Like ancient Israel the church has dishonored her God by departing from the light, neglecting her duties, and abusing her high and exalted privilege of being peculiar and holy in character. Her members have violated their covenant to live for God and Him only. They have joined with the selfish and world-loving. Pride, the love of pleasure, and sin have been cherished, and Christ has departed. His Spirit has been quenched in the church. Satan works side by side with professed Christians; yet they are so destitute of spiritual discernment that they do not detect him. They have not the burden of the work. The solemn truths they profess to believe are not a reality to them. They have not genuine faith. Men and women will act out all the faith which they in reality possess. By their fruits ye shall know them. Not their profession, but the fruit they bear, shows the character of the tree. Many have a form of godliness, their names are upon the church records; but they have a spotted record in heaven. The recording angel has faithfully written their deeds. Every selfish act, every wrong word, every unfulfilled duty, and every secret sin, with every artful dissembling, is faithfully chronicled in the book of records kept by the recording angel. {2T 441.3}

Nogle kunne nu have været grundige arbejdsfolk hvis de havde gjort god brug af deres tid, følt at de måtte aflægge et regnskab for Gud for deres misbrugte øjeblikke. De har mishaget Gud fordi de ikke har været flittige. Selvtilfredshed, egenkærlighed og selvisk magelighed har holdt (500) nogen fra det gode, afholdt dem fra at opnå kundskab til skrifterne så de kan vare fuldstændig rustede til gode gerninger. Nogle værdsætter ikke værdien af tid og har dovnet timer væk i sengen der kunne være brugt til bibelstudium. Der er nogle få punkter de mest har dvælet ved, hvorved de er fortrolige og over disse kan de tale med anerkendelse; men her har de i en stor grad stået stille. De har ikke følt sig helt tilfreds med sig selv og til tider har de erkendt deres mangler; alligevel er de ikke vågnet tilstrækkeligt op for den forsømmelsesforbrydelse det er at ikke at blive bekendt med det Guds ord, de bekender sig til at lære. Folk er skuffede på grund af deres ligegyldighed; de modtager ikke den indsigt som de kunne få fra dem og som de forventer at få fra Kristi tjenere.