The Higher Education

The most essential lessons for teachers and students to learn, are those which point, not to the world, but from the world to the cross of Christ.

Higher education is an experimental knowledge of the plan of salvation, and this knowledge is
secured by earnest and diligent study of the Scriptures such an education will renew the mind
and transform the character, restoring the image of God in the soul. It will fortify the mind
against the deceptive whisperings of the adversary, and enable us to understand the voice of God.

It will teach the learner to become a co-worker with Jesus Christ, to dispel the moral darkness
about him, and bring light and knowledge to men. It is the simplicity of true godliness-- our
passport from the preparatory school of earth to the higher school above.

 There is no education to be gained higher than that given to the early disciples, and which is
revealed to us through the word of God. To gain the higher education means to follow this word
implicitly; it means to walk in the footsteps of Christ, to practice His virtues. It means to give up
selfishness and to devote the life to the service of God.

Higher education calls for something greater, something more divine, than the knowledge to be obtained merely from books. It means a personal, experimental knowledge of Christ; it means emancipation from ideas, from habits and practices,that have been gained in the school of the prince of darkness, and which are opposed to loyalty to God. It means to overcome stubbornness, pride, selfishness, worldly ambition, and unbelief. It is the message of deliverance from sin.
Elleen G White Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students (1913) pg 12

A YOUNG ADULT’S ENCOUNTER WITH ELLEN WHITE . . . ON SALVATION

Ellen White makes the topics of salvation and the love of Christ, who died for me, both simple and personal. When I open The Desire of Ages, He’s right there. He’s so real, so able to save.

When I read what Ellen White says about the topic of salvation,it’s like no other author. What she writes has to do with me personally. It’s my life she’s talking about—my feelings and experiences.

I recognize them. This is a salvation of experience, one I can touch, because it’s about Jesus. I know she knew Jesus personally.Whatever any other writer knew, it doesn’t compare with
this.

Other writers may have something important to say, they may try to share the right ideas, but in the pages of The Desire of Ages Ellen White is trying to share salvation through Jesus. And the best
thing is she makes me want it! I want it with all my heart.

 In her writings she talks about salvation in the real world—my world. It’s not about only ideas. It’s not a beehive of rhetoric. The intellectual part has its place, but when I get up in the morning to face my day spiritually, what I want needs to be clear, vivid, and personal. I find that in her writings.

 My strength to save myself is like “ropes of sand,” as she puts it. I know she’s right because I’ve felt those ropes crumble in my hands. What she describes I can touch, for it’s a theology of flesh and blood. It’s about Jesus!

By  Ellen

Witnesses...........

We are Christ's witnesses, and we are not to allow worldly interests and plans to
absorb our time and attention.
Ellen G White Testimonies for the church, vol. 9, pp. 53, 54.

"Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord. . . . I have declared, and have saved, and I have
showed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are My witnesses." "I the
Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give
thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; to open the blind eyes, to bring
out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house."
 Ellen G White The Acts of the Apostles, p. 10.

The people of the world are worshiping false gods. They are to be turned from their false
worship, not by hearing denunciation of their idols, but by beholding something better. God's
goodness is to be made known. "Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God."--
Ellen G White  Christ's Object Lessons, p. 299.

All who would enter the city of God must during their earthly life set forth Christ in their
dealings. It is this that constitutes them the messengers of Christ, His witnesses. They are to bear a plain,decided testimony against all evil practices, pointing sinners to the Lamb of God, who taketh
away the sin of the world.
Ellen G White Testimonies for the church, vol. 9, p. 23.

Personal Ministry...........!

 Christ neglected no opportunity of proclaiming the gospel of salvation. Listen to His wonderful words to that one woman of Samaria. He was sitting by Jacob's well, as the woman came to draw water. To her surprise He asked a favor of her. "Give Me to drink," He said. He wanted a cool draft, and He wished also to open the way whereby He might give to her the water of life. "How is it," said the woman, "that  Thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans." Jesus answered, "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water.... Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." John 4:7-14.

How much interest Christ manifested in this one woman! How earnest and eloquent were His words! When the woman heard them, she left her waterpot, and went into the city, saying to her friends, "Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" We read that "many of the Samaritans of that city believed on Him." Verses 29, 39. And who can estimate the influence which these words have exerted for the saving of souls in the years that have passed since then?
Wherever hearts are open to receive the truth, Christ is ready to instruct them. He reveals to them the Father, and the service acceptable to Him who reads the heart. For such He uses no parables. To them, as to the woman at the well, He says, "I that speak unto thee am H

Thought for Today......

Then He had battled with Satan in Gethsemane, suffered the betrayal of Judas, watched His disciples desert Him and flee, stood before Annas, Caiaphas, Pilate, and Herod, and twice endured lashes on His back. When they put the cross on His shoulder, He collapsed. It was more than any human being could bear. AC 51.1

Mary, in the company of John, saw her Son collapse. She longed to take His wounded head in her hands and wipe the brow that had once rested on her breast. But she could not. 

Through the entire ordeal Jesus never spoke a word of complaint. He breathed only this compassionate prayer: “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34. The prayer He offered that day included every person in the world, from creation to the end of time. We all bear guilt for the crucifixion of Jesus, but Jesus offers us forgiveness so we can experience peace now and claim His promise of eternal life. AC 52.4
A CALL TO STAND APART, PAGE  53.

THE CHILDREN OF GOD..................!

Combined Christian Forces........!

 Brethren and sisters in the faith, does the question arise in your hearts, "Am I my brother's keeper?" If you claim to be children of God, you are your brother's keeper. The Lord holds the church responsible for the souls of those whom they might be the means of saving.
                   Ellen .G. White Historical Sketches, p. 291.

The Saviour has given His precious life in order to establish a church capable of ministering to the suffering, the sorrowful, and the tempted. A company of believers may be poor, uneducated, and unknown; yet in Christ they may do a work in the home, in the community, and even in the "regions beyond," whose results shall be as far-reaching as eternity.
                   Ellen .G. White The Ministry of Healing, p. 106.