It is a dangerous thing for men to resist the Spirit of truth and grace and righteousness, because its manifestations are not according to their ideas, and have not come in the line of their methodical plans. The Lord works in his own way, and according to his own devising. Let men pray that they may be divested of self, and may be in harmony with heaven. Let them pray, "Not my will, but thine, O God, be done." Let men bear in mind that God's ways are not their ways, nor his thoughts their thoughts; for he says, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." In the instruction that the Lord gave Gideon when he was about to fight with the Midianites,--that he should go out against his foes with an army of three hundred blowing trumpets, and carrying empty pitchers in their hands, and shouting, "The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon,--these precise, methodical, formal men would see nothing but inconsistency and confusion. They would start back with determined protest and resistance. They would have held long controversies to show the inconsistency and the dangers that would accompany the carrying on of the warfare in such an extreme way, and in their finite judgment they would pronounce all such movements as utterly ridiculous and unreasonable. How unscientific, how inconsistent, would they have thought the movements of Joshua and his army at the taking of Jericho! "Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in. And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valor. And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him." Where were the scientific methods in this manner of warfare? By Mrs. E. G. White. (Concluded next week.)

Det er en farlig ting for mennesker at modsætte sig sandhedens og nådens og retfærdighedens Ånd, fordi dens manifestationer ikke er i overensstemmelse med deres idéer, og er ikke kommet ind i deres metodiske planer. Herren virker på sin egen måde, og efter sin egen planlægning. Lad mennesker bede for at de må frigøres for sig selv, og må være i harmoni med himlen. Lad dem bede: ”Ikke min vilje, men din, O Gud, ske.” Lad mennesker have i tanke at Guds veje er ikke deres veje, eller hans tanker deres tanker; for han siger: ”Nej, som himlen er højere end jorden, er mine veje højere end eders og mine tanker højere end eders.” I den undervisning som Herren gav Gideon da han var ved at bekæmpe midianitterne, - så han skulle gå ud imod sine fjender med en hær på tre hundrede blæsende horn, og bære tomme krukker i deres hænder, og råbe: ”Herrens sværd og Gideons!” – disse præcise, metodiske, formelle mænd ville ikke se andet end inkonsekvens og forvirring. De ville trække tilbage under protest og modstand. De ville holdt lange kontroverser for at vise selvmodsigen og de farer som ville følge med den krigsførelse på denne yderliggående måde, og i deres begrænsede dømmekraft ville de erklære alle disse bevægelser for at være helt latterlige og ufornuftige. Hvor uvidenskabeligt, hvor ulogisk, ville de have tænkt over de bevægelser Josva og hans hær gjorde i indtagelsen af Jeriko! ”Men Jeriko var lukket og stængt for israelitterne, ingen gik ud eller ind. Da sagde Herren til Josua: ”Se, jeg giver Jeriko og dets konge og krigere i din hånd. Alle eders våbenføre mænd skal gå rundt om byen, een gang rundt; det skal I gøre seks dage; og syv præster skal bære syv væderhorn foran arken. Men den syvende dag skal I gå rundt om byen syv gange, og præsterne skal støde i hornene. Når der så blæses i væderhornet, og I hører hornets lyd, skal alt folket opløfte et vældigt krigsskrig; så skal byens mur styrte sammen, og folket kan gå lige ind, hver fra sin plads.” Hvor var de videnskabelige metoder i denne måde at føre krig på?

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