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Counsels for the Church Ellen G. White 1991 Information about this Book Overview This ePub publication is provided as a service of the Ellen G. White Estate. It is part of a larger collection. Please visit the Ellen G. White Estate website for a complete list of available publications. About the Author Ellen G. White (1827-1915) is considered the most widely translated American author, her works having been published in more than 160 languages. She wrote more than 100,000 pages on a wide variety of spiritual and practical topics. Guided by the Holy Spirit, she exalted Jesus and pointed to the Scriptures as the basis of one’s faith. Further Links A Brief Biography of Ellen G. White About the Ellen G. White Estate End User License Agreement The viewing, printing or downloading of this book grants you only a limited, nonexclusive and nontransferable license for use solely by you for your own personal use. This license does not permit republication, distribution, assignment, sublicense, sale, preparation of derivative works, or other use. Any unauthorized use of this book terminates the license granted hereby. © Copyright 2010 by the Ellen G. White Estate, Inc. For more information about the author, publishers, or how you can support this service, please contact the Ellen G. White Estate: (email address). We are thankful for your interest and feedback and wish you God’s blessing as you read. FOREWORD As the Seventh-day Adventist movement has grown in all parts of the world, members who speak and read the various languages have yearned for the Testimonies for the Church, which, in full or in part, have edified and blessed the church throughout the world. It is not possible to publish in each language the full content of the nine Testimony volumes and the many other spirit of prophecy books. There is presented in this volume, however, a selection of general counsels drawn from these sources which will prove of great service and practical help to the church. The selection of materials, which have been conveniently grouped in the sixty-six chapters of this volume, is the work of the trustees of the Ellen G. White Estate, who are responsible for the care of Mrs. White’s writings at the world headquarters of the Seventh-day Adventist church in Silver Spring, Maryland, in the United States of America. It has been a painstaking task to gather, arrange, translate, and publish in this book a comprehensive selection of materials from the many E. G. White books. Because of the limitation of space, only the more essential counsels on vital themes could be included. Even this presents a wide range of subjects. In some cases the selection is confined to a few paragraphs at a time taken from scattered sources. Reference to the books from which the selections have been drawn are found in abbreviated form at the close of each chapter. By reference to the Key to Abbreviations you can easily find the books to which the letters refer. No attempt has been made to indicate by ellipsis marks that paragraphs or sentences have been deleted. Do not confuse the introduction, written by the Trustees, with the writings of Mrs. White herself, which commence with chapter 1. It is with satisfaction and joy that this book is now made available to those who have waited so long for its appearance. That the precious counsel and instructions that fills these pages may deepen the conviction of each reader in the truths of the advent message, broaden his Christian experience, and heighten his expectation of victory in the final day when our Lord shall return, is the sincere prayer of The Trustees of the Ellen G. White Estate. Contents Information about this Book . .3 Overview . .3 About the Author . .3 Further Links . .3 End User License Agreement . .3 FOREWORD . .5 Introduction—The Prophetic Gift and Ellen G. White . .9 PREPARING TO MEET CHRIST . .9 THE VISION OF THE GREAT CONTROVERSY BETWEEN CHRIST AND SATAN.................................. 10 HOW THE LIGHT CAME TO THE PROPHET . 13 THE LIFE AND WORK OF MRS. E. G. WHITE . 17 MRS. E. G. WHITE AS OTHERS KNEW HER . 19 MESSAGES THAT CHANGED LIVES . 23 THE VISION THAT COULD NOT BE TOLD . 25 THE TESTIMONIES AND THE READER . 29 PRACTICAL TESTS OF A TRUE PROPHET . 30 Chapter 1—A Vision of the Reward of the Faithful . 33 My First Vision While I was praying at the family altar, the Holy Ghost fell upon me, and I seemed to be rising higher and higher, far above the dark world. I turned to look for the Advent people in the world, but could not find them, when a voice said to me, “Look again, and look a little higher.” At this I raised my eyes, and saw a straight and narrow path, cast up high above the world. On this path the Advent people were traveling to the city, which was at the farther end of the path. They had a bright light set up behind them at the beginning of the path, which an angel told me was the midnight cry. This light shone all along the path and gave light for their feet so that they might not stumble. If they kept their eyes fixed on Jesus, who was just before them, leading them to the city, they were safe. But soon some grew weary, and said the city was a great way off, and they expected to have entered it before. Then Jesus would encourage them by raising His glorious right arm, and from His arm came a light which waved over the Advent band, and they shouted, “Alleluia!” Others rashly denied the light behind them and said that it was not God that had led them out so far. The light behind them went out, leaving their feet in perfect darkness, and they stumbled and lost sight of the mark and of Jesus, and fell off the path down into the dark and wicked world below. Soon we heard the voice of God like many waters, which gave us the day and hour of Jesus’ coming. The living saints, 144,000 in number, knew and understood the voice, while the wicked thought it was thunder and an earthquake. When God spoke the time, He poured upon us the Holy Ghost, and our faces began to light up and shine with the glory of God, as Moses’ did when he came down from Mount Sinai. 33 Chapter 2—The Time of The End . 37 Chapter 3—Prepare to Meet the Lord . 41 Chapter 4—Union With Christ and Brotherly Love . 43 One With Christ in God . 43 Union With Christ and One Another Our Only Safety . 43 Harmony and Union Is Our Strongest Witness . 44 Cooperation . 45 Chapter 5—Christ Our Righteousness . 47 Chapter 6—The Sanctified Life . 50 True Evidences of Sanctification . 51 Daniel—An Example of a Sanctified Life . 52 God Tests Those Whom He Values . 54 Counsel to Those Who Seek Assurance of God’s Acceptance . 55 Feelings Alone Are Not an Indication of Sanctification . 56 Chapter 7—God Has a Work for You to Do . 58 Christ’s True Followers Will Witness for Him . 59 A Place for Each Member of the Family . 60 Witnessing by Moving Into New Localities . 61 Practical Manifestation of Religion . 62 Chapter 8—“Here Am I, Lord, Send Me” . 64 Your Talents Fit a Need . 65 God Desires to Bestow the Gift of the Holy Spirit . 65 Danger in Delay . 66 Workers to Train Church Members . 68 Chapter 9—The Publications of the Church . 72 Chapter 10—Belief in a Personal God . 74 God the Father Revealed in Christ . 75 Christ Gives Men Power to Become Sons of God . 75 God’s Individual Interests in His Children . 76 Chapter 11—Christians to Represent God . 78 The Forming of a Christlike Character . 78 Live Courageously Today . 79 Represent God by an Unselfish Life . 80 The Unpardonable Sin . 81 Confessing or Denying Christ . 81 Chapter 12—In the World but Not of the World . 83 Christian Integrity . 83 The Believer—A Better Man in Business . 84 Business Alliances With the World . 85 Chapter 13—The Bible . 86 Study Diligently and Systematically . 87 Divine Enlightenment Is Promised the Reader . 88 Love for Bible Study Is Not Natural . 88 Bible Study Strengthens the Intellect . 89 Christ in All the Bible . 90 Chapter 14—The Testimonies for the Church . 91 To Point Men to the Bible . 92 Judge the “Testimonies” by Their Fruits . 93 Satan’s Aim Is to Cause Doubt . 93 Ignorance of the “Testimonies” Is No Excuse . 94 Wrong Use of the “Testimonies” . 95 Danger in Criticizing the “Testimonies” . 95 How to Receive Reproof . 96 Chapter 15—The Holy Spirit . 98 Unity Must Precede the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit . 98 One’s Usefulness Depends Upon His Surrender to the Holy Spirit . 99 The Holy Spirit Will Abide Unto the End . 100 Chapter 16—Keep Clear God’s Connection With Man . 101 Satan’s Most Destructive Device . 101 Intoxicating Wine . 102 Liquor Makes Man a Slave . 103 Tobacco a Slow Poison . 103 Tobacco Smoke Harmful to Women and Children . 104 Tea and Coffee do Not Nourish the System . 104 The Use of Drugs . 105 Seventh-day Adventists—An Example to the World . 105 Chapter 17—Purity of Heart and Life . 107 Defile Not the Temple of God . 108 The Result of Moral Pollution . 109 Chapter 18—The Choosing of a Husband or Wife . 112 Qualities to Be Sought in a Prospective Wife . ..