ARMY OF GOSPEL WORKERS

By Thandeka Moyo
Document 16: …Transformed

In this concluding document of this series in search of what it means to be an Army of

Gospel Workers I would like to share some of the direct quotes and the notes I made
from quotes found where Ellen White made reference to the Christian Endeavor Society
itself or to the principles of the order. My suggestion is for the reader to look-up the texts
in their entirety to get the full counsel shared. The quotes I’ve highlighted and the
suggestions supplied are my own, so please research the counsels on your own to
know more.

From an article entitled “Useful Occupation Better Than Games” dated October 2, 1893
in Selected Messages Book 2, page 323, paragraph 3
“Let there be a company formed somewhat after the plan of the Christian
Endeavor order, and see what can be done by each accountable human agent, in
watching and improving opportunities to do work for the Master. He has a
vineyard in which everyone can perform good work. Suffering humanity needs
help everywhere.
“The students may win their way to hearts by speaking words in season, by doing
favors for those who need even physical labor. This will not degrade any one of you,
and it will bring a consciousness of the approval of God. It will be putting the talents,
entrusted to you for wise improvement, to the exchangers. It will increase them
by trading upon them.”

From The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, January 16, 1894
“The Lord has greatly honored men, giving Jesus Christ to recover them from Satan’s
claims. Will you be recovered? Will you have the precious gift of Christ? Or will you
refuse His service? Jesus has said, ‘He that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.’
He has said, ‘Without me ye can do nothing,’ and, ‘My grace is sufficient for thee.’
“Everyone who seeks to do well in his own finite strength, will find his efforts a failure;
but those who accept Christ by faith, will find Him a personal Savior.
“They will enlist in His army, they will become His soldiers, and fight the good
fight of faith. If they are students in the school, they will feel that they are enlisted to
make the school the most orderly, elevated, and praiseworthy institution in the world.
They will put every jot of their influence on the side of God, on the side of Christ, and on
the side of heavenly intelligences. They will feel it their duty to form a Christian
endeavor society, that they may help every student to see the inconsistency of a
course of action that God will not approve.
“They will draw with Christ, and do their utmost to perfect Christian character.
They will take upon themselves the work of leading the lame and the weak into the safe,
upward path. They will form Christian endeavor meetings to make plans that will be
a blessing to the institution of learning, and do all in their power to make the school what
God designed and signified that it should be. They will have in mind the value and
efficiency of Christian endeavor meetings, in preparing missionaries to go forth
to give the warning to the world.”

From a letter to the church in Hobart, Australia written in May 1895 found in Manuscript
Releases Book 2 pages 281-282
“The minister of God must be interested in the children and youth if he would be a
faithful pastor of the flock of God….Children and youth have been strangely
neglected. Some who have not children of their own should educate themselves
to love and care for the children of others. They may not be called to go to a foreign
field of labor, but they may be called to work in the very locality in which they live. In
place of giving so much attention to pets, lavishing affection upon dumb animals, let
them exercise their talent upon human beings who have a heaven to win and a
hell to shun. Let them give their attention to little children whose characters they
may mold and fashion after the divine similitude. Place your love upon the
homeless little ones you can bring up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. There is
an abundance of work for everyone who wants work to do.
By engaging in this line of Christian endeavor, the church may be increased in
members and enriched in spirit. The work of saving the homeless and the
fatherless is everyone’s business. Instead of standing aloof, instead of complaining
of the wickedness of children and the trouble they cause, let your influence be used to
aid in their redemption….What an army of workers might be added to the church if
the children would give their fresh affections to the Lord, and work for other
children and youth. There is a work to be done that may be as enduring as
eternity.
“Church members should become active, zealous workers seeking to benefit the souls
who are exposed to temptation and who are being drawn away into perilous paths of
disobedience to the commandments of God. Everyone who engages in this work in
the love of Christ is cooperating with heavenly intelligences, who have long been
waiting to aid them in the very class of missionary work that has been so long
neglected. If they work as they should, they will feel the need of divine guidance, for it
is not possible to be successful in this matter without the help of God.
“Children are the property of God, the younger members of the Lord’s family, and
interest expressed for these children and for the mothers of these children is in
perfect harmony with the laws of God’s government.”

From Manuscript Releases Book 12 on page 44 (dated February 12, 1899)

Invite the presence of the Lord Jesus in the room. No loud-voiced ordering or sharp
words will be heard if Christ is believed to be there. Help one-another and the fruit
of the Spirit will be made manifest.

From Counsels on Stewardship page 187 (first written on February 28, 1900)
Intellect and means to be applied to this work. Enlist the help of the higher classes
who have been strangely neglected just like the children and youth are. Present
plain statement of plans that make sense to the cause of Christ in helping and healing
others. “In the higher walks of life will be found many who will respond to the
truth, because it is consistent, because it bears the stamp of the high character of
the gospel.” Zaccheus, Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, the queen of Sheba, Lydia
and her household in Thyatira were such of this class who believed in the truth when it
was presented to them.

From the chapter and subsection “The Home Missionary Work - Let the Churches
Awake” in Testimonies for the Church, volume 6, page 439 par3, published in 1901
“We need in our churches youth who are working upon the Christian endeavor
principles, and the beginning must be made at home. The faithful performance of
home duties has a reflex influence upon the character. In the father’s house is to
be given the evidence of fitness for work in the church.”

From the chapter “Work for Church Members” in Testimonies for the Church, volume 7,
page 21-22, published in 1902
“It is not the Lord’s purpose that ministers should be left to do the greatest part of
the work of sowing the seeds of truth…Hundreds of men and women now idle
could do acceptable service. By carrying the truth into the homes of their friends
and neighbors they could do a great work for the Master. God is no respecter of
persons. He will use humble, devoted Christians, even if they have not received so
thorough an education as some others. Let such ones engage in service for Him by
doing house-to-house work. Sitting by the fireside they can - if humble, discreet
and godly - do more to meet the real needs of families than could an ordained
minister.
“The formation of small companies as a basis of Christian effort has been presented to
me by One who cannot err. If there is a large number in the church, let the members be
formed into small companies, to work not only for the church members, but for
unbelievers. If in one place there are only two or three who know the truth, let
them form themselves into a band of workers. Let them keep their bond of union
unbroken, pressing together in love and unity, encouraging one another to
advance, each gaining courage and strength from the assistance of the others.
Let them reveal Christlike forbearance and patience, speaking no hasty words, using
the talent of speech to build one another up in the most holy faith. Let them labor in
Christlike love for those outside the fold, forgetting self in their endeavor to help others.
As they work and pray in Christ’s name, their numbers will increase; for the Saviour
says: ‘If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall
be done for them of My Father which is in heaven.’ Matthew 18:19.”

From a chapter entitled “Whole-hearted Reformers” in the Messages to Young People

pamphlet, page 10 (originated from MS. May 4, 1902)
“Why should not the younger men and women form a Christian endeavor society
for the purpose of encouraging one another to make an unqualified,
instantaneous renunciation of every unchristlike, questionable habit, and take a
firm stand to be true to their obligations to God? ‘Behold, now is the accepted
time; behold, now is the day of salvation.’”

In a private letter that is referred to in the Northern Union Reaper dated December 4th,
1906
“In that which has been written regarding Young People’s Work, it has been the spirit
and energy, the far-reaching efforts in behalf of all lines of Christian work, as reported
through the officers of the Christian Endeavor Societies, that is worthy of imitation. It is
the energy, the faithfulness, the alertness, and the devotion of members in these
societies which is pointed to as an example to us, rather than the plan of
organization, the constitution and machinery.”

In a letter to Brother and Sister C.B. Hughes who were working at Oakwood dated
August 1st, 1903, counsel was given on the way people of the white and black races
would be united on page 88 of the book “A Place Called Oakwood”:
“I will say to every church member, be careful how you keep human minds in a
species of slavery because they have a black skin. Will any of you despise the
workmanship of God and depress and trample down those you should try to help
up and prepare them through education to have clean, pure souls? We are to call
upon all who love God and keep His commandments to unite in Christian
Endeavor Societies (even a few in different localities) to see what may be
accomplished for the blacks, as a special work God requires to be done.”
My dear friend, this is God speaking. Every commandment keeper should unite in
Christian Endeavor Societies and avoid any species of slavery upon human minds. And
why not? God explains further in the same letter concerning the way ministers keep
their homes:

“Put away, ministering colored brethren who have wife and children, your harsh,
authoritative practices, for the Lord will not accept your work; but consider ‘I am
now a member of the Lord’s family and I am to sample His family in this world in
having lips [and] manners sanctified, my speech without passion. I am not
authorized to be a tyrant because I have witnessed so much tyranny in those
masters who have considered the slaves were [their] own flesh, heart, mind, soul
and body, when God is their Owner.’”
We are not united because we are not running our church as a home but as a military
complex, on a system that rules by force and not by love. All over the world tyrants have
one thing in common: they are military leaders or they pattern themselves after military-
based societies. Having based our youth training program on Scouting which shows
itself sympathetic to Rome and knowing that we are living in the time of Daniel 11:40-45
where in verse 43 the world’s armies will be under the control of Satan’s power which is
affirmed in Revelation 13:16 and Revelation 17:13, how can we dare hold on to an
organisation that holds us and our children in bondage by oath and action in support of
earthly military service like the rest of the sisterhood of Protestant churches at such a
time as this?

In closing, the time we live in calls for prayer and fasting; the kind of fast God requests
in Isaiah 58. The Christian Endeavor Society principles cater to such a fast in the vast
number of ways they can be fulfilled in the different lines of Christian work all over the
world. Specific instruction has been given to do this work of helping others, having
pledges to be temperate, chaste and our eyes single to the glory of our one and only
King, Jesus Christ. At their centre these youth societies must be prayer ministries run by
the youth themselves. We are in the critical hours before persecution comes upon us
just as Jesus was about to face the great crisis of His life on earth. And just before that
time, Christ was praying. From the end of the Olivet Discourse Christ’s warning given to
us is to watch and pray, defined in Ephesians 6:18 as praying in the Spirit and watching
meaning to pray for all saints, not obsessing over the latest news to see when the
Sunday Law will be enforced.

The power of small groups cannot be neglected in this work and from the counsel given
I can’t help but see that Christ pointed to one of the most effective methods of outreach
we can use in Revelation 3:20, for He says in Matthew 10:40 and John 13:20 that
whosoever He sends represents Him before others and those who receive His
messengers receive Him. Is not the door-to-door work the way He sent His disciples on
their very first mission trips? My appeal is that we take to heart and heed the same
words and work of John the baptist in Luke 3:2-17. Let us and our children take up the
work of preparing a world for our soon coming King who can never die and thus can
keep the appointed work going in stability without the loss of a leader halting all the
work that can be done. Let us point to Him in word and deed, diminishing self in the dust
and beating our swords into plowshares.

Brethren, these dry bones can live again. Let us no longer neglect our children and
youth, leaving or leading them to form characters after the fashion of the god of forces,
even after the ways of the beast of the bottomless pit who are Satan and his angels but
rather seek to heed, speak and live the words of prophecy given unto us that we may
once more prophesy again “before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings,”
praying for God to breathe upon us and all who would join God’s remnant church and
live and stand upon our feet in one accord “an exceeding great army” of Gospel workers
(Revelation 10:11, Ezekiel 37:10).

“The Christian worker may be Christ’s agent in drawing these children to the Saviour.
By wisdom and tact he may bind them to his heart, he may give them courage and hope,
and through the grace of Christ may see them transformed in character, so that of
them it may be said, ‘Of such is the kingdom of God.’”
The Desire of Ages pg 517