Millions Perishing
As Christian Believers, we have prayed about, preached about, talked about the soon return of Jesus Christ and the setting up of his Heavenly Kingdom under his ruler ship, and yet we are right now, actually really living in the very times we have so long talked about as future, well they are now current and “Today.” What will it take to get us from being passive to active and working once more? Here are a few quotes I have collected on this subject to prompt us.
Quote; “All may find something to do. “The poor always ye have with you,” (John 12:8), Jesus said, and none need feel that there is no place where they can labour for Him. Millions upon millions of human souls ready to perish, bound in chains of ignorance and sin, have never so much as heard of Christ’s love for them. Were our condition and theirs to be reversed, what would we desire them to do for us? All this, so far as lies in our power, we are under the most solemn obligation to do for them. Christ’s rule of life, by which every one of us must stand or fall in the judgment, is, “Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” Matthew 7:12. 90 {CSA 62}
Quote; “Every year millions upon millions of human souls are passing into eternity un-warned and un-saved. From hour to hour in our varied life, opportunities to reach and save souls are opened to us. These opportunities are continually coming and going. God desires us to make the most of them. Days, weeks, and months are passing; we have one day, one week, one month less in which to do our work. A few more years at the longest and the voice which we cannot refuse to answer will be heard saying, “Give an account of thy stewardship.”
Christ calls upon everyone to consider. Make an honest reckoning. Put into one scale Jesus, which means eternal treasure, life, truth, heaven, and the joy of Christ in souls redeemed; put into the other every attraction the world can offer. Into one scale put the loss of your own soul, and the souls of those whom you might have been instrumental in saving; into the other, for yourself and for them, a life that measures with the life of God. Weigh for time and for eternity. While you are thus engaged, Christ speaks: “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Mark 8:36. {COL 373-374}
Adapted Quote; Franklyn District: How is it to Be Warned?–There are great Towns and vast Rural Expanses, the inhabitants that have not yet heard the last warning message. How are these to be warned? If the people of God would only exercise faith, He would work in a wonderful manner to accomplish this work. Hear the words of Christ: “If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven.” Precious promise! Do we believe it? What marvellous results would appear if the united prayers of this District were to ascend to God in living faith! Jesus stands ready to take these petitions and present them to His Father, saying, “I know these persons by name. Send answers to their prayers; for I have graven their names on the palms of my hands. {Ev 414-415} (Adapted)
“Presenting the Truth in the Franklyn District.–There is need of zeal in the church, and wisdom to manage that zeal. You have made altogether too tame a work of saving souls. If you want to see a work done in Franklyn and the surrounding Districts, you must have a united, irresistible force; press the battle to the gate, and plant the standard firmly, as if you meant that the truth should triumph. The timidity, the cautious movements, have been faithless; there has been little expectation of results. . . .” {Ev 414} (Adapted)
Adapted Quote; “The fact that things move slowly in Franklyn Districts is no reason why the great missionary work shall move slowly to meet man’s habits and customs for fear of surprising the people. They need to be much more surprised than they have hitherto been. The Lord’s business requires haste; souls are perishing without a knowledge of the truth. . . . Caution is needed; but while some of the workers are guarded, and make haste slowly, if there are not united with them in the work those who see the necessity of being aggressive, very much will be lost, opportunities will pass, and the opening providence of God will not be discerned.”–Letter 31, 1892. (Adapted)
Back to the most embarrassing bit in this first Quote; “Were our condition and theirs to be reversed, what would we desire them to do for us? All this, so far as lies in our power, we are under the most solemn obligation to do for them. Christ’s rule of life, by which every one of us must stand or fall in the judgment, is, “Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” Matthew 7:12. 90 {CSA 62}
Does anybody around you, who work with you, or as an employee of yours, know that you are a Christian? How about your neighbours that live close by you, do they know that you are different and serve God? We have this admonition as found in Matthew 5:16 ”Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” What happened to us all? What caused us to stop striving, pressing forwards, marching, fighting; and all those other “Action Words,” that Paul littered his writings with? We all seem to have “gone off the boil” and are not very effective at spreading the Gospel, and often not even living the Holy Life ourselves.
Jeremiah faced the same predicament, and wrote about it in Jeremiah 8:20 “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Dear Reader; the harvest will be past very soon and Revelation 22:11-12 will be announced, how will you and I stand then?
