"When the truth we now cherish was first seen to be Bible truth, how very strange it appeared, and how strong was the opposition we had to meet in presenting it to the people for the first time; but how earnest and sincere were the obedient, truth-loving laborers! We were indeed a peculiar people. We were few in numbers, without wealth, without worldly wisdom or worldly honors; and yet we believed God and were strong and successful, a terror to evildoers. Our love for one another was steadfast, it was not easily shaken. Then the power of God was manifested among us, the sick were healed, and there was much calm, sweet, holy joy." [5T 534]

"In mercy He (God) reached forth his hand and enabled the Advent people in 1844 to break the cords of sectarianism that bound them, that they, the Philadelphia Church, might be disciplined and guided into the kingdom by the order and pure doctrines of the gospel." [Elder James White, R&H, Dec. 6, 1853.]

1852 "As I have of late looked around to find the humble followers of the meek and lowly Jesus, my mind has been much exercised. Many who profess to be looking for the speedy coming of Christ are becoming conformed to this world and seek more earnestly the applause of those around them than the approbation of God. They are cold and formal, like the nominal churches from which they but a short time since separated. The words addressed to the Laodicean church describe their present condition perfectly. (See Rev. 3:14-20.) They are "neither cold nor hot," but "lukewarm". And unless they heed the counsel of the "faithful and true Witness," and zealously repent and obtain "gold tried in the fire," "white raiment," and "eye-salve," He will spew them out of His mouth." [EW 107,108]

1856 "Oh, the pride that was shown me of God's professed people! It has increased every year, until it is now impossible to designate professed Advent Sabbath-keepers, from all the world around them." [1T 135]

1860 "I was shown the low state of God's people; that God had not departed from them, but that they had departed from Him, and had become lukewarm. They possess the theory of the truth, but lack its saving power." [1T 210]

1865 "A reformation is needed among the people, but it should first begin its purifying work with the ministers." [1T 469]

1868 "Men who stand in very responsible positions at the heart of the work are asleep. Satan has paralyzed them in order that his plans and devices may not be discerned, while he is active to ensnare, deceive, and destroy."
"And Satan exults at his success in controlling the minds of so many who profess to be Christians. He has deceived them, benumbed their sensibilities, and planted his hellish banner right in their midst, and they are so completely deceived that they know not that it is he. . . . They are idolaters, and are worse, far worse, in the sight of God than the heathen, graven-image worshipers who have no knowledge of a better way. . . . Like ancient Israel the church (Laodicean 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. . . . from what was shown me, but a small number of those now professing to believe the truth would eventually be saved . . . ." [2T 439-442, 445]

1876 "It is an alarming fact that indifference, sleepiness, and apathy have characterized men in responsible positions, and that there is a steady increase of pride and an alarming disregard of the warnings of the Spirit of God. The barriers which God's word places about His people are being broken down. Men who are acquainted with the way in which God has led His people in the past, instead of inquiring for the old paths and defending our position as a peculiar people, have linked hands with the world. The most alarming feature in the case is that warning voices have not been heard in remonstrance, entreaties, and warnings. The eyes of God's people seem to be blinded, while the church is fast drifting into the channel of worldliness." [4T 513]

1882 "You know not the time of your visitation. The great sin of the Jews was that of neglecting and rejecting present opportunities. As Jesus views the state of His professed followers today, He sees base ingratitude, hollow formalism, hypocritical insincerity, pharisaical pride and apostasy. . . .
I have been shown that the spirit of the world is fast leavening the church. You are following the same path as did ancient Israel. There is the same falling away from your holy calling as God's peculiar people. You are having fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. Your concord with unbelievers has provoked the Lord's displeasure. You know not the things that belong to your peace, and they are fast being hid from your eyes. Your neglect to follow the light will place you in a more unfavorable position than the Jews upon whom Christ pronounced a woe!!!
The patience of God has an object, but you are defeating it. He is allowing a state of things to come that you would fain see counteracted by and by, but it will be too late. . . .
It may be that erelong all prophesyings among us will be at an end, and the voice which has stirred the people may no longer disturb their carnal slumbers.
When God shall work His strange work on the earth, when holy hands bear the ark no longer, woe will be upon the people. . . .
The Lord has not closed heaven to us, but our own course of continual backsliding has separated us from God. . . . The church has turned back from following Christ her Leader and is steadily retreating toward Egypt." [5T 72, 75, 76, 77, 217]

1890 "Since the time of the Minneapolis meeting I have seen the state of the Laodicean church as never before." [R&H, Aug. 6, 1890]

"The church is like the unproductive tree which, receiving the dew and rain and sunshine, should have produced an abundance of fruit, but on which the divine search discovers nothing but leaves. Solemn thought for our churches! solemn, indeed, for every individual! Marvelous is the patience and forbearance of God; but "except thou repent," it will be exhausted. The churches, our institutions, will go from weakness to weakness, from cold formality to deadness, while they are saying, "I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing." [R&H, Dec. 23, 1890.]

1893 "Have the professed people of God understood the import of the words, `I will come unto thee quickly (when you are at ease, careless, filled with spiritual negligence) and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.' When warnings COME NO MORE to the people of God, when tender admonitions from the Spirit of God are silent, when the candle of heavenly illumination shines no longer upon their pathway, they will be left to kindle their own fire, and to walk in the sparks of their own kindling." [R&H, April 4, 1893]

"Of those who boast of their light, and yet fail to walk in it, Christ says, But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you. And thou, Capernaum (Seventh-Day Adventists who have had great light*) Which are exalted unto heaven (in point of privilege), shall be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee." [R&H, Aug. 1, 1893. * Parenthesis by E.G.W.]

1895 "Unless there is a decided reformation among the people of God, He will turn His face from them." [8T 146]

"He will take His Holy Spirit from the church and give it to others, who will appreciate it." [R&H, July 16, 1895]

1896 "If those who claim to have a living experience in the things of God had done their appointed work as the Lord ordained, the whole world would have been warned ere this, and the Lord Jesus would have come in power and great glory." [R&H, Oct. 6, 1896]

"Let the son of deceit and false witness be entertained by a church that has had great light, great evidence, and that church will discard the message the Lord has sent, and receive the most unreasonable assertions and false suppositions and false theories. Satan laughs at their folly, for he knows what truth is.
Many will stand in our pulpits with the torch of false prophecy in their hands, kindled from the hellish torch of Satan. If doubts and unbelief are cherished, the faithful ministers will be removed from the people who think they know so much. "If thou hadst known," said Christ, "even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes." [TM 409, 410]

1898 "Jerusalem is a representation of what the church will be if it refuses to walk in the light that God has given. Jerusalem was favored of God as the depositary of sacred trusts. But her people perverted the truth, and despised all entreaties and warnings. . . .
When Christ looked down from the crest of Olivet, He saw this state of things existing in every church. The warnings come down to all that are following in the tread of the people of Jerusalem, who had such great light. This people is before us as a warning. By rejecting God's warnings in this our day, men are repeating the sin of Jerusalem." [8T 67, 68]

1900 "When the Israelites entered Canaan, they did not fulfill God's purpose by taking possession of the whole land. . . . By their failure to carry out His purpose, they made it impossible for Him to fulfill to them His promise of blessing. Is not the church of today doing the same thing? . . . Are they less guilty than was the Jewish church?
The professed followers of Christ are on trial before the heavenly universe; but the coldness of their zeal and the feebleness of their efforts in God's service mark them as unfaithful.
The Lord says, "Shall I not visit for these things?" Jer. 5:9. Because they failed of fulfilling God's purpose, the children of Israel were set aside, and God's call was extended to other peoples. If these too prove unfaithful, will they not in like manner be rejected?" [COL 303, 304]

1901 "That these men should stand in a sacred place to be as the voice of God to the people, as we once believed the General Conference to be - that is past." [GCB, April 3, 1901, p. 25.]

1902 "The Deceptions of Satan. -- The light given me is that we shall be tested and proved, that Satan will come to us as he came to Christ,--as an angel of light. The heavenly universe is looking upon us with intense interest. We have been regarded as a people moving under God's guidance, and enjoying a remarkable record of success and prosperity. But a new chapter has been opened. There are among us those who are binding up with the world. They are not standing out in moral independence, trusting to the Lord to carry his work to completion." [pTB06 60.1; Series B, No. 6, p. 60, 1902.]
"Unless there is a reconversion, there will soon be such a lack of godliness that the Church will be represented by the barren fig tree. Great light has been given to her. She has had abundant opportunity for bearing much fruit. But selfishness has come in, and God says, "I will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent." [RH, February 25, 1902 par. 2.]
"Jesus looked upon the pretentious, fruitless fig tree, and with mournful reluctance pronounced the words of doom. And under the curse of an offended God, the fig tree withered away. God help His people to make an application of this lesson while there is still time." [RH, February 25, 1902 par. 3.]
"I am instructed to say that these words are applicable to Seventh-day Adventist churches in their present condition. The love of God has been lost, and this means the absence of love for one another. Self, self, self, is cherished, and is striving for the supremacy. How long is this to continue?" [RH, February 25, 1902 par. 2.]
"God brings against ministers and people the heavy charge of spiritual feebleness, saying, "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. . . . " God calls for a spiritual revival and a spiritual reformation. Unless this takes place, those who are lukewarm will continue to grow more abhorrent to the Lord, until He will refuse to acknowledge them as His children." [RH, February 25, 1902 par. 7.]

1903 "At this time the Laodicean message is to be given, to arouse a slumbering church. Let the thought of the shortness of time stimulate you to earnest, untiring effort. Remember that Satan has come down with great power, to work with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish." [SpTB02 14.3.]

"Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord's anger come upon you.
Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger." Zephaniah 2:2,3.

"The Laodicean message must be given with earnestness and power, as a message from heaven. If it be ignored, the Lord will certainly cast away from Him those whose spiritual condition is so objectionable. Christ declares that pretentious piety is nauseating to Him. To the ones so full of self-sufficiency He says, "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot." Their works are opposed to the holy principles of God's word." [SpTB02 20.1.]

"Be not deceived; many will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. We have now before us the alpha of this danger. The omega will be of a most startling nature." [SpTB02 16.2.]

""We can not advise our youth to go to Battle Creek (CIAS: Today it may be our schools at Andrews, La Sierra, Loma Linda, Friedensau Germany and more...) to obtain their education when the Lord is calling them away from Battle Creek, that they may be taught the truth for this time. `I will turn and overturn,' saith the Lord. Not all the leaders in Battle Creek are safe, reliable teachers; for they are not taught and led by God. Those who have had message after message, and yet have not heeded these messages, do not know the value of the knowledge that maketh wise unto salvation. . . .
"God forbid that one word of encouragement should be spoken to call our youth to a place where they will be leavened by misrepresentations and falsehoods regarding the Testimonies, and the work and character of the ministers of God.
"My message will become more and more pointed, as was the message of John the Baptist, even though it cost me my life. The people shall not be deceived." [SpTA12 14.1-3.]

1905 "One thing it is certain is soon to be realized,--the great apostasy, which is developing and increasing and waxing stronger, and will continue to do so until the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout. We are to hold fast the first principles of our denominated faith, and go forward from strength to increased faith. Ever we are to keep the faith that has been substantiated by the Holy Spirit of God from the earlier events of our experience until the present time. We need now larger breadth, and deeper, more earnest, unwavering faith in the leadings of the Holy Spirit. If we needed the manifest proof of the Holy Spirit's power to confirm truth in the beginning, after the passing of the time, we need today all the evidence in the confirmation of the truth, when souls are departing from the faith and giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. There must not be any languishing of soul now." [SpTB07 57.1.]

"I write this because any moment my life may be ended. Unless there is a breaking away from the influence that Satan has prepared, and a reviving of the testimonies that God has given, souls will perish in their delusion. They will accept fallacy after fallacy, and will thus keep up a disunion that will always exist until those who have been deceived take their stand on the right platform. All this higher education that is being planned will be extinguished; for it is spurious. The more simple the education of our workers, the less connection they have with the men whom God is not leading, the more will be accomplished. Work will be done in the simplicity of true godliness, and the old, old times will be back when, under the Holy Spirit's guidance, thousands were converted in a day. When the truth in its simplicity is lived in every place, then God will work through His angels as He worked on the day of Pentecost, and hearts will be changed so decidedly that there will be a manifestation of the influence of genuine truth, as is represented in the descent of the Holy Spirit." [SpTB07 63.4.]

1909 "There should have been a work done during the General Conference of 1909 in the hearts of those assembled which was not done. Although opportunity was given for confession of sin and heart-felt repentance and to do the work of a decided reformation yet this thorough work was not done." [GCB, 1909]

1913 "God calls upon those who are willing to be controlled by the Holy Spirit to lead out in a work of thorough reformation. I see a crisis before us, and the Lord calls for His laborers to come into line. Every soul should now stand in a position of deeper, truer consecration to God than during the years that have passed. . . . " [TM 514.3.]

"Were men free to depart from the Lord's requirements and to set up a standard of duty for themselves, there would be a variety of standards to suit different minds and the government would be taken out of the Lord's hands. The will of man would be made supreme, and the high and holy will of God--His purpose of love toward His creatures--would be dishonored, disrespected.
Whenever men choose their own way, they place themselves in controversy with God. They will have no place in the kingdom of heaven, for they are at war with the very principles of heaven. In disregarding the will of God, they are placing themselves on the side of Satan, the enemy of God and man." [MB, 51.4, 52.1]

"Those who have the light and do not follow it, but disregard the requirements of God, will find that their blessings will be changed into curses and their mercies into judgments. God would have us learn humility and obedience as we read the history of ancient Israel, who were His chosen and peculiar people, but who brought their own destruction by following their own ways." [3T 172.1.]

"The barren fig tree flaunted its pretentious branches in the face of heaven; but when the search for fruit was made by the Redeemer, lo, there was nothing but leaves. Unless there is a thorough work wrought for you as individuals and as a church, the curse of God will as surely come upon you as it fell upon that fruitless tree." [4T 614.1.]

"It was a mass of pretentious foliage, nothing more. Christ uttered against it a withering curse. "No man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever," He said.
The cursing of the fig tree was an acted parable. That barren tree, flaunting its pretentious foliage in the very face of Christ, was a symbol of the Jewish nation. The Saviour desired to make plain to His disciples the cause and the certainty of Israel's doom. For this purpose He invested the tree with moral qualities, and made it the expositor of divine truth.
Withered beneath the Saviour's curse, standing forth sere and blasted, dried up by the roots, the fig tree showed what the Jewish people would be when the grace of God was removed from them. Refusing to impart blessing, they would no longer receive it. "O Israel," the Lord says, "thou hast destroyed thyself." Hosea 13:9.
The warning is for all time. Christ's act in cursing the tree which His own power had created stands as a warning to all churches and to all Christians." [DA, 581, 584.]

"The sad fact is apparent that the work in these fields ought to be years in advance of what it now is. The negligence on the part of the ministers has discouraged the people, and the lack of interest, self-sacrifice, and appreciation of the work on the part of the people has discouraged the ministers. "Two years behind" stands recorded in the Ledger of Heaven. . . . A realization of these facts has brought unspeakable burdens upon me, driving sleep from my eyes.
At times it has seemed that my heart would break, and I could only pray, while giving vent to my anguish in weeping aloud. Oh, I felt so sorry for my Saviour! His searching for fruit amid the leaf-covered branches of the fig tree and His disappointment in finding nothing but leaves" seemed so vivid before my eyes. I felt that I could not have it so. I could in no way be reconciled to the past years of neglect of duty on the part of ministers and people. I feared that the withering curse passed upon the fig tree might be the fate of these careless ones. The terrible neglect of doing the work and fulfilling the mission which God has entrusted to them incurs a loss which none of us can afford to sustain. It is running a risk too fearful to contemplate and too terrible to be ventured at any time in our religious history, but especially now, when time is so short and so much is to be done in this day of God's preparation. All heaven is earnestly engaged for the salvation of men; light is coming from God to His people, defining their duty, so that none need err from the right path. But God does not send His light and truth to be lightly esteemed and trifled with. If the people are inattentive, they are doubly guilty before Him." [5T 257.2.]

"Who knows whether God will not give you up to the deceptions you love? Who knows but that the preachers who are faithful, firm, and true may be the last who shall offer the gospel of peace to our unthankful churches? It may be that the destroyers are already training under the hand of Satan and only wait the departure of a few more standard-bearers to take their places, and with the voice of the false prophet cry, "Peace, peace," when the Lord hath not spoken peace. I seldom weep, but now I find my eyes blinded with tears; they are falling upon my paper as I write. It may be that erelong all prophesyings among us will be at an end, and the voice which has stirred the people may no longer disturb their carnal slumbers." [5T 77.1.]

"Warnings, expostulations and forbearance are about to cease, mark the cursing of the fig tree, representing the Jewish nation, covered with the leaves of profession but no fruit to be found thereon. The curse is pronounced upon the fig tree which represents the moral thinking, living agent, cursed of God, living as were the Jews for forty years after this event, yet DEAD." [`Special toMinisters', No. 7, p. 60.]

"It was not the will of God that Israel should wander forty years in the wilderness; he desired to lead them directly to the land of Canaan, and establish them there, a holy, happy people. But "they could not enter in because of unbelief." [HEB. 3:19.] Because of their backsliding and apostasy, they perished in the desert, and others were raised up to enter the promised land. In like manner, it was not the will of God that the coming of Christ should be so long delayed, and his people should remain so many years in this world of sin and sorrow. But unbelief separated them from God. As they refused to do the work which he had appointed them, others were raised up to proclaim the message." [GC 458]

"In every age there is given to men their day of light and privilege, a probationary time in which they may become reconciled to God. But there is a limit to this grace. Mercy may plead for years and be slighted and rejected; but there comes a time when mercy makes her last plea. . . . The Jewish nation was a symbol of the people of all ages who scorn the pleadings of Infinite Love. The tears of Christ when He wept over Jerusalem were for the sins of all time. In the judgments pronounced upon Israel, those who reject the reproofs and warnings of God's Holy Spirit, may read their own condemnation.
In this generation there are many who are treading on the same ground as were the unbelieving Jews. They have witnessed the manifestation of the power of God; the Holy Spirit has spoken to their hearts; but they cling to their unbelief and resistance. God sends them warnings and reproof, but they are not willing to confess their errors, and they reject His message and His messenger. The very means He uses for their recovery becomes to them a stone of stumbling." [DA 587.4.]

"The messages from heaven are of a character to arouse opposition. The faithful witnesses for Christ and the truth will reprove sin. Their words will be like a hammer to break the flinty heart, like a fire to consume the dross. There is constant need of earnest, decided messages of warning. God will have men who are true to duty. At the right time He sends His faithful messengers to do a work similar to that of Elijah." [Testimonies, vol. 5, pp. 253, 254. - RC 32.5.]

"God has committed to His servants a message for this time; but this message does not in every particular coincide with the ideas of all the leading men, and some criticize the message and the messengers. They dare even to reject the words of reproof sent to them from God through His Holy Spirit." [TM 465.2.]

"We need never expect that when the Lord has light for His people, Satan will stand calmly by and make no effort to prevent them from receiving it. He will work upon minds to excite distrust and jealousy and unbelief. Let us beware that we do not refuse the light God sends, because it does not come in a way to please us. Let not God's blessing be turned away from us because we know not the time of our visitation." [5T 728.1]

"Satan has a large confederacy, his church. Christ calls them the synagogue of Satan because the members are the children of sin (Criminals). The members of Satan's church have been constantly working to cast off the divine law, and confuse the distinction between good and evil. Satan is working with great power in and through the children of disobedience to exalt treason and apostasy as truth and loyalty. And at this time the power of his satanic inspiration is moving the living agencies to carry out the great rebellion against God that commenced in heaven." [TM 16.1. Rev. 3:14-18.]

"They love the things of this world, and have fellowship with the works of darkness. They have pleasure in unrighteousness. They have not love toward God nor love for their neighbors. They are idolaters, and are worse, far worse, in the sight of God than the heathen, graven-image worshipers who have no knowledge of a better way." [2T 440.2.]