We are very near to the end of all things. Do you believe that Bible prophecy teaches that? Do you believe that the signs of the times give evidence of that? Bible students have been proclaiming that for more than one hundred fifty years. Bible students and students of prophecy have been saying that just before the end certain things would happen and we see those things happening today.

One hundred years ago most of the people in the United States did not think those things would ever happen. But they are happening right around us today. We are living in the time when all of a sudden the future will not be the future anymore. It will be now. When the end is not in the future, but the end is now, will you be ready for it? Will you be excited and happy? Or will it bring great disappointment?

Ellen White wrote one time that the day of God would be a day of bitter disappointment to most people in the Christian world. That statement is backed up by a Bible prophecy. Jesus said the very same thing in Matthew 7:21-23 in Matthew 24 and He predicted again through the apostle John in Revelation 1:7. He said that when He would come most of the people on the earth would mourn.

The people that are ready to meet Him will not mourn. 2 Thessalonians 1 describes the coming of the Lord. He talks about the punishment of the wicked when the Lord comes in verses 6-9. But notice what He says in verse 10: "When He comes in that day to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe because our testimony among you was believed."

There will be some people that admire Him and be glorified in that day. But most of the world will mourn because they are not ready. One of the primary questions that we need to ask our selves every day is, Am I ready for the future when it becomes the present?

God has a program to get you ready if you are willing to cooperate. His plan to prepare you for the end of the world is described in many different metaphors, similes, parables, and figures of speech in the Bible. One of the common figures of speech that is used in the Bible of Gods plan to prepare His people for the end of the world is through rain and that was comprehended by people in ancient times because they did not irrigate their crops.

The majority of the people in ancient times until modem times have been involved in agriculture. Agriculture is still the single largest industry in the United States and it is the largest industry in most countries in the world. God uses figures of speech that people can understand. In Palestine they planted their grain in the fail and harvested it in the spring. The whole system of ceremonies in the Old Covenant was set up according to this pattern.

After they planted, they needed at least one good rain. The earth is waxing old like a garment, the Bible says. You would need more than one good rain today. But in ancient Palestine the soil was good enough that if you had one good rain after you planted, and if you had one good rain a short time before the harvest, that was all you needed.

The Bible uses this symbolism over and over again. It tells about the former rain and the latter rain. Zechariah 10 is a prophecy for people that are living in the last days. The former rain has already come but you will not have a crop. You will not be ready for the end unless you have the latter rain, also. "Ask the Lord for rain in the time of the latter rain. The Lord will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain, grass in the field for everyone." Zechariah 10:1.

"Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God; for He has given you the former rain faithfully, and He will cause the rain to come down for you--the former rain, and the latter rain in the first Month." Joel 2:23. The first month was the time of harvest. That was the time of the latter rain. But in the time of the latter rain, some people still needed to receive the former rain so they could receive the latter ram.

The marginal reading for Joel 2:23 is "A teacher of righteousness." How do you receive the former rain? It involves teaching about righteousness.

This latter rain is called the time of refreshing. It refreshes the crop. The apostle Peter refers to this in the book of Acts, 3:19, 20.

"Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send you Jesus Christ who was preached to you before, whom Heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began." Acts 3:19-21.

There are two things here in this passage: the latter rain is associated with the time when peoples sins will be blotted out. And it is also associated with the time when there will be a restoration of all things and Jesus will come back. The latter rain occurs a very short time before the Second Coming of Christ and during the time of the latter rain is when sins are blotted out.

If you are a parent, have you ever had something that you wanted very much to give your child but you could not give it to them yet because they were not ready to receive it? Almost every parent has had that experience because you love your children and you want to give them the very best things you can give them. But sometimes you cannot give your children good things that you would love to give them because they are not in a position to receive it. It would be dangerous for them to receive it.

God wants to give the people the Holy Spirit. The time of the latter rain will be a wonderful time.

Ellen White says in The Great Controversy that signs and wonders will follow the believers wherever they are. You will see miracles performed such as you have never seen. She says that the sick will be healed and signs and wonders will follow the believers anywhere they are in the world.

Not everybody in the church will receive the latter rain. In fact, Ellen White was so specific about this that she says it would be possible for the latter rain to be falling on people all around us and we would not even know it. How could signs and wonders be following the believers and there be miracles, and people all around that are not receiving the latter rain and not even know it?

They will know that something is going on. In the 1 890s Ellen White wrote about the light that enlightens the whole world with His glory. We read about it in Revelation 18. That is the latter rain and the loud cry. The latter rain results in the loud cry, the final invitation of mercy to the inhabitants of this world.

She says that last ray of light that will enlighten the world with His glory will be called a false light. Some people will not receive it and not only will they not receive it they will not understand that somebody that they know is receiving it. They will say, that person has become fanatical. It will be called a false light and so when they see these miracles, they will do just what the Pharisees did in the time of Christ, they will say, Well, the Bible says the devil will work miracles in the last days.

This will result in division in the church. But the most important thing that we need to understand is will we, you and I, receive it? We will not receive it unless the Lord sees that we are prepared to receive it. As students of Bible prophecy, we are desirous to know what should we do so that we will be prepared to receive the latter rain of the Holy Spirit. God has given us counsel in His word and in the testimonies of His Spirit of what we should do so that we will be prepared to receive the latter rain to give the final invitation of mercy to the world.

Not only has He given us instruction, He has told us what the message is that will bring on the latter rain. At one time God tried to give the latter rain to Seventh-day Adventists but they turned it down! They said, No, we do not want that. It happened in Minneapolis over a hundred years ago in 1888.

Ellen White said that the message that God sent his servants then would be the beginning of the latter rain and the loud cry. But the people did not accept it. Now, I want to ask you this question to stir up your mind and get you to thinking. The Bible teaches that God does not change. What did God do in 1888 that would have brought the latter rain then, and if Gods people today accepted it, would it bring the latter rain today?

Might it be important to find out, then, what it was that they rejected so that we could accept it? We will look at three main things that both A. T. Jones and E. G. Waggoner presented to the church in 1888. All three not only were rejected then but I will also show you that all three are rejected today! If I accept two out of three, do you think the Lord would send me the latter rain then?

The first thing was one of the main messages that both Jones and Waggoner presented to the delegates at the General Conference in 1888 and it had to do with the nature of Christ.

Romans 8 refers to the nature of His humanity when He became a man. "For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." Romans 8:3,4.

It said that the flesh could not do it, but God sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to condemn sin in the flesh. Have you ever heard somebody say, Well, I sin in the flesh, but my mind is pure? Do not listen to that. That is a lie of the devil. The incarnation of Jesus condemned sin in the flesh because He came in the likeness of sinful flesh.

"Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil. Therefore in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, who makes propitiation (that is to pay the price) for the sins of the people. For in that He himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted." Hebrews 2:14, 17, 18.

He came to this world and He partook of flesh and blood in the same way that you and I do. "He took human nature. He became flesh even as we are." Signs of the Times, June 17, 1897.

He partook of flesh and blood exactly the same way I did. And because of that, He was tempted like I am. "Seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4: 14-16.

When you talk about grace, many people in the Christian world think that all you are talking about is the grace that will forgive you of your sin. Grace does forgive you of your sin. You do receive forgiveness of sin by grace, Paul says in Ephesians 1. But grace implies more than the forgiving of sins and that is what people do not understand.

Hebrews 4:16 says that you are come boldly before the throne of grace so that you can obtain grace and mercy and the grace is going to do more than forgive your sins. It is going to help. Do you need help? I need help! And Jesus knows that you need help. He knows that I need help and He says. If you come and ask Me, I will give you help--all the help you need. So grace is not just something that results in taking away your guilt. It is something that enables you to do something.

It enables you to follow Christ, to do His will, to obey His law. Jesus then came in fallen nature. He was born with the same kind of flesh that I have. He took upon Him my sinful nature and this is something that the devil hates. And this is why the devil hates it. If you understand that Jesus came in flesh like I have and a nature like I have and that He overcame, what does that mean to me?

That means that if I put my trust in Him, through His power, through His grace I can overcome, too. And the devil hates that. The devil does not want you to believe that you can overcome just like Jesus overcame. He is trying to convince everybody that cannot happen. You just have to go on and sin and confess and sin and confess all the rest of your life.

'To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne." Revelation 3:21. Jesus overcame and He has now passed into the heavens, Paul says, and He is sitting on the throne with His Father. He says to you and to me, If you overcome as I overcame, you will sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

This text in Revelation 3:21 would not make any sense at all if Jesus did not come in flesh like you have. People would say, Well, Jesus came and He did not have flesh like mine. Some churches say that His mother did not even have flesh like we have! That is the doctrine of Immaculate Conception. It is the idea that Mary, the mother of Jesus was preserved from all effects of sin at the first moment of her conception. That is what the Roman Catholics teach.

The Protestants teach that Jesus was preserved from all effects of sin when He was born. It would be awful for the Lord to put a text like this in the Bible if Jesus did not come in the same flesh as I have. Yet, I am supposed to overcome like He did.

Jesus came in the likeness of sinful flesh and overcame. ff1 put my trust in Him, I can overcome like He overcame. And He will help me. He has promised to give me all the grace that I need. God knew that the devil hated this doctrine and He wrote about it in His book that this would be one of the great deceptions of the Antichrist power.

This deception has gone all over the Christian world today until it is so bad that many people believe that if you believe what we just read from the Bible, they will say that you are a part of the Antichrist. The problem is that people who say they are the Antichrist will read it from the Bible who the Antichrist is. It is always interesting that the Antichrist always likes to tell people that are the true followers of Christ that they are the Antichrist. That is what the confusion is about in this world.

"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and is now already in the world." 1 John 4:1-3.

In Galatians 5:15-19 and Romans 6, 7 and 8, the word "flesh" is a technical word. It is used over and over again by both John and Paul. The word "flesh" is used to describe our fallen, sinful natures. John uses it in 1 John2:15-l7 referring to the lust of the flesh.

The flesh in the New Testament is used to describe our fallen, sinful natures. If you confess that Jesus is come in the flesh, then you believe that you can overcome the same way He overcame. That is the way you will live. You will depend on God to give you the power and you will be acknowledged as of God.

He talks about that here and He talks about it over and over again. If you acknowledge that Jesus has come in the flesh, you will overcome the world and you then are denominated. Every person that acknowledges that, that has that experience is of God. (See 1 John 5:4, Chapter 4:6; 5:18). But the Antichrist power does not acknowledge that.

The Antichrist power says that Jesus did not come to this world in flesh like I have and therefore I cannot overcome like He overcame. Therefore these people believe that grace is simply about having your sins forgiven. They do not ever intend to overcome their sin. They think that all they have to do is keep their sins confessed.

There is no place in the Bible that promises salvation to a person that simply confesses his sins and does not overcome them. That is a doctrine of Antichrist. Eight times in the book of Revelation salvation is promised only to those that overcome. And this was one of the main messages that was preached to our people in 1888. This is one of the main things that there is controversy about in the church today and that a large group of Christians and even Adventists have rejected. There are many books that have been printed today teaching a new Jesus.

This new Jesus did not come in flesh like you and I have. He came with an unfallen nature like Adam had in the Garden of Eden. Therefore, people do not believe that they can overcome the way He overcame. If you believe that and you have that kind of experience, you will not receive the latter rain. It does not matter if the latter rain comes this year or forty years from now, you will not receive it if you have that kind of belief and experience (See Early Writings, 71).

If we want to receive the latter rain, we must understand what the incarnation of Christ means to us individually. It means that He came to this world, as Ellen White says in The Desire of Ages, to become one flesh with us in order that we might become one spirit with Him. Are you having that experience? Are you walking not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit? Are you overcoming? The word overcome can also be translated conquer. Are you conquering? That was one of the main messages that were presented by Elders Jones and Waggoner in 1888.

The second one is related to the first. "The Lord in His great mercy sent a most precious message to His people through Elders Waggoner and Jones. This message was to bring more prominently before the world the uplifted Saviour, the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. It presented justification through faith in the surety; it invited the people to receive the righteousness of Christ, which is made manifest in obedience to all the commandments of God." Testimonies to Ministers, 91.

It invited the people to receive the righteousness of Christ. This is what we call today, righteousness by faith. The majority to the present day have rejected the first thing that they taught in 1888. Now we come to the second and people all over are preaching about righteousness by faith. Are we preaching the same righteousness by faith message today that they preached back then, the one that will lead you to have an experience so you can receive the Holy Spirit and the latter rain? Or do we have a different message? The righteousness by faith message that they preached invited the people to receive the righteousness of Christ and the faith is made manifest in obedience to all the commandments of God. The righteousness by faith message that they preached was made manifest by obedience to ALL the commandments.

Their righteousness by faith message was not simply a message where you say, Lord, I believe, please forgive my sins and that was all there was to it. It was more than that.

This is what righteousness is. "My tongue shall speak of your word for all your commandments are righteous." Psalm 119:172. "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of the throne of God." Psalm 89:14.

Righteousness is the foundation of Gods government. if you say that you want to change any part of the law of God, what you are really saying is that you want to change some part of the government of God. Can you imagine created beings going to their Creator and saying to Him, We want You to change? That is what people do! Lucifer did.

God said that He does not change. Why? Because it says that the foundation of His government is right and just. Why should He change it? Then it would not be right and just. "All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death." 1 John 5:17. A sin that does not lead to death is a sin that is confessed, repented of and overcome. That sin will not lead you to death. Every other sin will.

All unrighteousness is sin. So Gods commandments are right. According to 1 John 3:4 Sin is breaking Gods law and sin is unrighteousness. All unrighteousness is sin. All unrighteousness is breaking Gods law. If unrighteousness is breaking Gods law, then righteousness is keeping Gods law. Does that make sense?

When you put your trust in Jesus and you receive His righteousness then He gives you the power to keep His law through His indwelling Spirit That is the miracle of New Testament Christianity. When you put the focus of your attention of your life on Jesus. You put your trust in Him. That is what is called righteousness by faith. You have to have your faith in Jesus to receive power through Jesus law. Jesus said to His disciples, Without Me you cannot do anything. That is still true. Have you ever tried it?

And the people at that time were the same as the people today. Ellen White said, They had lost sight of Jesus. Do you know what happens when you lose sight of Jesus? When Peter was out there walking on the water, Ellen White says that a wave came up and he lost sight of Jesus and when he lost sight of Jesus, he started to go down. That is the way the Christian walk is. When people lose sight of Jesus, they start to go down and they go down, down, down.

And then they say somehow the Christian life does not work for me. Ellen White said the people had lost sight of Jesus and they needed to get their eyes focused on His divine person. Why do you need to get your eyes focused on His divine person? Because, I want to tell you, friend, you and I need more than human power if we are going to be ready for the end of the world.

She said they needed to get their eyes focused on His divine person and on His merits so that they would become partakers of the divine nature. Remember that message of righteousness by faith that they preached was a message where you put your trust in Jesus, you trusted Him for righteousness. But He gave you the power to obey and the manifestation that you were having this experience was that you were obedient to all of Gods commandments.

Not just outwardly, but from your heart. That was the second thing that they dwelt on a very great deal. But today, you talk to the average person that thinks they understand righteousness by faith and you talk about this and they do not understand it at all. They think that righteousness by faith is simply trusting in Jesus to forgive your sins. What people call righteousness by faith if it does not involve keeping Gods commandments and overcoming sin, it is not righteousness by faith at all. It is unrighteousness by presumption. So the second thing they taught, then, was not believed by the vast majority today who think they understand righteousness by faith.

The first is not, the second is not and now we come to the third and you will see right away that we are even farther behind on this one than the first two. We are almost at ground zero on this one. Now when people lose sight of Jesus, where are they looking for help?

"Unless he makes it his life business to behold, behold the uplifted Saviour, and by faith to accept the merits which it is his privilege to claim, the sinner can no more be saved than Peter could walk upon the water unless he kept his eyes fixed steadily upon Jesus." Ibid, 93.

That is the divinely inspired illustration in the life of Christ as to what the Christian walk is all about. The Christian walk is like walking on water. Is it possible? Well, no, unless you have divine power that is holding you up and to have that, you have to keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. But notice what Ellen White said had happened to our people. "Now it has been Satans determined purpose to eclipse the view of Jesus and lead men to look to man, and to trust to man, and be educated to expect help from man." Ibid.

So what does the devil want you to do? He wants you to look to man. Look to preachers. Look to theologians that have doctors degrees. Look to Church Councils. Look to Church leaders. Look to Secretaries and Presidents and all kinds of human leaders.

Notice what she said had happened in 1888 already. She says, "For years the church has been looking to man and expecting much from man, but not looking to Jesus." Now is that not quite an indictment. She said that in 1888 that had already been going on for years. The church has been looking to man, expecting much help from man.

The third thing they dwelt upon in 1888 was about the undue ecclesiastical authority. Now this is a big subject. When I read the 1888 Materials, it took me quite a while to read it because there are 1700 some pages. I have many, many notes in the flyleafs of the books. I was amazed to find out that Ellen White spent more time on this subject than anything else, in regard to the 1888 time, in fact, more time than everything else put together. Most people today have not learned their lesson on this one anymore than the others, maybe less.

This involves a rejection of the mystery of iniquity. The first one involved an acceptance of the mystery of Christ (Godliness). Let us just look at that from the Bible first of all. If you are involved in a great apostasy, can you go to heaven without repenting and reforming? Is the Lord going to take people to heaven that have the very same problem that the devil had in the beginning? No, He is not.

"Let no one deceive you by any means; for that day (the Second Coming) will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalteth himself about all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. 2 Thessalonians 2:3,4.

The basic problem with the great apostasy is the exaltation of the clergy. There it is right there in verse 4. It is the exaltation of the Bishops. The clergy become little gods on earth. The antichrist is somebody that sets himself in the place of God. But he is not God. That is what it is about.

That is what is called two verses down the mystery of lawlessness. The first commandment that they break is the first commandment which says, You shall not have any other gods before me but here the man of sin sits in the temple of God. The temple of God is the church. The antichrist is to arise in the church.

Paul said in Acts 20 that the great apostasy would arise among the leaders of the church, the elders and bishops and that they would begin to exalt themselves. Undue ecclesiastical authority; this is what the devil wanted in the beginning. He wanted to be like God. He told Eve that she would become like God. The Bishops apostatized by exalting themselves above the people, so they became lords in the church.

How many Lords do we have in this church? If we have more than one, we are apostates right now. "But you, do not be called rabbi (my high one), for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren." Matthew 23:8.

We only have one Lord Paul says in Ephesians 4, we have one God, we have one Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. If we have more than one Lord, we are apostates. We are breaking the first commandment and we cannot go to the kingdom of heaven. We are all brethren! Oh, somebody says, we need to have a visible head of the church that we can call the President. That idea has been around for a long time.

"To secure worldly gains and honors, the church was led to seek the favor and support of the great men of earth; and having thus rejected Christ, she was induced to yield allegiance to the representative of Satan, the Bishop of Rome. It is one of the leading doctrines of Romanism that the Pope is the visible head of the universal church of Christ. . . But those who fear and reverence God meet this heaven-daring assumption as Christ met the solicitations of the wily foe: 'Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve. Luke 4:8. God has never given a hint in His word that He has appointed any man to be the head of the church." The Great Controversy 50.

That is why the Adventist Church in the beginning was governed by means of church boards and committees because we do not have any man that is the head. We come together and pray and ask the Lord to lead us and to guide us. James White says that the Holy Spirit is our King.

"The doctrine of Papal supremacy is directly opposed to the teachings of the Scriptures. The pope can have no power over Christs Church except by usurpation. Romanists have persisted in bringing against Protestants the charge of heresy and willful separation from the true church. But these accusations apply rather to themselves. They are the ones who laid down the banner of Christ and departed from 'the faith that was once delivered unto the saints. Jude 3." Ibid, 50, 51.

" 'The head of every man is Christ (1 Corinthians 11:3). God, who put all things under the Saviours feet 'gave Him to be the head over all things in the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.' 1 Corinthians 11:3; Ephesians 1:22,23. The church is built upon Christ as its foundation; it is to obey Christ as its head. It is not to depend upon man, or be controlled by man.

Many claim that a position of trust in the church gives them authority to dictate what other man shall believe and what they shall do. This claim God does not sanction. The Saviour declares, 'All ye are brethren." The Desire of Ages, 414.

"Today in the religious world there are multitudes who, as they believe, are working for the establishment of the kingdom of Christ as an earthly and temporal dominion. They desire to make our Lord the Ruler of the kingdoms of this world, the ruler in its courts and camps, its legislative halls, its palaces and market places. They expect Him to rule through legal enactments, enforced by human authority. Since Christ is not now here in person, they themselves will undertake to act in His stead, to execute the laws of His kingdom. The establishment of such a kingdom is what the Jews desired in the days of Christ. They would have received Jesus, had He been willing to establish a temporal dominion, to enforce what they regarded as the laws of God." Ibid, 509.

Then she goes on to say how Jesus would not accept that and that is why he was crucified. He would not accept a temporal, earthly, worldly kingdom or dominion. But that is what our people had had for many years in 1888 and that is what they still want today. In 1901 at the General Conference there was an effort made to do away with this and they said that we will not have a General Conference President anymore. We will rule by committee and we will let the committee select a chairman. And the Person will be chairman for one year.

Ellen White says that every Conference would get together and have a constituency meeting every year and they voted the same people to remain as leaders in the Conference year after year. They tried that for two years but they did not even follow it for two years. They selected one man to be the chairman and in 1903 he was still the chairman when he was supposed to be the chairman for one year.

This man that was supposed to be the chairman for one year, wrote a new constitution and brought it to the General Conference in 1903. And he persuaded the majority to accept it and as a result of that, he remained as President for over twenty years. He set the course in Adventism that has remained clear to the present day and that is why we are having the troubles we are having today. That is why we have things like the lawsuit down in Florida, where you have church leaders that are trying to force other people to do what they think should be done.

Is that a situation where all ye are brethren? "Earthly kingdoms ruled by ascendancy of physical power; but from Christs kingdom every carnal weapon, every instrument of coercion, is banished." The Acts of the Apostles, 12. If you are going to be a part of Christs kingdom when Jesus comes again, you must banish every weapon of coercion from your home and from your life.

We have some preparing to do if we are going to be ready to receive the latter rain. We have so many lords in Adventism today that it is an abomination that will eventually make us devilish. It is the core and foundation of Romanism (See 2 Thessalonians 2). It is the underlying principle of the devils government. It was the problem with the Jewish Church in the time of Christ. It was a problem with the Roman Church in the Dark Ages and we have the same problem in Adventism today and let me tell you, that is why we are here!

That is why Jesus has not come yet. That is why the latter rain has not come yet. This is the third thing they dealt with and Ellen White dealt with it at length after that. If they did not receive the latter rain then and give the loud cry then because they did not overcome this problem, do you think God is going to change His mind? Do you think He will say, Well, time has gone on so long, I know you are still living like the devil, but I guess I will just have to finish the work anyway. Is that what the Lord is going to say?

Do you see that all three of these points that were brought to the church in 1888 are still problems for the church today? And the third one we have learned almost nothing at all, in fact, if anything we have gone backwards. I do not think that by 1888 there had ever been a Seventh-day Adventist Church leader that had tried to sue somebody else in the Adventist Church because they disagreed with him or her. We have gone backward instead of forward.

What is going to happen? What is going to happen is that Gods work is going to be finished in a way different than most people think. Right now there is a movement of revival and reformation going on throughout the world--not just in Adventism but in all churches God is sending out appeals to people that are willing to come and accept His government and follow His ways.

If we are going to be ready, friends, to give the last appeal of mercy to the world, we will have to come into harmony with what God told us over one hundred years ago and we are not in harmony with it yet. There is no use fooling ourselves. In every one of these three things the vast majority of Adventists today either do not understand it or they are not in harmony with it.

So who is going to receive the latter rain? It will be people that are in harmony with these three doctrines that were preached back then in Minneapolis. Would it not be wonderful if there was a church here or there where the people were in harmony with divine counsels so that they could receive what God wanted to give to them?

Our heavenly Parent right now is looking down on us and on all His professed people all over the world and He is seeking for people that He can pour His Holy Spirit on, but most people cannot receive it because they are not ready. Are you ready? Are you willing to surrender your life to the Lord and say, Lord, I am willing to change my mind to come in harmony with Your mind. I am willing to cease being a lord and to become a servant. All the people that will be saved will be servants (See Revelation 22:3).

Do you want to be one of the people ready to receive the latter rain? If we are going to be ready to receive it, a change has to take place in our hearts. We have to overcome like He overcame, we have to receive the righteousness that will be manifested by our obeying His commandments and we have to quite being lords over each other.

Jesus said to the disciples, The Gentiles lord it over each other and those that are great among them exercise authority but it shall not be like this among you. But whosoever will be great among you, let him be his servant and whosoever will be first among you, let him be your bond-servant, your slave. Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister (that is to serve) and to give His life a ransom for many.

Oh, friend, you and I have to have the same spirit that He had if we are going to be with Him in the kingdom. His kingdom is not like anything of the governments of this world. Do you know any kingdom or government of this world where the King of the world gave His life to save the rest of them? I have never seen a government like that before. He did not come here so that you could serve Him. He came here so that He could serve you.

When you get that spirit, then you become a servant, too, and become obedient to all His commandments. You have overcome your sinful propensities and desires like He overcame, because He came in flesh like I have and He overcame. Do you want to have that experience? Prove you are ready for the end? There will be some people that have this experience that we are talking about when the end comes it will not be a time of bitterness of sadness or mourning, it will the most exciting time of our lives. Do you want to be ready? Do you want to have this experience? Would you like to pray before we sing our closing song that you will have this experience and be ready to receive the Holy Spirit?