What is our mission? Do we know our mission as Christians? My country, my identity—what is the mission for each and every true follower of Christ?

“Had the Church of Christ done her appointed work as the Lord ordained, the whole world would before this have been warned, and the Lord Jesus would have come to our earth in power and great glory.” –The Desire of Ages, p. 633

Fellow believers, do you know your country and your identity? Which country are you identifying with?  In my country, Uganda, in the year 2015, every citizen was required to register and obtain a national identity card. Without the card you could not move about. Each was to carry it with them at all times for quick identification. As Christians, we are fellow citizens of heaven and we are to advocate for heaven, carrying our identity with us where ever we go, such that the world may know that we are not of this world. We are strangers and pilgrims; our home is in heaven.

Isaiah the prophet foretold the work of John the Baptist when he wrote:  “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.” Isaiah 40:3–5

In the time of John the Baptist he advocated his country and his identity by preparing the people to accept Jesus as their Saviour. He said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29

“As a prophet John was ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.’ In preparing the way for Christ’s first advent, he was a representative of those who are to prepare a people for our Lord’s second coming.” –The Desire of Ages, p. 101

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” Malachi 4:5–6

“The prophet Malachi declares, ‘Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers.’ Malachi 4:5–6. Here the prophet describes the character of the work. Those who are to prepare the way for the second coming of Christ, are represented by faithful Elijah, as John came in the spirit of Elijah to prepare the way for Christ’s first advent. The great subject of reform is to be agitated, and the public mind is to be stirred. Temperance in all things is to be connected with the message, to turn the people of God from their idolatry, their gluttony, and their extravagance in dress and other things. The self-denial, humility, and temperance required of the righteous, whom God especially leads and blesses, is to be presented to the people in contrast to the extravagant, health-destroying habits of those who live in this degenerate age.” –Counsels on Health, p. 72

My country, My identity! Brethren, what work are you doing during the final hours of this earth’s history? As we have seen regarding the work of John the Baptist who prepared the way for Christ’s first advent, where are the Johns of today, who will warn the people? Where are Elijahs of today, who will proclaim Christ’s second coming? The world is full of rioting. People are lost in sin and the door of mercy is about to be closed. Remember that we are living on borrowed time; therefore, minute men are needed now to work in the Lord’s vineyard.

“The Lord calls for minutemen, men who will be prepared to speak words in season and out of season that will arrest the attention and convict the heart. The kingdom of God consisteth not in outward show. Light will not be received by following selfish plans, but by looking unto Jesus, following Christ’s leading, not the suppositions of men. The kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.” –Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, p. 497

“But the life of John the Baptist was not spent in idleness, in ascetic gloom, or in selfish isolation. From time to time he went forth to mingle with men; and he was ever an interested observer of what was passing in the world. From his quiet retreat he watched the unfolding of events. With vision illuminated by the divine Spirit he studied the characters of men, that he might understand how to reach their hearts with the message of heaven. The burden of his mission was upon him. In solitude, by meditation and prayer, he sought to gird up his soul for the lifework before him.” –The Desire of Ages, p. 102

John the Baptist saw his people deceived, self-satisfied, and asleep in their sins. He longed to arouse them to a holier life. The message that God gave him to bear was designed to startle them from their lethargy, and cause them to tremble because of their great wickedness.

“God does not send messengers to flatter the sinner. He delivers no message of peace to lull the unsanctified into fatal security. He lays heavy burdens upon the conscience of the wrongdoer, and pierces the soul with arrows of conviction. The ministering angels presents to him the fearful judgments of God to depeen the sense of need, and prompt the cry, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ Then the hand that has humbled in the dust, lifts up the penitent. The voice that has rebuked sin, and put to shame pride and ambition, inquiries with tenderest sympathy, “What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?” –Ibid., p. 104

THE WORK OF ELIJAH AND THE ELEVENTH-HOUR PEOPLE

“John the Baptist went forth in the spirit and power of Elijah to prepare the way of the Lord and to turn the people to the wisdom of the just. He was a representative of those living in these last days, to whom God has entrusted sacred truths to present before the people, to prepare the way for the second appearing of Christ. John was a reformer. The angel Gabriel, direct from heaven, gave a discourse upon health reform to the Father and mother of John. He said that he should not drink wine or strong drink, and that he should be filled with the Holy Ghost from his birth.” –Counsels on Health p. 72

“And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.” Matthew 17:11

Elias, who was John the Baptist, was present in Jesus’ time. Elias, who had already come and who will come, is the eleventh-hour people.

“And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatever is right, that shall ye receive.” Matthew 20:6–7

“I asked the meaning of the shaking I had seen, and was shown that it would be caused by the straight testimony called forth by the counsel of the True Witness to the Laodiceans. This will have its effect upon the heart of the receiver, and will lead him to exalt the standard and pour forth the straight truth. Some will not bear this straight testimony. They will rise up against it, and this will cause a shaking among God’s people.” –Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 181

“The numbers of this company had lessened. Some had been shaken out, and left by the way. [‘I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.’ Revelation 3:15-17.] The careless and indifferent, who did not join with those who prized victory and salvation enough to perseveringly plead and agonize for it, did not obtain it, and they were left behind in darkness, but their numbers were immediately made up by others taking hold of the truth and coming into the ranks.” –Ibid., p. 182

“The people of God must see their wrongs and arouse to zealous repentance and a putting away of those sins which have brought them into such a deplorable condition of poverty, blindness, wretchedness, and fearful deception. I was shown that the pointed testimony must live in the church. This alone will answer to the message to the Laodiceans. Wrongs must be reproved, sin must be called sin, and iniquity must be met promptly and decidedly, and put away from us as a people.” –Testimonies for the Church, vol. 3, p. 260

Labourers are needed now in the Lord’s vineyard, to give both to the world and the church a living testimony; to wake people from their spiritual slumber. We have a message to give to the world—my country, my identity.

“Men of clear understanding are needed now. God calls upon those who are willing to be controlled by the Holy Spirit to lead out in a work of thorough reformation. I see a crisis before us, and the Lord calls for His laborers to come into line. Every soul should now stand in a position of deeper, truer consecration to God than during the years that have passed.” –Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, p. 514

Jenifer Akello, Uganda