Those whom God has chosen for an important work have ever been received with distrust and suspicion. Anciently, when Elijah was sent with a message from God to the people, they did not heed the warning. They thought him unnecessarily severe. They even thought that he must have lost his senses because he denounced them, the favored people of God, as sinners and their crimes as so aggravated that the judgments of God would awaken against them. Satan and his host have ever been arrayed against those who bear the message of warning and who reprove sins. The unconsecrated will also be united with the adversary of souls to make the work of God’s faithful servants as hard as possible. {3T 261.2}

Dem som Gud har udvalgt til et betydningsfuldt arbejde er altid blevet modtaget med mistro. Førhen, da Elias blev sendt med et budskab fra Gud til folk, gav de ikke agt på advarslen. De anså ham for at være unødig streng. De troede endda at han havde mistet sin fornuft fordi han fordømte dem, Guds foretrukne folk, som syndere og deres overtrædelser var så store at Guds domme ville vækkes imod dem. Satan og hans hær er altid blevet stillet op imod dem som frembærer advarselsbudskabet og som irettesætter synder. De uhellige vil også forenes med sjælefjenden for at gøre Guds trofaste tjeneres arbejde så hårdt som muligt.