Jezreel Letter No. 1

Jezreel Letter # 1

Dear Fellow Believer in the Third Angel's Message:
Since this is a very timely opportunity to pen a few friendly lines to you, and since there is no sweeter message than that which comes from God, I have chosen to greet you with it:
Heaven's Voice to Laodicea, Inspiration declares, is of supreme consequence to every Laodicean (to all of us Seventh-day Adventists), and the duty of every one of us to heed it is no less supreme if we are to be spared from being spued out (Rev. 3:16).
With this weighty fact inescapably in view, what grave responsibility is upon the one whom God has charged with taking Heaven's message to His people in Laodicea! Consequently what unforgiving sin would be his should he neglect to seek out every possible avenue for carrying the message to every home that would open its door. What carefulness, therefore, must he exercise to seek every possible opportunity to give all possible assistance to every soul, in steering a straight and steady course clear to "Canaan's Land. " Hence this urgent effort in your behalf.
For sometime now you have had the eleventh-hour publications (tracts and "Timely Greetings" -- postmarked Waco -- including a copy of the "1950 General Conference Special," and the "White-House Recruiter"), all bearing the light of God so direly needed at this climactic hour of time -- the long expected message of the sealing of the 144,000 (the purification of the church -- the judgment of the living in the "house of God": the message to the Laodiceans), the Loud Cry, and kindred events. I am confident, therefore, that in your desire to be a wide-awake, God-fearing Adventist, you cannot, in the very nature of the case, fail of being impressed and stirred, by the tremendous truth which these publications bear for this time. And when you consider the wide and sober reception accorded to the "White-House Recruiter," as It entered thousands upon thousands of Adventist homes the world over, surely you cannot help but be still the more impressed. Indeed, never has any other Truth-laden publication to enter Adventists' homes been so widely and so soberly received. And incident to this singularly responsive reception is the significant fact, which may well be all-important to you, that many of those who for very good reasons are not yet openly declaring their stand, are already requesting us to make it possible for them privately to take the course which the "Recruiter" announces. I am therefore gratified to announce herewith that it is my happy lot to deploy the entire Eleventh-Hour staff to answer in person all such requests. Thus when one of us is in your vicinity, you will have golden opportunity to have him personally, privately, and in strict confidence open up to you the message in connection with the all-consequential events so soon to take place in our midst, events which Inspiration now for the first time brings into the noon-day light right before our eyes, and which the prophets forecast in the following words:
"Behold, l will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me:. . . even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in. . . But who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth? for He is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' sope. " Mal. 3:1, 2.
". . . the days of purification of the church are hastening on apace. God will have a people pure and true. . . The signs reveal that the time is near when the Lord will manifest that his fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor. " -- "Testimonies," Vol. 5, p. 80.
"For by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many. . . . And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations,. . . to the isles afar off, that have not heard My fame, neither have seen My glory; and they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles. And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations. . . to My holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord. " Isa. 66:16,19, 20.
Because the purification is now the Church's only hope, the Devil is doing all in his power, through the medium of idolized men (apparently no less pious than the priests who crucified the Lord), to suppress knowledge of it, and to create fear, prejudice hatred, and confusion against the Voice of God, and to blacken the character of His agencies. Moreover, the Enemy's exalted zealots, so well satisfied that they have need of nothing, are already in spite of Heaven's commands to the contrary, casting out of the churches anyone who investigates God's "Message to the Laodiceans," or who conforms to it. What, O, what has the Denomination degenerated into? What exceeding folly, too, for it to assume to dictate to its members whose writings they should read and whose they should not read, as if they had neither mind nor conscience of their own, and as if God either could not or would not convict then through their own intellects, but must depend on the intellects of the ministers who by such folly are unconsciously assuming to take God's place! Their very act of not only discouraging but even prohibiting the reading of the publications, is in itself a strong evidence that the publications contain the Truth for this time, and that the Enemy wants God's people to be ignorant of It. One can scarcely conceive of any other design so well calculated to make of God's people mental and spiritual invalids and, in consequence, to keep them in submissive ignorance of the fact that the plan of salvation demands that they be enlightened Christians, able to see with their own eyes and to know with their own hearts what is what and who is who.
Both high and low seem to forget that no sooner the messengers of God appeared in their respective time, Judaism, Romanism, and Protestantism, all unwittingly fell prey to this foolish scheme. Their failure to bind forever in darkness the free-minded in their day, though, should now be an eye opener to us all that our hostile brethren, too, will fail to bind in darkness forever the free-minded of this day, for the free-minded, sooner or later, discover that anyone who cannot for himself decide what is truth and what is error, is destitute of the Spirit of God, having no contact with Heaven and having no part in it. Those who have not yet discovered this inviolable law, stand face to face with the stark reality that it is high time that they discover it immediately, and that they fully realize that in violating it they are only making absolutely certain of missing eternity, and that even though Noah, Daniel, and Job be their neighbors, and they hold tight to all three of them, yet, unless they stop breaking this inviolable law, they are doomed, they are damned. Then too, all who with closed eyes and heart condemn the work of others, are blind to the disastrous fact that "He that answereth a matter before he heareth it" directly from its source, "it is folly and shame unto him. " Prov. 18:13.
In the face of these certainties, surely you cannot afford to turn a deaf ear to the Voice herein pleading that every one make a thorough investigation of the contents in these eleventh-hour publications which in profuse quantities are now being freely, "without money and without price," circulated throughout Laodicea.
These publications, you note, unseal the Scriptures which constitute this "additional message" (See "Early Writings," p. 277), all of which have heretofore been sealed, and thus enveloped in mystery, and surrounded by question marks, a fact which in itself is absolute proof that never before have more timely, more important publications entered Adventist homes. Perhaps you are fully aware of this. Should you, however, have questions which you would like to discuss in private, you need only request that one of us visit you while we are laboring in your vicinity. Also if you know of other open-minded, free-thinking, Truth-seeking brethren, I shall appreciate your mentioning how many, and If they wish you may send in their names and addresses either for our mailing list or for a private interview, or for both. You may address me:
V. H. Jezreel, H. B.
Mt. Carmel Center
Waco, Texas
Every relevant Scriptural consideration dictates that there is only one safe, sane, and honorable course for any of us to pursue when prophetic revelation challenges consideration, especially at this most crucial hour in history. We must shun, as we would death, the spirit which controlled the Jews and the nominal churches, all of whom as a result rejected the Heaven-sent messages in their respective times. Our only salvation is to determine for ourselves at first hand, free from the influence of others, the certainty and authenticity of the Voice that is now crying aloud throughout Laodicea, because "the mind that depends upon the judgment of others is certain, sooner or later, to be misled. " -- "Education," p. 231. Only the Spirit of God, working through our individual minds, can lead us into all Truth if we give ear to It.
The Spirit of Prophecy further warns:
"There is yet much precious truth to be revealed to the people in this time of peril and darkness, but it is Satan's determined purpose to prevent the light of truth from shining into the hearts of men. If we would have the light that has been provided for us, we should show our desire for it by diligently searching the word of God. Precious truths that have long been in obscurity are to be revealed in a light that will make manifest their sacred worth; for God will glorify His word, that it may appear in a light in which we have never before beheld it. " -- ''Counsels on Sabbath School Work," p. 25.
"There is no excuse for anyone in taking the position that there is no more truth to be revealed, and that all our expositions of Scripture are without an error. The fact that certain doctrines have been held as truth for many years by our people, is not a proof that our ideas are infallible. Age will not make error into truth, and truth can afford to be fair. No true doctrine will lose anything by close investigation. " -- "Counsels to Writers and Editors," p. 35.
"Precious light is to shine forth from the word of God, and let no one presume to dictate what shall or what shall not be brought before the people in the messages of enlightenment that He shall send, and so quench the Spirit of God. Whatever may be his position of authority, no one has a right to shut away the light from the people. " -- "Counsels on Sabbath School Work," p. 28.
". . . if a message comes that you do not understand, take pains that you may hear the reasons the messenger may give, comparing scripture with scripture, that you may know whether or not it is sustained by the word of God. If you believe that the positions taken have not the word of God for their foundation, if the position you hold on the subject cannot be controverted, then produce your strong reasons; for your position will not be shaken by coming in contact with error. There is no virtue or manliness in keeping up a continual warfare in the dark, closing your eyes lest you may see, closing your ears lest you may hear, hardening your heart in ignorance and unbelief lest you may have to humble yourselves and acknowledge that you have received light on some points of truth. " -- "Counsels on Sabbath School Work," p. 29.
"When asked to hear the reasons of a doctrine that you do not understand, do not condemn the message until you have given it a thorough investigation, and know from the word of God that it is not tenable. " -- "Counsels on Sabbath School Work," pp. 31, 32.
". . . when a view of Scripture is presented, many do not ask, Is it true, -- in harmony with God's word? but, By whom is it advocated? and unless it comes through the very channel that pleases them, they do not accept it. So thoroughly satisfied are they with their own ideas, that they will not examine the Scripture evidence, with a desire to learn, but refuse to be interested, merely because of their prejudices.
"The Lord often works where we least expect Him; He surprises us by revealing His power through instruments of His own choice, while He passes by the men to whom we have looked as those through whom light should come. God desires us to receive the truth upon its own merits, -- because it is truth. " -- "Testimonies to Ministers," p. 106.
". . . beware of rejecting that which is truth. The great danger with our people has been that of depending upon men, and making flesh their arm. Those who have not been in the habit of searching the Bible for themselves, or weighing evidence, have confidence in the leading men, and accept the decisions they make; and thus many will reject the very messages God sends to His people, if these leading brethren do not accept them. " -- "Testimonies to Ministers," pp. 106, 107.
"Men, women, and youth, God requires you to possess moral courage, steadiness of purpose, fortitude and perseverance, minds that cannot take the assertions of another, but which will investigate for themselves before receiving or rejecting, that will study and weigh evidence, and take it to the Lord in prayer. " -- "Testimonies," Vol. 2, p. 130.
Astonishingly, though, the predominant voice within the Denomination boldly teaches its members the very contrary of what these Heaven-inspired passages aforequoted plainly declare. Conspicuously, therefore, do these passages expose It to be the voice of the Enemy in high places, quietly rocking all to sleep, and vigilantly watching that none ever awake them to their great need of God's Truth for the swiftly approaching time of the Judgment of the Living -- "the great and dreadful day of the Lord. "
This shameless disregard of Inspiration's counsel now stands nakedly unmasked for what it actually is -- another of the Enemy's artful, inside efforts to keep God's people oblivious to their mounting peril, by keeping them drugged deeply asleep in lukewarm atmosphere (perfectly satisfied) and with minds fixed that they have need of nothing and that they are doing a great missionary work, although the Lord Himself declares that they are "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked," and know it not. Rev. 3:17. Satan, moreover, could never have fired their minds with pride and prejudice and fear all calculated to make them hostily regard any purportedly fresh Heaven-sent revelation, and very mindful of the counsel which the enemies of God, while pretending to be friends of His people, pass on, so as to keep themselves forever lukewarm, in deadly peril of their lives. None of us could ever have fallen victims to this Laodicean malady had all of us as a people been studying for ourselves, and giving diligent heed to Inspiratlon's warning counsel in the following passage:
"The enemy is preparing for his last campaign against the church. He has so concealed himself from view that many can hardly believe that he exists, much less can they be convinced of his amazing activity and power. They have to a great extent forgotten his past record, and when he makes another advance move, they will not recognize him as their enemy, that old serpent, but they will consider him a friend, one who is doing a good work. " -- "Testimonies," Vol. 5, p. 294.
Only by giving ear to what Inspiration says, and by shunning all voices contrary to Its Voice, can any of us survive the Judgment and secure a place in the soon-coming Kingdom of God. "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good" (1 Thess. 5:21) is Heaven's admonition to all. Only thus can we make sure what God requires us to know and to do so that He will not have to spue us out of His mouth (Rev. 3:16), but rather that our names be "written in the Book" and we be delivered from the swift-coming "time of trouble, such as never was" (Dan. 12:1).
So, if you are determined to know for yourself the only Heaven-appointed way of escape from being spued out at this most momentous hour in time, just hasten me a line, requesting that I, if possible, or otherwise a field worker, contact you and any others whose names and addresses you care to give us so that all of you may hear both sides. Then one of us shall visit you at the earliest opportunity, and shall be of all service possible to all concerned, without any obligation to anyone.
Sincerely yours to forfeit no opportunity to
"hear the reasons the messenger may give"
("Counsels on Sabbath School Work," p. 29),
V. H. Jezreel, H. B.
VHJ:ma