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| Spiritual blindness comes upon men when they choose their own way, and venture to transgress the commandments of God. God has given men His ordinances to keep them in harmony with His ways and will, that God may co-operate with man, and man with God, in advancing His kingdom in the world. The Lord has given in trust to man everything which he calls his own, and He claims a certain portion of this for Himself. This is the return that man is to make to his God, to sustain the ministers whom the Lord has appointed to give the message of mercy to a fallen world. The watchmen upon the walls of Zion must be provided for in no haphazard manner. The Lord has intrusted the advancement and upbuilding of His kingdom to His sentinels, and they must do their appointed work. They must be faithful in their ministry, speaking the words that God has given them. The message is to be borne to the people: “Return unto Me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.... Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse; for ye have robbed Me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house; and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” { ST March 15, 1899, par. 10 } |
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| But after a time the zeal of the believers began to wane, and their love for God and for one another grew less. Coldness crept into the church. Some forgot the wonderful manner in which they had received the truth. One by one the old standard-bearers fell at their post. Some of the younger workers, who might have shared the burdens of these pioneers, and thus have been prepared for wise leadership, had become weary of oft-repeated truths. In their desire for something novel and startling they attempted to introduce new phases of doctrine, more pleasing to many minds, but not in harmony with the fundamental principles of the gospel. In their self-confidence and spiritual blindness they failed to discern that these sophistries would cause many to question the experiences of the past, and would thus lead to confusion and unbelief. { AA 580.1} |
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| Upon us has shone great light in regard to the last days of this earth’s history. Let not our lack of wisdom and energy give evidence of spiritual blindness. God’s messengers must be clothed with power. They must have for the truth an elevating reverence that they do not now possess. The Lord’s solemn, sacred message of warning must be proclaimed in the most difficult fields and in the most sinful cities—in every place where the light of the third angel’s message has not yet dawned. To everyone is to be given the last call to the marriage supper of the Lamb. { CH 218.1} |
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| With the light communicated through the study of his Word, with the special knowledge given of individual cases among his people under all circumstances and in every phase of experience, can I now be in the same ignorance, the same mental uncertainty and spiritual blindness, as at the beginning of this experience? Will my brethren say that Sister White has been so dull a scholar that her judgment in this direction is no better than before she entered Christ’s school, to be trained and disciplined for a special work? Am I no more intelligent in regard to the duties and perils of God’s people than are those before whom these things have never been presented?—Testimonies for the Church 5:686. { 3SM 46.1} |
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| While their minds were balancing between doubt and faith, Jesus took up their thoughts and answered them thus: “Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am; and I am not come of myself, but He that sent me is true, whom ye know not. But I know him; for I am from him, and he hath sent me.” They claimed a knowledge of what the origin of Christ should be, while they were in reality utterly ignorant of it, and were locked in spiritual blindness. If they had lived in accordance with the will of the Father, they would have known his Son when he was manifested to them. { 2SP 342.2 } |
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| Call to mind your former wretchedness, your spiritual blindness, and the darkness which enshrouded you before Christ, a tender, loving Saviour, came to your aid and reached you where you were. If you let these seasons pass without giving tangible proofs of your gratitude for this wonderful and amazing love which a compassionate Saviour exercised toward you, who were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, there is reason to fear that still greater darkness and misery will come upon you. Now is your sowing time. You will reap that which you sow. Avail yourselves while you may of every privilege of doing good. These privileges improved are as a passing shower, which will water and revive you. Lay hold of every opportunity within your reach of doing good. Idle hands will reap a small harvest. For what do older persons live but to care for the young and help the helpless? God has committed them to us who are older and have experience, and He will call us to account if our duties in this direction are neglected. What though our labor may not be appreciated! what though it prove a failure many times, and a success but once! This once will outweigh all the discouragements previously borne. { 2T 330.1 } |
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| Our people are making very dangerous mistakes. We cannot praise and flatter any man without doing him a great wrong; those who do this will meet with serious disappointment. They trust too fully to finite man and not enough to God, who never errs. The eager desire to urge men into public notice is an evidence of backsliding from God and of friendship with the world. It is the spirit which characterizes the present day. It shows that men have not the mind of Jesus; spiritual blindness and poverty of soul have come upon them. Often persons of inferior minds look away from Jesus to a merely human standard, by which they are not made conscious of their own littleness, and hence have an undue estimate of their own capabilities and endowments. There is among us as a people an idolatry of human instrumentalities and mere human talent, and these even of a superficial character. We must die to self and cherish humble, childlike faith. God’s people have departed from their simplicity. They have not made God their strength, and they are weak and faint, spiritually. { 5T 75.2} .. { RH August 30, 1906, par. 19 } |
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| Our numbers are increasing, our facilities are enlarging, and all this calls for union among the workers, for entire consecration and thorough devotion to the cause of God. There is no place in the work of God for half-hearted workers, for those who are neither cold nor hot. Jesus says, “I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” Among those who are half-hearted are the class who pride themselves on their great caution in receiving “new light,” as they term it. But their failure to receive the light is caused by their spiritual blindness; for they cannot discern the ways and works of God. Those who array themselves against the precious light of heaven, will accept messages that God has not sent, and will thus become dangerous to the cause of God; for they will set up false standards. { RH December 6, 1892, par. 5 } |
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| There are many who have not a clear understanding of the relation man should sustain to his fellow man in the work of God. How many there are who ask the question, Am I my brother’s keeper? Said the angel, Yea, thou art thy brother’s keeper. To every professed Christian the words are spoken, Suffer not thy brother to be left unwarned; cherish a spirit of kindness and of love toward the erring. Often when a man commits a wrong, it is because spiritual blindness is upon him; he is deceived and deluded. Treat not such as an enemy. The Lord has bought him with a price. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The soul who accepts the sacrifice of Christ in his behalf is pledged to have a special care for his brother who is erring. { RH May 13, 1909, par. 3 } |
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Healing for Spiritual Blindness -- September 2
The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. Psalm 145:18. { LHU 259.1}
In the scribes, Pharisees, and rulers, Jesus found not the bottles for His new wine. He was obliged to turn from them to humble men, whose hearts were not filled with envy, covetousness, and self-righteousness. The lowly fishermen obeyed the call of the divine Teacher, while the scribes and Pharisees refused to become converted. { LHU 259.2}
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| Danger of Spiritual Blindness — November 6, 1893
“And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees that were with him heard these words, and said unto him. Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin; but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.” { ST November 6, 1893, par. 1 }
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| condition of spiritual blindness |
| What greater deception can come upon human minds than a confidence that they are right when they are all wrong! The message of the True Witness finds the people of God in a sad deception, yet honest in that deception. They know not that their condition is deplorable in the sight of God. While those addressed are flattering themselves that they are in an exalted spiritual condition, the message of the True Witness breaks their security by the startling denunciation of their true condition of spiritual blindness, poverty, and wretchedness. The testimony, so cutting and severe, cannot be a mistake, for it is the True Witness who speaks, and His testimony must be correct. { 3T 252.4} |
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