the part of woman to follow God's plan in her creation, an effort to reach for important positions which He has not qualified her to fill, leaves vacant the position that she could fill to acceptance. In getting out of her sphere, she loses true womanly dignity and nobility. When God created Eve, He designed that she should possess neither inferiority nor superiority to the man, but that in all things she should be his equal. The holy pair were to have no interest independent of each other; and yet each had an individuality in thinking and acting. But after Eve's sin, as she was first in the transgression, the Lord told her that Adam should rule over her. She was to be in subjection to her husband, and this was a part of the curse. In many cases the curse has made the lot of woman very grievous and her life a burden. The superiority which God has given man he has abused in many respects by exercising arbitrary power. Infinite wisdom devised the plan of redemption, which places the race on a second probation by giving them another trial. {3T 484.1}

Here it was demonstrated that a worse blindness than that of physical blindness closed the understanding of the Jewish people. By his infinite power Jesus could heal those who were physically blind, but those who were spiritually blind could not discern their need of enlightenment; for they thought themselves righteous. The treatment that Jesus received from those of his own nation is symbolic of the treatment he was to receive from the whole world. He lived in the world, and he had a deep, earnest love for the world, and especially for the Jewish nation. The question was brought to an issue that had been the point of controversy since the fall, concerning the character of God. Satan had charged God with exercising arbitrary power, and of alienating the human race from himself. Satan sowed seeds of enmity, and kept them well watered, in order that he might be successful in deluding souls, and thus triumph over Christ, making the gulf more deep and impassable between earth and heaven. He presented his falsehoods as truth, and became bold in transgression, seeking to wear out the goodness, mercy, and forbearance of God, to extinguish from his heart all love for man, and thus so exasperate divine justice that God would leave the world under Satanic jurisdiction. "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." Instead of being softened by the long patience of God, they encourage themselves in continual resistance. {ST, December 4, 1893 par. 2}

No man was to exercise an arbitrary power over another man's conscience. Christ gave no ecclesiastical right to forgive sin, nor to sell indulgences, that men may sin without incurring the displeasure of God, nor did he give his servants liberty to accept a gift or bribe for cloaking sin, that it may escape merited censure. Jesus charged his disciples to preach the remission of sin in his name among all nations; but they themselves were not empowered to remove one stain of sin from the children of Adam. Nor were they to execute judgment against the guilty; the wrath of an offended God was to be proclaimed against the sinner; but the power which the Roman Church assumes to visit that wrath upon the offender is not established by any direction of Christ; he himself will execute the sentence pronounced against the impenitent. Whoever would attract the people to himself as one in whom is invested power to forgive sins, incurs the wrath of God, for he turns souls away from the heavenly Pardoner to a weak and erring mortal. {6Red 63.1}

A good foundation was laid for what would follow during the next few days. The messages W. C. White carried dealt pointedly with the local situation and made it clear that because of the arbitrary power exercised by the conference president a change should be made in conference leadership. When asked to take the early-morning meeting on Wednesday, W. C. White felt it was time to begin bringing in the counsels on the unwise use of power of conference leaders. He read a manuscript written the Thursday before, titled "Jehovah Is Our King" (see TM, pp. 477-484). It opened: {6BIO 149.1}

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