"...if
the watchman sees the sword coming and does not
blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned,
and the sword comes and takes any person from
among them, he is taken away in his iniquity;
but his blood I will require at the watchman’s
hand.’ ...
I have made you a watchman for the house of
Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My
mouth and warn them for Me." Ezekiel 33:6-7
"Some one,
then, must undertake the ungracious task of probing
and laying bare the evils of the age; for men must
not be allowed to congratulate themselves that all
is well. If others will not, he will.
If others
shrink from the obloquy of such a work, he will
not.... He loves his fellow-men too well. They may
upbraid him; they may call him a misanthropist, or a
prophet of evil; they may ascribe his warnings to
the worst of motives, such as pride, or arrogance,
or self-esteem, or malice, or envy; but he will give
no heed to these unjust insinuations.
He will prefer
being thus misunderstood and maligned, to allowing
men to precipitate themselves upon a ruin which they
see not. Rather than that they should perish, he
will allow his own good name to be spoken against.
He will risk every thing, even the hatred of
brethren, rather than withhold the warning. If they
give no heed to it, he has, at least, saved his own
soul. If they do, he has saved both his own soul and
theirs.
He would rather
take up the glad tidings of peace, and tell men of
Him who came the first time for shame and death, and
who is coming the second time for glory and
dominion; but he feels as one who has a special and
personal message to deliver, which cannot be
postponed.
He must
remember that he is a watchman; and, having seen
danger pressing on, he must not hesitate to make it
known. He must speak his message of forewarning and
rebuke, sparing no arrows, and neither smoothing
down nor hiding any form of sin, but laying his
finger upon every sore, and beseeching men to turn
from their ungodliness. The evils around him press
upon him sadly; the coming evils are foreshadowed
upon his spirit, and, therefore, he lifts up his
voice like a trumpet.
-
Satan has many
snares which need to be detected;
-
the world has many
spells and lures which must be disenchanted;
-
religion has many guises which must be unmasked,
-
many devious paths of inconsistency which must be
pointed out,
-
many cherished errors which must be
condemned,
-
many carnal taints which must be abhorred
and shunned.
All these he must protest against
without fear or favour."
"Finally,
be
strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God
so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For
our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world
and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
"Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil
comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have
done everything, to stand.
"Stand firm then, with
the belt of truth buckled around your waist,
with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet
fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In
addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can
extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of
salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is
the word of
God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers
and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all
the saints." (Ephesians 6:10-18).