There is a sword coming, a day of judgment.
What have we done to warn our friends, neighbors, and acquaintances that they may avoid the wrath of God? Have we been faithful watchmen, giving the trumpet a certain sound: The trumpets of the Three Angel’s Messages that must be sounded throughout the earth, that a people may be ready to meet the Lord?
“The bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him.” “For the morning cometh and also the night.” The morning of eternal day for the righteous and the settling in of eternal night for the wicked. The morning will come and so will the night. Love compels us to warn the erring of the coming judgment that will be the ushering in of the eternal day and night. Can God use us as His watchmen to warn the people that they die not In their iniquity?
Now we must ask these essential questions: Who are the watchmen of today? What are their qualifications? What is their duty? And why is this important to know; For it is the watchmen that the Lord uses to warn the people. There is blood to be cleared of or required of. For the sake of time, we will focus in this presentation on who are the watchmen both faithful and unfaithful.
Watchmen In The Bible
We read in the Bible that God sets up the watchmen. Isaiah 62:6 Jeremiah 6:17. And so do the people of the land. Nehemiah 7:3 Isaiah 33:2. The duty of the watchman was to declare what he saw. Isaiah 21:6; 2 Samuel 18:25-26; 2 Kings 9:17. He was a man chosen for his keen eyesight; to see the approach of the enemy. Who are the watchmen of today that have the keen vision and faithfulness in duty to declare what they see of the approaching danger?
In the Spirit of Prophecy, Ellen G. White refers numerous times to ministers (1) as watchmen. She also classifies the following as watchmen:
Every worker and teacher in our colleges (universities) (2).
Men in the conferences (3)
Canvassers (4),
Leaders, editors and book preparers in our publishing houses (5)
Physicians at our sanitariums, those who stand in responsible positions in the work of the Lord (6)
Presidents of our conferences (7)
Apostles (8)
Evangelists (9)
And mercantile workers and others that God will prepare to proclaim the 3rd Angel’s message (10).
Unfaithful Watchmen
How can a watchman be found unfaithful? Are our watchmen faithful or do we have unfaithful watchmen upon the walls?
Unfaithful watchmen will not warn the people but love pleasure, gain, and mammon (11).
They follow their own course and darkness results (12).
They speak evil of God’s Law (13).
They have influence tending to union with the world (14).
They don’t do a thorough work (15).
They have a peace and safety message (16).
They cry all is well when sudden destruction is coming (7).
Ezekiel 33 warns what will happen to the unfaithful watchman. Who are these unfaithful watchmen? They are men who occupy important positions involving sacred interests (18). Do we currently have unfaithful watchmen? (19) Definitely.
We have ministers that make advances on the females of their congregation. Ministers who should be in prison but instead are rewarded for their criminal behavior by being transferred to yet another unsuspecting church. Female pastors who have students participating in skinny dipping without any reprimand.
We have institutions of learning that teach evolution and others that teach spiritual formation. We have teachers and other school employees who are unfaithful to their spouses that are retained in their employment. We also have teachers who are inappropriate in their behavior with students. Drugs, alcohol, homosexual clubs, and premarital sex are rampant on our campuses, including our academies/high schools.
There are Division, Union, and Conference presidents and local ministers and elders who have allowed the baptism of a lesbian, ordination of a transgender man, and women to position of elder as well as women ordained to the ministry as a pastor disregarding the Biblical model of church leadership.
Doctors and hospitals pledged to first do no harm committing murder by not only aborting babies but also prescribing toxic drugs instead of using nature’s remedies first ( I know this from personal experience).
Be Attentive
When was the last time you went to your local ABC to see what was available? We have publishing houses printing material that never should have been in our presses. Magazines and periodicals are devoid of spiritual food but full with the latest women’s ordination service, church block party with bounce house accounts, camporees with objectionable activities, etc.
Our Sabbath school materials (written and published with approval and church financial support) containing quotes from unreliable authors are foisted upon the membership. The materials printed for our children are purposefully written to groom them into accepting major changes to our beliefs!
For example: Our Little Friend volume 109, number 24 distribute June 6, 1998 Page 3, A Special Day for Janelle. Cartoons, which E. G. White wrote against using, are now the norm in the children’s Sabbath school papers for them to take home.
“Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear” (1 Timothy 5:19-20).
“Because sentence against an evil work is not execute speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in the to do evil” (Ecclesiastes 8:11 ).
Take Heart
Is our situation hopeless? No. There are a few faithful watchmen.
They are treated dismissively, disrespectfully, and with contempt. We need to pray for them and with them. We need to encourage and support their efforts in their appointed work. In the face of danger there is a “…want [lack] of men who will call sin by its right name and will stand for the truth though the heavens fall.”
These are the faithful watchmen. May we all be found faithful!
Sincerely,
Rose Durant
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"But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes someone’s life, that person’s life will be taken because of their sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood" ((Ezekiel 33:6).
“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’ Your watchmen shall lift up their voices, with their voices they shall sing together; for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord brings back Zion” (Isaiah 52:7).
Footnotes:
1. 1T 469.3-470.1, 2T 548.1-549.2, 2T 706.1, 4T 317.1-317.2, 6T 431.1-431.3, RH Jan 11, 1912 par 10-13, GW 14.2-15.2, GW 16.1, GW92 43.1-43.2, GW92 200.3, PUR Feb 20, 1908 par 8
2. 5T 33.3, 6T 165.2-166.2, PUR Feb20, 1908 par 8, TM 406.1-406.3
3. 5T 262.3, 5T 715.1-715.2, GW 92 200.3
4. 6T 314.2-315.4
5. 7T 138.1-142.1, PH152 21.1
6. 8T 195.1-195.4, PUR Feb 20, 1908 par 8
7. GW 421`.1-421.2, RH Jan 11, 1912 par 10-13, GW92 200.3
8. TM 406.1-406.3
9. TM 406.1-406.3
10. RH Oct 25, 1906 par 5-15
11. 2T 440.1-441.1
12. 9T 28.4-29.3
13. ST Sept 4, 1884 par 12-13
14. ST Jan 17, 1884 par 13-14
15. GW92 43.1-43.2
16. GC88 371.2
17. SpTEd 107.1
18. 1T313.1-314.1, 4T 317.1-317.2, 5T 262.3, RH Dec 1, 1896 par 10, GW92 43.1-43.2
19. RH Dec 1, 1896 par 10
