Refuse to be Corrected

       Quotations from the writings of Ellen G. White with the phrase . . .

                R E f u s E    to    be    C O R R E C T e d        (  3  RELATED  PHRASES )                      

                       The  phrase  'Refuse to be corrected'  appears  11  times in the published writings of EGW                See page on Original site                                                     Related phrase:   refused to be corrected  ( 10 ) below  

Those who are willing to have the straight, plain messages of God consumed, to get them out of their sight, will only give increased publicity to, and confirmation of, the messages that they dismissed and repulsed. When the Lord sends a message to any man or woman, and they refuse to be corrected, refuse to receive it, that is not the end of the message by any means. All the transaction is recorded, and those who took part in it, by their refusal to be corrected, pronounce their own sentence against themselves. { NYI February 7, 1906, par. 6 }  also  { SpTB07 59.1 } 

 

 
We are living in the last days of this earth’s history, and we may be surprised at nothing in the line of apostasies and denials of the truth. Unbelief has now come to be a fine art which men work at to the destruction of their souls. There is constant danger of there being shams in pulpit preachers, whose lives contradict the words they speak; but the voice of warning and of admonition will be heard as long as time shall last; and those who are guilty of transactions that should never be entered into, when reproved or counseled through the Lord’s appointed agencies, will resist the message and refuse to be corrected. They will go on as did Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar, until the Lord takes away their reason, and their hearts become unimpressible. The Lord’s word will come to them; but if they choose not to hear it, the Lord will make them responsible for their own ruin. { 2SM 147.1}  { 1NL 101.1 } 

 

 
The Lord sends us warning, counsel, and reproof, that we may have opportunity to correct our errors before they become second-nature. But if we refuse to be corrected, God does not interfere to counteract the tendencies of our own course of action. He works no miracle that the seed sown may not spring up and bear fruit. That man who manifests an infidel hardihood or a stolid indifference to divine truth, is but reaping the harvest which he has himself sown. Such has been the experience of many. They listen with stoical indifference to the truths which once stirred their very souls. They sowed neglect, indifference, and resistance to the truth; and such is the harvest which they reap. The coldness of ice, the hardness of iron, the impenetrable, unimpressible nature of rock—all these find a counterpart in the character of many a professed Christian. It was thus that the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh. God spoke to the Egyptian king by the mouth of Moses, giving him the most striking evidences of divine power; but the monarch stubbornly refused the light which would have brought him to repentance. God did not send a supernatural power to harden the heart of the rebellious king, but as Pharaoh resisted the truth, the Holy Spirit was withdrawn, and he was left to the darkness and unbelief which he had chosen. { RH June 20, 1882, par. 12 }

 

The Lord sends us warning, counsel, and reproof, that we may have opportunity to correct our errors before they become second nature. But if we refuse to be corrected, God does not interfere to counteract the tendencies of our own course of action. He works no miracle that the seed sown may not spring up and bear fruit. That man who manifests an infidel hardihood or a stolid indifference to divine truth, is but reaping the harvest which he has himself sown. Such has been the experience of many. They listen with stoical indifference to the truths which once stirred their very souls. They sowed neglect, indifference, and resistance to the truth; and such is the harvest which they reap. The coldness of ice, the hardness of iron, the impenetrable, unimpressible nature of rock—all these find a counterpart in the character of many a professed Christian. It was thus that the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh. God spoke to the Egyptian king by the mouth of Moses, giving him the most striking evidences of divine power; but the monarch stubbornly refused the light which would have brought him to repentance. God did not send a supernatural power to harden the heart of the rebellious king, but as Pharaoh resisted the truth, the Holy Spirit was withdrawn, and he was left to the darkness and unbelief which he had chosen. By persistent rejection of the Spirit’s influence, men cut themselves off from God. He has in reserve no more potent agency to enlighten their minds. No revelation of His will can reach them in their unbelief. { OHC 160.3} 
The Lord sends us warning, counsel, and reproof, that we may have opportunity to correct our errors before they become second nature. But if we refuse to be corrected, God does not interfere to counteract the tendencies of our own course of action. He works no miracle that the seed sown may not spring up and bear fruit. That man who manifests an infidel hardihood or a stolid indifference to divine truth is but reaping the harvest which he has himself sown. Such has been the experience of many. They listen with stoical indifference to the truths which once stirred their very souls. They sowed neglect, indifference, and resistance to the truth; and such is the harvest which they reap. { YRP 303.2} 
The Lord sends us warning, counsel, and reproof that we may have opportunity to correct our errors before they become second nature. But if we refuse to be corrected, God does not interfere to counteract the tendencies of our own course of action. He works no miracle that the seed sown may not spring up and bear fruit. { 1MCP 35.2 } 
 
Our duty, our safety, our happiness and usefulness, and our salvation, call upon us each to use the greatest diligence to secure the grace of Christ, to be so closely connected with God that we may discern spiritual things, and not be ignorant of Satan’s devices. Those who are willing to be instructed will heed the counsels and warnings of the Spirit of God. The Lord gives these admonitions and reproofs in mercy. When his professed people move in blindness, yield to temptation, and lose their hold upon him, he sends them a message of reproof, of warning, of counsel; if they refuse to be corrected, if they rise up in rebellion, and cast reproach upon the messenger whom he sends, they reject not the messenger, but the Lord. When the people refused “to listen to the counsel of Samuel the prophet, the Lord said unto him, They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me.” { RH January 8, 1884, par. 16 }
 
 
The aged standard-bearers in the cause of God are far from being useless. The men who have held the beginning of their confidence steadfast unto the end are not to be accounted second or third in the work of God. They are not to be cast aside as having outlived their usefulness. God has an important part for them to act in His work. By learning of Christ they have obtained a rich experience. When they have made false steps, they did not refuse to be corrected. When they wandered from the path that Christ trod, they allowed Him to lead them once more into it. Thus they have learned to help others.—Manuscript 92, 1903. { RY 32.2 } 

 

 

                                                  refused   to   be   corrected                                                                             

 
“Why,” the Lord inquired, “is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding?” Jeremiah 8:5. In the language of the prophet it was because they had obeyed not the voice of the Lord their God and had refused to be corrected. See Jeremiah 5:3. “Truth is perished,” he mourned, “and is cut off from their mouth.” “The stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but My people know not the judgment of the Lord.” “Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the Lord: shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?” Jeremiah 7:28; 8:7; Jeremiah 9:9. Prophets and Kings, page 414.3    Read entire chapter 34

 

 
They need to learn that the leaven of truth has not entered into the heart’s affections, habits, and practices, and made a reformation in them. They have let the habits and practices of a lifetime have free course, because they have entertained the idea that they were right. They have refused to be corrected, because they have been in the habit of shutting their eyes to their own defects. They have thought that their habits and practices did not need to be changed, and they have held fast to their own ideas, which in their own eyes are perfection. { 2SAT 118.3 } 

 

 
Thus “in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem” the message of Jeremiah was, “Hear ye the words of this covenant”—the precepts of God as recorded in the Scriptures—“and do them.” Jeremiah 11:6. “Why,” the Lord inquired, “is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding?” Jeremiah 8:5. It was because they had refused to be corrected. See Jeremiah 5:3. “The stork in the heavens knows her appointed times; and the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow observe the time of their coming. But My people know not the judgment of the Lord.” “Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?” Jeremiah 8:7; 9:9, NKJV. { SS 215.4 } 
 
After two years in Mission fields in Europe, when again on American soil, I had constant anxiety, for the Lord laid burdens upon me for individual cases, who were in blindness and in transgression of the law of God. When reproof came to correct evils in those who were not following of God, in many cases, they refused to be corrected. The spirit of opposition to the testimony would arise, and some one would say, “Some one is influencing Sister White: some one has been telling her about my case.” The brethren did not seem to see beyond the instrument. Unbelief and resistance to reproof prevailed everywhere. Such gross blindness, such a want of recognition as to where the spirit of the Lord was working, I had never before witnessed in so marked a manner among our own people. I had been instructed in regard to many evils that had been coming in among us while I was in Europe, and had written what was the mind of the Lord in reference to them. I had also been told that the testimony God had given me would not be received, because the hearts of those who had been reproved were not in such a state of humility that they could be corrected and receive reproof. Satan had been at work east of the Rocky Mountains as well as west, to make of none effect the messages of reproof and warning, as well as the lessons of Christ, and the messages of consolation. The evil one was determined to cut off the light which God had for his people, that every man might walk in his own light and follow his own judgment, and no voice be heard, saying, “Why do ye so?” A strong, firm, resistance was manifested by many against anything that should interfere with their own personal ideas, their own course of action. This laid upon me the heaviest burdens I could possibly bear. But although the enemy had power over the minds of our brethren and sisters, to make of none effect my labors, still my work did not change. I was not released at all from my responsibilities. { 1888 48.2 } 
 
Elder Daniells and Elder Prescott have made some mistakes in their religious experience, as other men have, but they never defied the Spirit of God and refused to be corrected. At one time it was supposed that the publishing interests should be centralized under the organization in Battle Creek. I was in great distress in regard to this sentiment. I was weighed down as a cart beneath sheaves. But this difficulty was adjusted by the Lord’s permitting the principal buildings of the Review and Herald Publishing House to be destroyed by fire. { 10MR 357.1 } ... { PM 177.1} 
She admitted that Elders Prescott and Daniells had made mistakes, but they never had defied the Spirit of God and never had refused to be corrected. She then spoke in commendation of the two men for their work in Washington and said the Lord had greatly blessed them at every step. In the same letter she wrote to Brethren Magan and Sutherland concerning Daniells and his relationship to the Spirit of Prophecy: { 5BIO 337.4 } 

 

 

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