Dishonesty in the Church by Ellen G. White (1880)

The love of money is the root of all evil. Some who profess the truth do not withstand temptation on this point. Among worldlings in this generation the greatest crimes are perpetrated through the love of money. If wealth cannot be secured by honest industry, men will resort to fraud, deception, and crime, in order to obtain it. The cup of iniquity is nearly filled, and the retributive justice of God is about to descend upon the guilty. Widows are robbed of their scanty pittance by lawyers and professedly interested friends, and poor men are made to suffer for the necessaries of life, because of the dishonesty which is practiced in order to gratify extravagance. The terrible record of crime in our world is enough to chill the blood and fill the soul with horror; but the fact that even among those who profess to believe the truth the same evils are creeping in, the same sins indulged to a greater or less degree, calls for deep humiliation of soul.A man who sincerely fears God would rather toil day and night, suffer privation, and eat the bread of poverty, than to indulge a passion for gain which would oppress the widow and the fatherless, or turn the stranger from his right. The crimes that are committed through love of display and love of money, constitute this world a den of thieves and robbers, and cause angels to weep. But Christians are professedly not dwellers upon the earth; they are in a strange country, stopping as it were only for a night. Our home is in the mansions which Jesus has gone to prepare for us. This life is but a vapor which passeth away.Every time the golden rule is violated, Christ is abused in the person of his saints. Every advantage that is taken of fellow-mortals, be they saints or sinners, will stand as fraud in the Ledger of Heaven.The acquisition of property becomes a mania with some. God designed that our lives should represent the life of our great Pattern in doing good to others, and in acting a holy part in the elevation of man. About this work there hovers a true dignity, and a glory which may never be seen and realized in this life, but which will be fully appreciated in the future life. The record of kindly deeds and generous actions will reach into eternity. Just to the extent that man would advantage himself at the disadvantage of his fellow-man will his soul become calloused to the influence of the Spirit of God. Gain obtained thus is a fearful loss.There have been men in important places who have not been guardians of the interests of others. They have been wholly absorbed in their own interests, and have neglected to preserve the reputation of the church. They have been selfish and avaricious, not moving with an eye single to the glory of God. The church as a whole is in a degree responsible for the wrongs of its individual members, because they countenanced the evil in not lifting up their voice against it. The favor of God is not enjoyed for several reasons. His Spirit is grieved by the pride, extravagance, dishonesty, and overreaching, which are indulged by some professing godliness. All these things bring the frown of God upon his people.The unbelief and sins of ancient Israel were presented before me, and I saw that similar wrongs and iniquity exist among modern Israel. The pen of inspiration recorded their crimes for the benefit of those who live in these last days, that we might shun their evil example. Achan coveted and secreted a wedge of gold and a goodly Babylonish garment, that were taken as spoil from the enemy. God had commanded the people not to take of the spoil of their enemies for their own use. The Lord had pronounced the city of Jericho accursed. “And ye in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. But all the silver and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the Lord; they shall come into the treasury of the Lord.”But Achan, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel. When the armies of Israel went out to fight against the enemy, they were repulsed and driven back, and some of them were slain. This brought great discouragement upon the people. Joshua, their leader, was perplexed and confounded. In the greatest humiliation he fell upon his face and prayed: “Alas, O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us; would to God we had been content and dwelt on the other side of Jordan! O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us around, and cut off our name from the earth; and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?”The answer of the Lord to Joshua was, “Get thee up, wherefore liest thou upon thy face? ...