The True Witness Speaks
"The True Witness Speaks" by Hazel Hendricks
AUTHOR’S PREFACE
The Shepherd’s Rod teachings came to me in the autumn of 1933. A book
was sent to me which I was asked to read through twice before saying anything
to anyone. I received it with joy, for across the page were the words,
"The 144,000–A Call for Reformation." Just what I was interested
in!
I became an ardent supporter of the Shepherd’s Rod. Though I had read
the Bible through at least three times and the Testimonies and other writings
of the Spirit of prophecy almost as many times, I could not see that this
new teaching was false, so the words and entreaties of friends and ministers
fell as stones at my feet. I worked all the more to give this doctrine
to others.
I realize now why I could not see the falsehoods the Shepherd’s Rod teachings
contain. I was so busy searching through the Spirit of prophecy writings
to find quotations and statements to harmonize with the Shepherd’s Rod
that the thought never came to me that I was taking the truth out of its
setting and placing it in the framework of error. How differently I would
approach the matter now! I would leave the quotations from the Spirit
of prophecy just where they belonged and read from cover to cover and
from book to book, then judge between truth and error. I would bring the
teachings to the light of the Spirit of prophecy.
It took seven years to bring me to my senses. Seven years of perplexity,
confusion, heartache, darkness, gloom, loneliness, and suffering, mentally,
physically, and spiritually, finally brought me to the place where my
eyes could be opened. But, as I cried out for the Lord to open my eyes
and
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let me see what was wrong, whether I was untrue to the Shepherd’s Rod
or to the Seventh-day Adventist Church, I began to receive light.
The following blessed assurances were realized in my experience:
"Satan can present a counterfeit so closely resembling the truth
that it deceives those who are willing to be deceived; . . . but it is
impossible for him to hold under his power one soul who honestly desires,
at whatever cost, to know the truth., -The Great Controversy, p. 528.
"God will open the eyes of honest souls to understand the cruel work
of those who scatter and divide. He will mark those who cause divisions,
that every honest one may escape from Satan’s snare."-Testimonies,
vol. 1, p. 334.
I send this booklet out with a prayer that it will be of some help to
those who have been led astray, as well as to those who have remained
upon the true platform. My heart goes out to those in deception; for I
know just how they were ensnared, and how hard it is to get free. I bad
declared many times that if the Shepherd’s Rod were not true, nothing
was. But sincerely and honestly believing a lie does not make it true.
"God will not condemn any at the judgment because they honestly believed
a lie, or conscientiously cherished error; but it will be because they
neglected the opportunities of making themselves acquainted with truth."-Testimonies
to Ministers, p. 437.
Let us study the Bible and the Spirit of prophecy as we have never studied
before, and may truth be so embedded in our minds and hearts that we will
stand unshaken against the delusions of these last days.
My desire now is to help those who have been
deceived, and to redeem the time that is past. I
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pray and beseech all those who are now in the clutches of the enemy of
truth to step back upon the platform of the three angels’ messages, that
the prayer of Christ may be fulfilled: "That they all may be one."
Appreciation is hereby expressed for the hearty reception accorded the
first edition of this booklet and for the many expressions of gratitude
from those who have been helped by it to avoid or renounce this Shepherd’s
Rod delusion.
With some clarifying revisions this edition is sent forth with the prayer
that it may continue to be a blessing to the remnant church. May God help
us all to realize that "God has a church upon the earth, who are
His chosen people," that "He is leading, not stray offshoots.
. . . but a people." (Testimonies to Ministers, p. 61) ; and to believe
what Ellen White wrote to the General Conference session before her death,
that "the God of Israel is still guiding His people, and that He
will continue to be with them, even to the end." (The Remnant Church,
p. 70.)
HAZEL HENDRICKS.
[Italics are mine throughout unless otherwise noted.-H. H.]
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