02/06/2021
When believers recognize that the church has failed to complete her mission, there is a temptation to go looking for "magic wands" or "silver bullets." This distracts from that which is truly important:
"Questions, speculations, and matters of no vital importance will occupy the mind, and become the subject of conversation, and then there will be caviling and striving about words, and presenting of different opinions, concerning points that are not vital or essential. Those who listened to the present truth in the days of Paul did as do the men of today. They would get up questions, presenting various ideas and opinions of men, and bring the mind of the minister from the important work of preaching the main truths of the gospel, to settle their disputes. The laborer for God must be wise enough to see the design of the enemy, and to refuse to be misled and diverted. The conversion of the souls of his hearers, must be the burden of his work, and he must keep out of controversy, and preach the word of God." Review and Herald, September 11, 1888
