In I Corinthians 10:12, it says, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”  You know, the devil would like people to become self-secure, to get to feeling satisfied.  The whole Laodicean message is the message to try to shake people out of that feeling.  God doesn’t have to exaggerate to do it; it’s a true message.  There were some churches, as you know, about which God had nothing negative to say.  But the last church has a special tendency in temptation—of getting to feel that, because they know “truth” or because they have more light than people of previous ages or whatever, that somehow they are “good.”  But Paul has a warning here, and it is, “Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” 

I’ve always been interested in what Paul thought about himself.  He said, “I am the chief of sinners.”  (I Timothy 1:15.)  He said, after preaching to others, “I have to keep myself under subjection lest I should be a castaway after helping other people to be saved.”  (I Corinthians 9:27.)  In another place, he said, “Forgetting those things which are behind, I press forward to those things which are ahead.”  (Philippians 3:13.)  It is so easy for us to get to the place where we are feeling pretty good about ourselves, but Paul says, “Take heed when you think you are standing.  You may think you have the truth; you may think you’re in the right church; take heed, lest you fall.”  You may claim to be saved, or think you’re saved, or know the time and date that you’re saved.  You may be planning on standing with the saved.  But Paul says to “take heed lest you fall.” 

Revelation 6:14–17 tells about some people who were standing and what is going to happen to many people who once stood: “The sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place.  And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, very slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!  For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’ ” 

Who is able to stand then?  David tells us, in Psalm 24:4, only he who has clean hands and a pure heart.  Only he, as it is told in Revelation 14, who is without fault before the throne of God, he who is clothed with the robe of righteousness.  We find in Revelation and in Hebrews 12:25–29 about how the earth is going to be shaken.  It says, “See that you do not refuse Him who speaks.”  That’s the Holy Spirit, of course.  That’s the Lord through His holy word.  Do not refuse Him who speaks.  You know, we’re told in Proverbs 28:9 that he “who turns away his ear from hearing the law, Even his prayer [is] an abomination.” 

Sometimes people come to us; sometimes the Lord may send people to us, and we may turn away from these people, because we think they don’t come in the right spirit, or we think that they don’t say it right or do it right.  I’ve often thought about the people who were swimming around the ark.  All the excuses they had for not being in the ark.  Noah was too harsh, or he was too negative, or he used the spirit of prophecy in a wrong way.  They all had their reasons, but it didn’t matter.  They were all swimming out there with one another.

Paul warned, “Do not refuse Him who speaks”—speaking of the Holy Spirit, of course.  “For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more [shall we not escape] if we turn away from Him who [speaks] from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, [‘Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.’]  Now this, [‘Yet once more,’] indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.  Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and Godly fear.  For our God is a consuming fire.”  Hebrews 12:25–29.  The Bible says that everything that can be shaken will be shaken.

You know, we try so hard to win souls.  That’s a work God has given to us.  We plant the seeds, and we try to help everyone to be in Heaven.  We want to help our spouses, our children, our church members, our Sabbath School members, the person on the street, the person we’re working for. We want to help everyone that will listen to be in Heaven.  We want to help all to accept the free grace, the free gift of eternal life that Jesus has promised, but you know, after people accept this gift, God requires them to grow and their roots have to go down deep.

Do you remember the parable that Jesus gave about sowing seeds and how some seeds sprung up quickly but they had no roots, and when the wind came, when the storm came, when the blasting heat came they were blown over?  They withered and were destroyed.  That is everyone who hears the word and allows other things to crowd it out and does not become rooted and grounded.  The Lord is looking for new converts.  He’s looking for new people who’ve never heard the gospel before.  He’s looking for children; He’s looking for adults, but He wants everyone to send their roots down deep and to become rooted and grounded. 

None of us are standing very secure, if we haven’t grown some over the last month, over the last two months, over the last year.  If we are still losing our tempers, as we were a year ago, we’re on shaky ground.  If we’re still becoming impatient, if we’re still becoming irritable, if we’re still falling over the same sins that we’ve been falling over time and time again, we’re on shaky ground.  We need to be overcoming; we need to be falling on the Rock and being broken.  There is coming a time, before Jesus comes, when everybody who has been a Christian but who hasn’t been growing is going to be shaken out of the faith. 

It is only those who have extra oil that are going to stand.  Everything that can be shaken will be shaken.  I’ve asked people before, Is there anything that could get you to turn away from the Lord, anything at all in the world?  Is there a sickness, a death, a discouragement, financial situations, or prosperity—anything that could cause you to lose your hold on the Lord?  Lack of friends or good friends turning against you or rumors or character defamation or anything?  Is there anything that could get you to turn away from the Lord?  Are there people in whom you put great confidence that, if they turn against you or lost their faith, could cause you to lose your faith?  Is there anything that could cause you to turn away from the Lord?

We may not know, of course.  We may have a lot more confidence in ourselves than what the Lord has.  He may see things we don’t know.  But I’ll tell you what, if there is anything that could cause you to be lost, that’s what Satan is going to try to work on.  There is coming a time when everything that can be shaken will be shaken, and when that day comes, it will be too late to become rooted so that we cannot be shaken. 

Do you remember when the bridegroom came and all of the virgins awoke?  (Matthew 25.)  How much time did they have then to go and get extra oil?  No time then, it was too late.  Now is the time we have—the only time we have—to be overcoming our besetting sins. 

Look at I Corinthians 10:12 and 14.  It says, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”  “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.”  Paul is here writing to Christians.  They weren’t worshiping idols anymore.  It is interesting that from then till now, except for paganism and some cultures, the devil doesn’t tempt people with literal idols any more.  The Catholic Church still has idols and in Africa there are places with idols, but for the most part, the devil doesn’t tempt Protestants with idols.  Have you ever been tempted to kneel down and worship a graven image?  I don’t think I ever have.  I can’t ever remember being tempted in the slightest to kneel down and kiss an image’s foot or to burn incense to an image or pray to an image.  Have you?

What was Paul talking about?  The early Christian church never seemed to have been plagued with literal idols and images.  Those things came in after they merged with paganism.  It’s never been a problem with most Protestants, and it didn’t seem to be in the early Christian church.  But Paul said, “Flee from idolatry.” 

I wonder if there are idols that we could be clinging to today that we just don’t know are idols.  And if there are idols today that are tempting Christians, if there are idols today that Christians are worshiping, is it possible to hold onto those idols and to remain a Christian at the same time? 

Paul tells us, in the first 10 verses of chapter 12, about the experience of the children of Israel.  He says, in verses 1 and 2, “Brethren, I do not want you to be unaware”—to be ignorant—“that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized . . . .”  These people were like you and me.  They were set apart by baptism.  They ate the same spiritual food.  They heard Moses teach day after day, and they heard Joshua, and they heard Aaron.  They heard the thunder from the mount.  They saw it all.  They drank the same spiritual drink, but even the literal water that they drank came from that rock which represented Jesus.  And they ate angel’s food, food that had such perfect nutrition they never got sick.  In the wilderness, they never got sick!  They had clear minds that they could think spiritual thoughts.  They could pray clearly.  Their minds were keen.  They had fresh air, exercise, perfect food, and pure water, right from the Water of Life.  “But with most of them God was not well pleased, for [their bodies] were scattered in the wilderness.  Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.  And do not become idolaters as [were] some of them.  As it is written, [‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.’]  Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by the serpents; nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer.  Now all of these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”  Verses 5–11.

You know, the devil had a whole arsenal of temptations, some things worked on some and some things worked on others.  Some were caught up in games and playing; some were caught up in lusting after things that God hadn’t given them to eat; some were caught up in sexual fantasies and immorality.  Some were caught up with a lack of faith and with tempting Christ.  When the manna withdrew, they began to complain and murmur.  And so God was not well pleased with most of them. 

We are like Israel.  Israel had the truth—they had the truth.  There was no doubt in their minds that they had the truth.  They were there before Mount Sinai, and they heard the thunderous roar, and they heard God speak the Ten Commandments. 

They didn’t have any question about keeping the Sabbath, I’ll guarantee you.  The manna came six days a week, and on the sixth day it came twice as much, and on the seventh day it didn’t come at all.  They had no problems with the Sabbath.  Well, there were a few who went out and broke the Sabbath, but by and large, they knew very well which day was the Sabbath.  They were Sabbath keepers, and they knew it was God’s day. 

There were idolaters all around, who were worshiping the sun on Sunday, but the children of Israel were Sabbath keepers, and they worshiped the true God.  They weren’t heathen like all the other people; they worshiped Jehovah.  They had all the evidences, and they had the gift of prophecy, and they had the miracles of God all around them.  They had the truth. 

They were God’s children, and they knew they were God’s children.  They were standing on truth, and they were going to Canaan—just like we are.

But you know what?  There were only two people, out of this vast number of people, who made it to Canaan.  I think if you’d have told those people, after they crossed the Red Sea, that only two of them were going to make it into Canaan, they would have probably stoned you.  They would have known that you weren’t telling the truth.  They may have agreed that there might be a few who would fall by the wayside—but certainly the majority would make it.  And if it weren’t a majority, it would certainly be a strong minority.  But it was a very small minority—only two of God’s people.

Paul says, “These things were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the world will come.”  I believe, with all my heart—just as much as the children of Israel believed—that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is the movement that God has raised up for the last days and that this is the truth for the world today.  I have not a single question.  God has given us the Spirit of Prophecy; He has given us the truth, and we know the truth.  We can always be learning more depths of truth, but we have the truth.  There’s not a question in my mind which day is the Sabbath.  Is there in your mind?  I know which day is the Sabbath.  There is no question whatsoever; it is as clear as can be in the Bible.  I have seen the Lord work; I have seen miracles.  We have the prophecies; they fit together as a hand in a glove.  There can be no question on the part of the true church, and this church is going through.

But you know, we have been warned, time and time again.  If we believe Ellen White is a prophet, she has warned us many times.  We are warned in the Bible over and over again.  In Testimonies, vol. 1, page 609, Ellen White wrote that only a very few, only a few of those who claim to be Seventh-day Adventists, are going to be saved.  In Testimonies, vol. 2, pages 401 and 402, she repeats the same thing.  She says it is not because they could not be saved, but because they would not be saved in God’s own appointed way.  (See Ibid., 397.) 

If there is one thing God wants to teach us in the Laodicean message and throughout the Bible, it is that it is not enough just to keep the law like the Jews kept it.  We must be converted in our hearts.  We must come to the place where we love the Lord with all our heart and soul and mind and strength, and we love our neighbors as ourselves.  We must overcome our sins.  We must overcome our besetting sins; we must become like Jesus.  We must be clothed with the robe of righteousness.  We must have an individual and personal work of gaining experience with Jesus.  We must not go on day after day, week after week, year after year falling, falling, falling. We must, dear friends, be overcomers. 

I am so thankful we have an Advocate that forgives our sins when we fall, but dear friend, God wants to do more than just forgive our sins.  He wants to make us overcomers.  He wants us to be more than just forgiven sinners; He wants us to be people who overcome. 

I’d like to look at some things that made the children of Israel fall.  These things are written as examples for us.  Several things are listed in I Corinthians 10, but let’s go to Psalm 106 and look at three things that aided in the fall of the children of Israel and things which are written for our examples. 

“[God] saved them from the hand of him who hated [them],”—that was the Egyptians—“And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.  The waters covered their enemies; There was not one of them left.  Then they believed His words; They sang His praise.”  Verses 10–12.  Oh, they believed then!  And they sang then; they sang His praise.  They were so happy and so full of faith, but they soon, it says in verse 13, “forgot His works.” 

Oh, how easy it is to have a religious experience on Sabbath or during a week of prayer or during a camp meeting.  But how soon they forgot His works.  Their minds began to be occupied with other things: “They did not wait for His counsel.”  Verse 13.  How many times we run ahead of the Lord!  We cannot wait; we become impatient.  We pray, but we’re not willing to wait for God to answer our prayers.  We have to go on; we become irritated, and we can become upset.  They “lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, And tested God in the desert.  And He gave them their request.”  Verses 14, 15. 

Remember what they lusted for?  It wasn’t something bad, especially.  They were not lusting, dear friends, for pig.  They knew better than that; that was wrong.  They were not lusting for camel or rabbits or mice; they weren’t lusting for snakes or alligators or crabs.  They were lusting for things that God had said are good food to eat—maybe not the best, but permissible food to eat.  They lusted for quail. 

Now the Bible may present that vegetarianism is better than meat eating, and that’s true, but they were not lusting for something that was bad.  Beyond that, they were lusting for other things which, certainly, God never gave any restrictions on from the beginning—onions and leeks and cantaloupe and things that they didn’t have out there in the desert.  They began to lust for these things; things which God hadn’t provided for them.  I mean, how were they going to live on this manna?  They had to have variety in their diet, didn’t they?

You know, there is something about the mind.  I remember staying at a home in California that had fig trees in the yard.  I don’t think there is anything much better than a tree-ripened fig.  They’re not the same as dried figs at all.  They’re in a totally different category and class.  A tree-ripened fig is about the sweetest, most delicious thing in the world, I’ve always thought.  There were young kids there, about the ages of 10 or 12, and my brother asked them, “Do you like figs?”

One of them piped up and said, “Oh, no, I hate figs.”

I said, “You hate figs?  Have you ever eaten one?”

He said, “Oh, no, I’ve never eaten one.  But I hate them.”

I said, “How do you know you hate them?”

“Oh, my daddy doesn’t like them, and I don’t like them either.”

I said, “Have you ever tried one?”

“No, I would never try one.”

I venture to say that if he ate one, he’d probably spit it out.  It probably would be bad.  You know, when you set your mind that something is bad, the strangest thing happens—it becomes bad, and sure enough, it’s just like what you expected, and the more you think how bad something is, the worse it gets. 

Some husbands and wives have that problem.  They begin to think about all the bad things their wife is or all the bad things their husband is, and as time goes on, sure enough, their wife is just like they thought—worse and worse every day that goes by.  Or the husband is just like it.  They get so irritated; the same problems crop up day after day, and those problems become worse and worse.  We set our minds on these things and it’s just like we think.

The children of Israel decided that they could not live on just manna.  As time went by, they came to loathe the manna.  But God kept sending it.  Do you think God would send something that was really that bad?  The Bible says it was sweet; they could fix it in many different ways—they could bake it; they could eat it raw.  But they came to the place where they loathed that stuff.  They hated it, literally hated it.  I don’t doubt that some came to the place where they were about ready to vomit if they ate another bite.  They probably thought, we’ve got to have something else or we’re going to die!  Our bodies reject this stuff, and we’re growing skinnier every day.  If we don’t get something different pretty soon, we’re going to be buried here in the wilderness.  We think we’re allergic to this stuff.

Well, it says that God gave them their request.  But you know what else he sent them?  Continuing reading in Psalm 106:15, it says, He “sent leanness into their souls.”  And do you know what happened?  They did die in the wilderness.  Every one of those people who ate the quail died in the wilderness.  They all died eating perfectly good food, basically, I mean.  I don’t know that He sent them any leeks or onions, but He did send them the quail.  Maybe not perfectly good food, but food that was technically permissible.  They all died.  He sent leanness to their souls. 

There are those people who ask what they can still eat and yet squeak into Heaven.  They want to know what is technically and legally permissible so they would not actually be sinning or transgressing but doing what they could get by with! 

Do you know what God wants us to say?  “Lord, what would please You the most?  I want to learn to eat such a diet that will please You the most, that my mind can be the clearest and I can serve You to the best of my ability.”  God will bless that.  But to the person who says, I’ve got to have something else, God will say, go ahead.  But you know what will come with it—leanness to the soul. 

Diet was one of the shortcomings of the children of Israel.  They didn’t eat unclean food, but they were not satisfied with what God said was the best.

When Moses went up to the mountain, he was up there a lot longer than the children of Israel anticipated.  I mean, how long does it take to climb up one mountain and come back again?  But he didn’t come back that day nor the next, and there was thundering and lightning up there.  They thought maybe he was killed—struck by a bolt of lightning or something.  And time went on, day after day after day, even week after week, and pretty soon over a month!  Over a month just sitting there doing nothing. 

The kids were growing restless.  Can you imagine?  It’s one thing to sit in church for an hour.  Could you imagine sitting in one place for a month?  And all of their basketball courts were back in Egypt with all of the other activities.  There’s no swimming pool there in the desert.  No swimming, no basketball, it was getting boring out there.  What in the world was there to do? 

They came to Aaron, and they said, we’ve got to do something.  As for this Moses, we don’t know what happened to him, but we can’t stay here forever.  “Aaron said to them, ‘Break off the golden earrings which [are] in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters.’ ”  Exodus 32:2.  Well, that was a step in reformation!  “So all the people broke off the golden earrings which [were] in their ears, and brought [them] to Aaron.  And he received [the gold] from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf.  Then they said, ‘This [is] your god, O Israel.’ ”  Verses 3, 4. 

I want you to notice that they thought they really were still believing and worshiping Jehovah.  We look at some of the things that they did back then, and we think, how could they do that?  They weren’t rejecting Jehovah.  No way! This was simply a symbol of Jehovah; that’s what they had grown up with in Egypt.

In fact, today, if you talk to Catholics who worship idols, do you think any one of them would admit to worshiping an idol?  They will tell you that these are only symbols to which they kneel down.  They aren’t the real things; they’re only symbols.  And that’s what the children of Israel had, a symbol.

They had this representation of God, and it goes on to say, in verse 5, “So when Aaron saw [it], he built an altar before it.  And Aaron made a proclamation and said, ‘Tomorrow is a feast to . . . .’ ”  To whom?  Was it a feast to the cow, the golden cow?  Who was it a feast to?  Who were they going to worship?  Now in your Bibles, if you have a King James Version or a New King James Version, the next word, Lord, is spelled in all capitals, isn’t it?  What does that mean in Hebrew?  Jehovah.  Let’s have a feast to Jehovah!  Do you think they had rejected Jehovah?  No way!  Let’s have a feast to Jehovah.  I mean, if we’re going to enjoy ourselves, let’s at least do it in the name of God, and worship the Lord while we’re doing it.  They were making great progress, they’d gotten rid of their jewelry, and now they were going to have a great feast to Jehovah. 

“Then they rose early on the next day,”—they couldn’t waste any time— “offered burnt offerings . . . .”  That’s what God had told them to do.  I want you to notice, they were following the Lord here.  God had told them to offer burnt offerings, had He not?  They were doing what God had said.  This was a holy convocation.  “And brought peace offerings;”—they needed peace offerings!  All these offerings weren’t Egyptian offerings.  The calf may have been Egyptian; I mean you can’t be completely separate from the world; you are living in this world; you have to have a few things that are . . . , but I mean their worship was totally, totally to Jehovah. 

The peace offerings weren’t from Egypt; the Egyptians didn’t have peace offerings.  I recently viewed all the things from Ramsey’s tomb from Egypt at a museum in Dallas, Texas.  I saw nothing about peace offerings in that whole thing. 

“And the people sat down to eat and drink,”—that was the Lord’s supper—“and rose up to play.”  After you have worship, then you need to have something for the young people, too.  So they rose up to play.  Now, of course, we don’t have idols like the golden calf today, but I was thinking about all of the people who, today, eat and drink in front of their idols.  Of course, they don’t worship them, and they’re not calves, but how many people today are eating and drinking in front of their idols, their shrines?  How many people go to their shrines and their stadiums, and they eat and drink?  You know what else they do?  They yell!  They get up early sometimes; they stay late sometimes.  Whatever it takes, they’re interested; they are enthusiastic.  Were these people enthusiastic about what they were doing?  Oh, yes, they were enthused!  They got up early.  And so, today, people are enthused about their idols.  They’re fanatical about their idols. 

I’m afraid, today, that the devil is doing a number on our young people with games, with playing, with amusements, with activity, and with sports.  All of these things are coming in, and you know, the saddest thing is that today, in many of our places, we’re actually doing it in the name of the Lord.  I see the competitive basketball games, and before the games start, we pray, and we say, we’re going to be witnessing for the Lord today.  And then we get out and try to beat the other team with all we’re worth.  I’m waiting for the Christian boxing games.

Well, there is another thing that led the children of Israel to defeat.  Do you remember the story of Achan?  What was it that he coveted?  The garments of the Babylonians and the Egyptians.  You know, it’s one thing to take the person out of Egypt and Babylon; it’s another thing to take Babylon and Egypt out of the person.  It is interesting that as these people rose up to play, verse 25 mentions how some of them became naked in their play.  Their garments became a little skimpier; they became a little more like the world.

James 4:4, 9, 10 says, “Adulterers and adulteresses!  Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?  Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”  “Lament and mourn and weep!  Let your laughter be turned to mourning and [your] joy to gloom.  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” 

Dear friends, there is a place where young people need activity.  There is a place where they need exercise.  There is a place where older people need to get their exercise, but there is a balance in life. 

We are living in a serious day and age, are we not?  We’re on the way to Canaan, and anything that engrosses our minds so that we lose sight of our heavenly goal and our heavenly mission is something to be avoided.  But how easy it is to rationalize.

Sometime ago I copied an article from the Review and Herald.  A lady wrote in explaining why she had changed her habits.  You know whenever we change our habits, we always have good reasons for doing it, even if we change them for the bad. 

She wrote, “There once was a time when I thought I would never see a television set in my home.”  I’m not here to talk specifically about television today, but I have noticed how many people sit around television sets.  I did not grow up with a television.  In the limited experience I’ve had with television, I have noticed how, when I’m watching the programs, I’m never thinking of the Lord; I’m never studying my Bible.  My Bible becomes less interesting. 

I mentioned to you before, didn’t I, that one time a program was supposed to come on at 11:30 that I wanted to see, but when I turned the television on, there was another program playing.  I didn’t know what it was, but somebody told me it was Cheers.  Well, I shouldn’t have watched it, but I watched the last 10 or 15 minutes while waiting for my television program to come on.  I noticed, in ten minutes, how elevated the program made being a bar tender.  What a wonderful person this guy was, in many respects.  A guy who, I perceived in those ten minutes, really cared for the people that were in the bar drinking.  It would be very easy for me, if I watched that program, to think that the people that are killing people by selling alcohol to them really aren’t so bad!  They’re basically good people.  My maternal grandpa became very wealthy with a bar.  He never drank himself—he knew the evils, but he sure sold a lot to other people.  The Lord took all his money away, but he had become extremely wealthy selling alcohol to other people, making others poor.  It’s interesting what television can do to our minds!

But, anyway, this lady wrote, “There once was a time when I thought I would never see a television set in my home.  I condemned all TV.  And then we had children.  Living in a neighborhood with 21 preschoolers, we discovered our son, Sean, to be a very social creature, as most three-year-olds are.  We mothers became friends, too.  Our family believed that, like salt, Christians must mix in order to be useful.  In our neighbors’ homes, I discovered with dismay how entranced our son was with their television sets, which seemed always to be on.  He mimicked what he saw.  He began asking to visit friends so he could watch TV at their houses.  At that point, we faced a dilemma—either take the salt out of the neighborhood and isolate ourselves in a home with no TV or we would have to teach him to become a discriminating television viewer.  So we bought our first television, and began an experiment that has lasted for ten years.  I’ll admit it hasn’t been a hundred percent successful a hundred percent of the time.  It would still be easier to say no to TV all of the time.  Determining which programs are acceptable for viewing is a process that involves our whole family.  Instead of saying a flat no to a program, we watch it together, and later discuss why the program should or should not be a part of our family’s diet.  Monitoring the TV is a continual project.  We try to limit television-viewing time.  Doing so is a challenge, because too many programs fall in the ‘good’ category.”  They must have been living in a different country!  “What do we watch?  My husband and older son are history buffs, so they enjoy history documentaries.  Watching a World War II program together gives them the opportunity to discuss history, prophecy, and the Bible.  So yes, we have a TV in our home, and our family is learning to choose daily, for eternity.  Learning this kind of self-control is important to us.”

That’s an interesting philosophy, isn’t it?  It’s interesting how we can rationalize everything.  Let’s read it through again, with my comments in it.  I couldn’t help putting some comments in. 

She wrote: “There once was a time when I thought I would never see a television set in my home.  I condemned all TV.  And then we had children.”  You know, studies show that children are the most damaged by TV.  I would much rather see someone have a TV when they didn’t have children than when they did have children. 

“Living in a neighborhood with 21 preschoolers . . . .”  We do have counsel, of course, on city living and on country living and things like that. 

But anyway, she continues, “We discovered our son, Sean, to be a very social creature, as most three-year-olds are.  We mothers became friends too.  Our family believed that, like salt, most Christians must mix in order to be useful.”  What did Jesus say about salt which has lost its savor?  (See Matthew 5:13; Mark 9:50; Luke 14:34.)  It becomes like the world.  Do we witness by becoming like the world? 

“But in our neighbors’ homes, I discovered with dismay how entranced our son was with their television sets, which seemed always to be on.”  You know, I got to thinking.  They also probably had beer in their refrigerator; they probably also had parties on the Sabbath.  I wonder why she didn’t consider getting beer for her son, too, so they could be like their neighbors, or why not have parties on Sabbath, you know, like the neighbors? 

“He mimicked what he saw.”  That should have been warning enough. 

“He began asking to visit friends so he could watch TV at their houses.”  As I read that, I couldn’t believe why, with a three-year-old, she couldn’t have simply said no!  But here is a three-year-old that is ruling the roost. 

“At that point we faced a dilemma.”  I mean, what do you do with a three-year-old that wants to go to the neighbors?  “Either take the salt out of the neighborhood . . .”—I mean, this kid was becoming a real witness—“. . . and isolate ourselves in a home with no TV, or we would have to teach him to become a discriminating television viewer.”  Well, they could teach him to become a discriminating beer drinker, too. 

“So we bought our first television, and began an experiment.”  Now she goes on to say that instead of saying a flat no to a program, they watch it together, and later discuss why the program should or should not be a part of their diet.  Can you imagine, watching a program, then deciding whether you should have watched it or not? 

Then she says, “Doing so is a challenge, because too many programs fall in the ‘good’ category.”  I couldn’t help thinking, they have really been bitten.  They must have been affected!  I cannot find anything on television except the Steps to Life program that is worth watching.  Even the news, most of the time, is sensationalism.  Even the news causes people’s minds to start wandering in areas of sex and violence and other things, of which they shouldn’t be thinking. 

She says, “This is a continual project.”  I wonder what happened to their witnessing program?  They got the television so they could be a witness in the neighborhood, and the monitoring the television became a continual project.  Whatever happened to the salt?  Whatever happened to the witnessing program?  I was surprised when I came down to this part of the article, where she admitted that all of their time was taken up with the television, that she didn’t see through her own arguments. 

“What do we watch?”  She mentions World War II documentaries.  I want to tell you, there’s nothing much more “blood and guts” and violent than World War II programs. 

Consider a few thoughts from the pen of inspiration.  “The world is flooded with books that are filled with enticing error.  The youth receive as truth that which the Bible denounces as falsehood, and they love and cling to deception that means ruin to the soul. 

“There are works of fiction that were written for the purpose of teaching truth or exposing some great evil.  Some of these works have accomplished good.  Yet they have also wrought untold harm.  They contain statements and highly wrought pen pictures that excite the imagination and give rise to a train of thought which is full of danger, especially to the youth.  The scenes described are lived over and over again in their thoughts.”  The Ministry of Healing, 445. 

I know what happened to me.  I didn’t watch many programs.  I saw a movie at Union College on the Civil War—one that was shown in the theater.  I want to tell you, I probably relived that program a hundred times; I can still remember every detail of it.  But, see, I’m not a fit judge; I never grew up with television.  I wonder though, some of you that grew up with television, did you ever see any programs that you relived afterwards in your minds?  It seems like with those things you do remember every detail.  Did you ever notice how hard it is to memorize the Bible and how easy it is to remember what you see on television?

What does the Bible say?  Think on that which is, what?  “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things [are] honest, whatsoever things [are] just, whatsoever things [are] pure, whatsoever things [are] lovely, whatsoever things [are] of good report; if [there be] any virtue, and if [there be] any praise, think on these things.”  Philippians 4:8.

Mrs. White wrote that people think of these things over and over again in their thoughts.  Such reading unfits the mind for usefulness and disqualifies it for spiritual exercise.  Is there any wonder why our young people today are not interested in spiritual things?  Such reading destroys interest in the Bible.  Passion is aroused, and the end is sin.  I tell you, we’re living in an altogether too crooked world to be leading our children into paths of sin in our own homes.  It is often urged that, in order to win the youth from sensational or worthless literature, we should supply them with a better class of fiction.  This is like trying to cure the drunkard by giving him, in the place of whisky or brandy, the milder intoxicants such as wine, beer, or cider.  The use of these would continually foster the appetite for stronger stimulants.  The only safety is total abstinence.  For the lover of fiction, the same rule holds true.  Total abstinence is the only safety.  By the way, Mrs. White does not say “discriminating fiction readers”; she says total abstinence is the only safety. 

Well, who will be able to stand?  Will it be those who fill their minds with thoughts of worldliness?  I want to tell you, do not make other Adventists your standard, because most Adventists aren’t going to make it to heaven.  They all can—God would love them all to, but according to inspiration, I think God probably knows it’s not going to happen that way. 

In II Corinthians 6:15–17, we read, “What accord has Christ with Belial?  Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?  And what agreement has the temple of God with idols?  For you are the temple of the living God.  As God has said: ‘I will dwell in them And walk among them.  I will be their God, And they shall be My people.’  Therefore ‘Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord.  Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.’  Listen, if the salt has lost its savor, what good is it?  It’s worthless, except to be tossed out.  If we become the salt of the community by becoming like the community, we are worthless.  He says, touch not the unclean and “ ‘I will receive you.  I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.’ ” 

Either we are all for God or eventually we are going to be all for Satan.  Steps to Christ, page 33, says, “What we do not overcome, will overcome us and work out our destruction.”  The next page in Steps to Christ says, “Even one wrong trait of character, one sinful desire, persistently cherished, will eventually neutralize all the power of the gospel.” 

As you look in your life, is there any place in your life that you are holding onto something that the Lord has, at least at one time, convicted you of?  If you are, that thing, unless you overcome it, will eventually destroy you and work out your salvation.  We have to be complete overcomers to be among the 144,000.  Whatever can be shaken will be shaken.  And there may be something different for each one of us.  I might have something in my diet that I’ve never really surrendered.  I mean, I’ll be practicing it, but I’ve never really surrendered it.  Whether I’m practicing it or not, if I haven’t really surrendered it, there’s going to come a time when I’m going to find reason and rationale for doing what I want to do, such as the children of Israel did after Moses was gone for 40 days.  Is there some area in dress?  Is there something in your character that you’ve never really surrendered.  Maybe you have technically given it up, because, you know, you have to get to Heaven. 

Is it possible to quit doing something that you haven’t really surrendered all the way to the Lord?  Is it possible for a person who may be in love with somebody they shouldn’t be in love with to give that up and never really surrender?  Is it possible to quit smoking and never really surrender it?  I know, for I have given many, many “Stop Smoking” programs, that many people who quit smoking never really surrender.  Somewhere in the back of their minds, that habit’s still there, and every so often they think, wouldn’t it be wonderful . . . .  There are people who do that with drugs and with alcohol.  And you know, every single person who holds on, in the back of their mind, to that cigarette, whether they have quit or not, sooner or later they’re going to start smoking again. 

Is there some sin in your life that you have never surrendered?  You may not be practicing it; you may not be doing it, but do you never really surrender to the Lord?  Well, what we do not overcome completely, will eventually completely overcome us and work out our destruction.

In I Peter 2:9, Peter says, “But you [are] a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praise of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” 

Dear friend, the Lord has called you and me to a higher plain of living than just nominal Christianity.  He has called us to be clothed with the robe of Jesus’ righteousness.  He has called us to be separate in practice from the world.  He has called us to have pure thoughts.  He has called us to have the love that Jesus had—love that turns the other cheek, love that never gets upset or irritated.  Oh, I’ve got a long ways to go, I know.  But we’ve got to do it, don’t’ we?  We have got to develop the character with which we can stand before God and He can say, “These people are without any guile in their mouth; they are without fault before the throne of God.” (Revelation 14:5.) 

Paul says, “Everyone who thinks they are standing, take heed lest you fall.”  And the time to take heed is not when you’re stumbling, it’s when you think you’re standing tall and firm.  Today is the day to take heed, to review our lives, to see if there is something there that we are cherishing, some sin, some area that God has been trying to lead us to surrender, repent, and overcome.