I saw that you had thought this one and that one were called to labor in the field, when you know nothing of the matter. You cannot read the heart. If you had drunk deep of the truth of the third angel’s message, you would not be so free to tell who were called of God, and who were not. The fact that one can pray and talk well is no evidence that God has called him. Everyone has an influence, and that influence should tell for God; but the question whether this one or that one should devote his time to labor for souls, is of the deepest importance, and none but God can decide who shall engage in the solemn work. There were good men in the apostles’ days, men who could pray with power and talk to the point; yet the apostles, who had power over unclean spirits and could heal the sick, dared not with merely their wisdom set one apart for the holy work of being mouthpiece for God. They waited unmistakable evidence of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. I saw that God had laid upon His chosen ministers the duty of deciding who was fit for the holy work; and in union with the church and the manifest tokens of the Holy Spirit, they were to decide who should go and who were unfit to go. I saw that if it should be left to a few individuals here and there to decide who was sufficient for this great work, confusion and distraction everywhere would be the fruit. {1T 208.1}

Jeg så at I havde troet at den og den var kaldt til arbejde i marken, skønt I intet ved om den sag. I kan ikke læse hjertet. Hvis I havde drukket dybt af sandheden i den tredje engels budskab, ville I ikke være så frie til at sige hvem Gud har kaldt og hvem han ikke har. At én kan bede og tale godt er ikke noget bevis for at Gud har kaldt ham. Enhver har en indflydelse og den indflydelse bør tale for Gud; men spørgsmålet om hvorvidt den eller den burde hellige sin tid til at arbejde for sjæle, er af største betydning og ingen uden Gud kan beslutte hvem der skal gå ind i dette højtidelige arbejde. Der var gode mennesker i apostlenes dage, mennesker som kunne bede med kraft og tale relevant; og alligevel vovede apostlene, som havde magt over urene ånder og kunne helbrede syge, ikke bare ved deres visdom, at sætte nogen til side for det hellige arbejde de havde som Guds talerør. De afventede et umiskendeligt bevis for (209) Helligåndens tilkendegivelse. Jeg så at Gud havde pålagt sine udvalgte tjenere at afgøre hvem, der var egnede for det hellige arbejde; og i forening med menigheden og i beviset af Helligåndens tegn, skulle de beslutte hvem, der måtte gå og hvem der var uegnede til at gå. Jeg så at hvis det skulle overlades til nogle få enkeltpersoner her og der at beslutte hvem, der var fyldestgørende for dette store arbejde, ville uorden og forvirring være frugten.