Part 6, titled, Wondering in the Wilderness, will start with a passage from Selected Messages Book 1, page 68 and 69. Had Adventists, after the great disappointment in 1844, held fast their faith and followed on unitingly in the opening providence of God, receiving the message of the third angel and in the power of the Holy Spirit proclaiming it to the world, they would have seen the salvation of God, the Lord would have wrought mightily with their efforts, the work would have been completed, and Christ would have come e'er this to receive His people to their reward. But in the period of doubt and uncertainty that followed the disappointment, many of the Advent believers yielded their faith, dissensions and divisions came in, the majority opposed with voice and pen, the few who, following the providence of God, received the Sabbath reform and began to proclaim the third angel's message. Many who should have devoted their time and talents to the one purpose of sounding warning to the world were absorbed in opposing the Sabbath truth and in turn the labor of its advocates was necessarily spent in answering these opponents and defending the truth. Thus the work was hindered and the world was left in darkness. Had the whole Adventist body united upon the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, how widely different would have been our history. It was not the will of God that the coming of Christ should be thus delayed. God did not design that His people, Israel, should wander forty years in the wilderness. He promised to lead them directly to the land of Canaan and establish there a holy, healthy, happy people. But those to whom it was first preached went not in because of unbelief, Hebrews 3.19. Their hearts were filled with murmuring, rebellion and hatred, and He could not fulfill His covenant with them. For forty years did unbelief, murmuring and rebellion shut out ancient Israel from the land of Canaan. The same sins have delayed the entrance of modern Israel into heavenly Canaan. In neither case were the promises of God at fault. It is the unbelief, the worldliness, unconsecration and strife among Lord's professed people that have kept us in the world of sin and sorrow for so many years. Selected Messages Book 1, pages 68 and 69. Seventh-day Adventists today are wandering in the wilderness repeating the same experience that ancient Israel did before they entered Canaan. In the story of Gideon, we see illustrated Adventism as it proclaims the latter rain loud cry message and takes the final warning message to the world. We see illustrated the literal warfare of Gideon to demonstrate the spiritual warfare that will take place at the end with God's people. But Gideon's story continues on and demonstrates a stumbling that takes place in Gideon's life. And if you're going to prophetically analyze this, you have to be true to the content.