Encouragement for the Erring

For half a century I have been the Lord’s messenger, and as long as my life shall last I shall continue to bear the messages that God gives me for His people. I take no glory to myself; in my youth the Lord made me His messenger, to communicate to His people testimonies of encouragement, warning, and reproof. For sixty years I have been in communication with heavenly messengers, and I have been constantly learning in reference to divine things, and in reference to the way in which God is constantly working to bring souls from the error of their ways to the light in God’s light.

Many souls have been helped because they have believed that the messages given me were sent in mercy to the erring. When I have seen those who needed a different phase of Christian experience, I have told them so, for their present and eternal good. And so long as the Lord spares my life, I will do my work faithfully, whether or not men and women shall hear and receive and obey. My work is clearly given me to do, and I shall receive grace in being obedient.

I love God. I love Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and I feel an intense interest in every soul who claims to be a child of God. I am determined to be a faithful steward so long as the Lord shall spare my life. I will not fail nor be discouraged….

I love the Lord; I love my Saviour, and my life is wholly in the hands of God. As long as He sustains me, I shall bear a decided testimony.—Manuscript Releases 5:152, 153.
Ye Shall Receive Power p. 248
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for my coworker Rita’s son, Sheldon. He found out he has cancer. They think they’ve caught it early but obviously there’s a lot of tests and surgery ahead of him. Wanangwa
—-Please pray for my father-in-law, Larry, who is in ICU on a ventilator and very sick. Please pray that God will give the doctors wisdom to know what to do. Please pray for my husband and I as we are dealing with all of this. Eileen
—-Please continue to pray for baby Wyatt and his family. Mary
—- Please pray for my cousin Peter who has a brain tumor and is going into surgery and also for my Step Brothers wife who also has a brain tumor at the base of her brain that is inoperable who has been give 3 months to live with no treatment and 14 months with treatment. Her name is Lisa. Thanks so much. April
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Dear Friends,
Solomon said, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Prov 22:6 Over the years, millions of parents, who have carefully raised their children, have claimed this promise when those very children have strayed from the fold. Often times, after a period of rebellion their children have, indeed, returned to the Lord.
Yet, Solomon’s statement actually works both ways. Parents, who have by precept and example, been careless in the raising of their children, scarred them emotionally or physically, or who have neglected to bring them to a knowledge of the truth; have wounded their offspring to the point where it is very difficult for them to overcome their hereditary or cultivated tendencies.
Years ago, I was looking through one of our church’s magazines and happened to notice a book authored by a woman who had been a friend of ours when we still lived in Michigan, but after we had moved we eventually lost track of her and her husband. In fact, the friendship went back even farther than that. Ron had gone to school with this girl. We had many of the same interests and they would often come over just to study the Bible and talk of spiritual things. It was wonderful to have such friends for that type of friendship is rare.
One day, as they were visiting, this young woman began to talk about some of the difficulties she had because of the treatment she had received at her father’s hand. He never allowed his children to cry. Even if they cried when he spanked them, he would spank them even harder until they sunk into a type of unnatural silence. (This reminded me of the abuse my grandfather had endured at his father’s hand.) Because of the emotional scars from his abuse, she had a great difficulty showing any kind of emotion other than laughter.
That natural release of tears and emotions that our Great Creator built within us to keep the pressure from building her father had beaten out of her. No matter how sad or how hurt she was, she could not cry. Sometimes she felt like she was going to explode.
Many years have passed since we got to talk of old times when we went to Michigan campmeeting in 2004. We had a wonderful time catching up on all that had transpired in the years we were apart. We did not mention her father nor did she, but I couldn’t help wondering if she has problems with her blood pressure or other stress related health condition that stems from her father’s unreasonableness.
How careful we should be in our dealings with children. Our Dear Saviour warns, “whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” Matt 18:6 “Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not.” Luke 18:16 How easily that sweet, humble, trusting, loving nature of an unspoiled child can be wounded. How soon they take on the impress of that which they see and hear from those they love the most. Soon, even in their play, they are mimicking our tone of voice, our actions, and our attitudes. It can be a humbling experience to listen to your four-year-old child playing house.
How vital it is to “provoke not [our] children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” Eph 6:4 Teasing and tormenting a child until he becomes embarrassed or anger wells up from within him, will bear unwanted fruit later on. That child will often exhibit the same behavior, teasing and tormenting playmates and even their pets. As that habit grows, they become rebellious and frustrated teens. When they become adults, they do the same to their children and the cycle lives on. Because of the treatment they have received, they have a difficult time accepting the love and forgiveness our Great Redeemer so freely offers.
Conversely, as we carefully raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, they respond with the loving trust and simplicity of an unspoiled child. Our little ones are able to love Jesus with all of their heart and soul for we have, through precept and example. exhibited the love and care that our Heavenly Father has for us. This does not mean that we fail to discipline them. No! Instead of striking in anger, we discipline them in love, praying with them, explaining why we must spank them and then taking our little one in our arms and assuring them of our continued love and care. How important it is to guard carefully what our little ones see and hear on television, in the books we read to them, in the other children with whom they play, in every aspect of their life. How seriously we should take Paul’s admonition, “whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Phil 4:8
May we be faithful and wise stewards over the children our Great Creator has given us. May we receive from our Heavenly Father the wisdom to raise our children aright, claiming the promise, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” James 1:5 May we take hope and courage in God’s promise “I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.” Isa 49:25
Rose