Bible

First Things First

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[Editor’s Note: This sermon was presented at the Steps to Life Camp Meeting, July 2003. The conversational style of the speaker has been preserved.]

In case you do not know it, homes in America have been falling apart by the hundreds and thousands. That is not new. Homes have been under siege since the Garden of Eden. We find that almost every day we are assaulted with news stories about mothers drowning their children so they can run off with their lovers. Husbands and wives are killing each other; fathers and mothers are locking their children in dingy, stinky closets where the children live in filth.

We have to ask ourselves, What is really going on in the minds of human beings today? Well, we would say it is the signs of the times. Yes, it is the signs of the times. Jesus could see what would happen near the end of time, and He prophetically gave us insight into those things. He gave us this insight so when we would see these things come to pass, we would begin to understand that the Bible is true, and we would prepare our lives to meet Jesus when He returns.

I really believe, and I have been a pastor long enough to know, that in the heart of every one of us there are troubles in our families that we wish were not there. Maybe not in our immediate family but in the extended family. Why are so many homes experiencing troubles? There is an answer, and it, too, is very basic.

Failure to Obey

It all boils down to the failure to abide by the Law of God, to our failure to teach it properly in our homes. The first commandment says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:3. On a spiritual level, God is the only god that is to be recognized. Jehovah, Yahweh, the Lord, is His name. He is the only one. He is a jealous God, and He said, “I am the only one who is to be worshipped.” He is the creator of all things. The responsibilities to God are spelled out in the first table of the law.

The second table also has its first commandment, which is really the fifth commandment of the total law. The first commandment deals with the respect for the Creator of human life. The second table, in reality, is connected very carefully and is a part of the first table. The first table lays out the spiritual relationship that we are to have; the second table deals with human relationships. They are all tied together. The second table, I believe, helps us to understand the relationship of the first table.

Childhood Influence

How many times I have had people tell me about their childhood—how they are the way they are today because of how they were raised. Some of those comments have been positive, but usually most have been negative. “My dad did not like me.” “My mother whipped me too much.” “I had chores to do.” I had this and I had that as a bad experience in my life.

All that might be true, but we do not have to stay there. Growing evidence suggests that the structural and functional brain reserves, thought to develop in childhood and adolescence, may be crucial in determining when cognitive impairment begins. A leading researcher, Robert Abbott, says that there is a whole constellation of diseases out there that occur in later years that are associated with how children are treated early in life.

Foundation of the Home

The fifth law of God’s Ten Commandments is terribly important. The fifth law, in reality, is the whole foundation of the home. Do you think that we have need of restoring the family? I think it is one of the most crucial needs that we have in Adventism today. A lot of times it is easy for us to point out into the world and say, You know, this is taking place in the world, and the world really needs to come to grips with its problems and resolve those things. I would like to suggest that we need to resolve some problems within the church, and we have the tools with which to do that.

Exodus 20:12, the fifth commandment, says, “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”

This is the first commandment that is foundational in understanding who God is. I say this, because where does a child learn about God? By reading the first commandment that says, “I am the Lord thy God”? No. They learn it from mom and dad. The fifth commandment is foundational in understanding every other relationship that we have on this earth. I think that this is where we have gone astray. This is where we have failed, as Seventh-day Adventists. We claim to be the people of the Book; we claim to be the repairers of the breach, the restorer of paths to walk in, and yet have we really understood the law ourselves so that we can teach it to our children in the right and proper way?

Absolute

Previous commandments to the fifth law have dealt with the object and the manner of worship—God and the Sabbath. This commandment deals with the nursery and the school of worship. Where is the discrimination taught to really discern between good and evil? This commandment, I believe, would solve all those problems, if it was rightly understood and rightly taught, because it is profoundly deep in its concepts.

Let us consider what this commandment teaches. First of all, it is absolute. Parents are to be honored, whether they are living or dead, known or unknown, good or evil. Now that is kind of a big order, is it not? But I did not write the Ten Commandments, God did, and God does not qualify His commandments. He does not say, Honor thy father and thy mother, if they treat you right, and they do not spank you very often. Honor your father and your mother if they are sober and if they are good, upstanding citizens. That is not what the commandment says. It is absolute.

I am the first one to confess that this can be hard. Yet there is one thing that I know about God’s Law; it is always possible to keep it. God never asks us to do something that is impossible. Perhaps we were raised in a home where we have carried a lot of “extra baggage”; we have had a lot of problems; we cannot relate to our parents in the right way. Then we read God’s Law, and we come to the fifth commandment that says, “Honour thy father and thy mother . . . .” We swallow hard and say, “I do not think I can do that.” Know for a certainty that through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can do it. There are consequences for not doing it, and there are consequences for doing it—one has good consequences and the other has bad consequences.

Present Society

Today, the society in which we live does not promote honoring father and mother. For years, there have been many television programs that have depicted the father as a buffoon and the mother as incompetent, that family life in the home is nothing but a joke, and that the children are petted and allowed to do just about anything and everything they want. We have grown up on those kinds of examples that have come to bear on our lives. So when we come to a church setting and a spiritual teaching that we are to honor our father and our mother, it kind of flies over our head because of how we have been trained.

We can honor our parents, though, from the standpoint of a child, even those who may be despicable. A father may be a reprobate, guilty of all sorts of crime, but God, in His wisdom, sees how that can make children better for the honor they pay to their parents. It is kind of designed as a two-edged sword. The Bible talks about a two-edged sword that cuts both ways. This commandment deals not only with parents, but it deals with children and with children and parents.

There is damage that can come because of disrespect of parents. There is nothing honorable about being ashamed of one’s own parentage. A lot of times we think it is smart to be ashamed, especially as young people growing up. I remember what it was like when I was growing up; we thought it was cute and cool to talk about our parents as “the old man” and “the old lady.” Maybe some of you have been there, too. I am ashamed of that kind of thing, as I understand now exactly what God requires of me, but there are still some young people today who have that kind of disrespect in their heart relative to their parents. Somehow we, as Seventh-day Adventists, need to tighten the screws down a little bit in our thinking as to how we need to understand God’s Law, because whether you are as old as I am or much younger, this still applies to us in a multitude of ways. There is never an excuse to continue being disrespectful or dishonorable of our parents. People see us. People watch us. They watch how we relate to our family. They watch how we relate to other positions of authority around us. They watch how we relate to God.

No Respect, No Reverence

We preach reverence in the church sanctuary, and rightfully so. When we come into the house of God, there should be an attitude of reverent awe that we are coming into the presence of the Lord. I would like to suggest that this same honorableness needs to be in the home as well. Never should a child be allowed to be disrespectful to the parent. Never should a child be allowed to be disrespectful to the teacher. Never should a child be allowed to be disrespectful to the police officer. Never should a child be allowed to be disrespectful to the minister. Never should a child be allowed to be disrespectful to the President of the United States. You do not have to agree with everything, but do you realize that all those attitudes stem right back to this fifth commandment? Look at the irreverence that is displayed by young people today to the school, to the government, to the neighbor, to the environment by throwing trash out onto the road. The children displaying such disrespect have not been taught how to honor their parents, to be obedient to their parents. If they are not taught how to be obedient to their parents, they are not going to be obedient or respectful to anyone else.

As a little child grows, that little child, looking to the earthly parent, sees the only God he can understand. Worship, like other things, comes by practice and experience, and those first lessons are taught in the home. This is why Ellen White makes such an important point about bringing the nature of that little child into harmony with God’s plan of salvation while it is still an infant in arms. (See Spiritual Gifts, vol. 4b, 132, 133.) Many times children are petted and allowed to do whatever they want. Oh, someone may say, they are just babies; they cannot learn. That is not true; what they say is not according to God’s plan. Children need to learn, from the time they are just little infants in arms, how they are to relate to God through the parent. Now that puts parents in a very awesome position, does it not? Practically speaking, God is revealed through the parent to the child. If there is no reverence, no respect for the parents, there will be no reverence for God.

Restore the Home

How do we restore the home? How do we accomplish restoring the home and restoring the family? Malachi 4:4 says, “Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, [with] the statutes and judgements.”

God is saying, through the prophet Malachi, remember the Ten Commandments. I gave those to Moses in the mount, along with the statutes and the judgments.

Continuing in verse 5, we read, “Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” What is being spoken of here? This is the Second Coming, is it not? Elijah was long off the scene, but Elijah was manifest in John the Baptist, in the Elijah message John the Baptist preached. The Elijah message has come again in the person of Ellen White, through the gift of prophecy.

The coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord is the Day of Judgment. We are living in the time of the judgment. God is saying that there is going to come a reform. In the last days, just before Jesus comes, that work is going to be under the Spirit of Prophecy. This Elijah message will be of such a nature, “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.” Verse 6.

What a message we have here! The last message is going to be a message of restoring the family. I am thankful for the gift of prophecy that sets us in a proximity where we can know every truth that God has for us to develop our characters, so we can meet Him with peace in our hearts. In those messages there is the concept that is going to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. Do you think that needs to take place today? It most certainly does. And it is going to turn the hearts of the children to the fathers. This is a message that we, as Seventh-day Adventists, need to understand, to put into practice, so we can be the light that God wants us to be.

The Elijah Message

The Elijah message is to do a special work. If we are ever going to be ready for Jesus to come, we can know about all the prophecies, and we can speak all the mysteries, and we can understand all these things, but if we do not have love, we are nothing. Where is love learned? Love is learned in the home. As a Seventh-day Adventist, we can draw out the chart of the 2300 days, with all its intricate inner portions, the 1260 days, and all the rest of that. We can understand all of those things, but if we do not have our own family with us, what is it really all worth?

I know that many of you have reached out to your families. You are praying for them right now. My wife and I are the only Seventh-day Adventists on either side of our family. We were converts to this faith. It is hard reaching out to families. The one thing that we have discovered is that we really cannot say much to them. We have to live the message, and then leave the rest with the Lord.

God has a plan. He says, “I am going to turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to the fathers,” and that is going to have to be an accomplished fact before I can come back again. (Malachi 4:6.)

So in reality, what God is waiting for is for the Seventh-day Adventist message, through the Spirit of Prophecy, to sink into the hearts and the minds of those He has called to be His children. It needs to sink in to such an extent that the home base will change and there will be folks who will come to Him as changed people. Someone may say, “You do not know how I was raised. I do not know whether I would ever be able to change.” Do you think your battles are any more severe than anyone else’s? No, they are not. God can help you. God can take this message, and He can put it down in your heart and teach you to love that message so that it just kind of oozes out your pores.

If that happens, there is going to be a whole new set of circumstances that will begin to take place. The battle that we face individually will no longer be our battle but the Lord’s. It is His battle, and we can rest assured that whatever the consequences are, God will take care of it. That takes off a whole lot of pressure.

The Bible says that if you honor your father and your mother, your days upon the land are going to be long. Needless friction wears the life out. God knows that, so here is a blessing that can come to those who obey His command. They will not only build relationships but they will also have a long life because of the peace of mind they have.

Carryovers

There are carryovers to this, and I alluded to this earlier, about how what is done in the home affects the nation. Now, I realize that we are not in the game of politics, but at the same time, we have to live in the country, and the apostle Paul makes it very, very plain that we are to honor the governor and that we are to deal with civil matters in a right way. (See Romans 13:1–4.)

The reason why, when young people go to ball games and their team loses, they begin to riot and burn the town down, is because of the violation of the fifth commandment. They have not had any honor of the family at home, and as a result, they have no honor for anything in civil society either. In reality, home is linked with heaven, and God has ordained it so.

Linked With Heaven

We come together for worship, and we want the worship to be “just so.” How is it with our home? Do we want our home to be “just so”? Are we ordering the events in our home so reverence for God can take place when we go to church?

God has a message. He wants the home linked with heaven. The earthly parent He wants linked with the Father of eternity. Would you reach Heaven? Then reverence the home. Would you worship God? Then honor your parents, living or dead.

Back to Basics

“Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.” 11 Chronicles 20:20. “Here me, O Seventh-day Adventists, and ye inhabitants of Wichita, Kansas, or Denver, Colorado, or Portland, Oregon, or Seattle, Washington, or where ever it might be that you live.” In reality that is what it is saying. Unless we personalize it, we are going to miss the point.

This test of prosperity is tied right in with the law. It says, “Honour thy father and thy mother.” We need to start with first things first. We are never going to be able to accomplish anything that is good unless we come back to the basics of Scripture. We must learn them, make the application of them into our lives, and allow them to be lived out in our lives. But so often we, in our own wisdom, try to do these things apart from God, and we fail. Maybe because we have failed so many times, it is now time for us to go back to the basics, back to the home, back to the instruction that God has given concerning the home. He says that He is going to restore the home before He comes.

If not us, then who? If not now, when? It has to start somewhere. I, like you, get older each year, and the older I get, I wonder, When is Jesus going to come? I believe that Jesus can come in my lifetime, and I want to do all in my power to hasten that day. I know that you do, too. I hope that by sharing some things old that it will help you to reflect a little bit more of perhaps where we have failed. There is nothing wrong in looking back where we have failed, but we must learn from it and go forward in the strength and the power that God gives to us.

Pastor Mike Baugher is Associate Speaker for Steps to Life Ministries. He may be contacted by e-mail at: mikebaugher@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Ellen G. White and Racism, Part I

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[Editor’s Note: This sermon was presented at the Steps to Life Camp Meeting, July 2003. The conversational style of the speaker has been preserved.]

On March 21, 1891, Ellen G. White, 64 years of age, slowly walked to the podium of the Battle Creek, Michigan, Tabernacle Church. From the pulpit, she observed the delegates of the General Conference session and thought about the sermon she was about to deliver. Her sermon, entitled “Our Duty to the Colored People,” focused on an issue that she felt would win her no friends. The Seventh-day Adventist Church, in her opinion, must grapple with an issue they had been skirting for too long. Convinced that the leaders of the church could no longer look the other way, pretending that the problem was not there, she contemplated the task before her. She was not at ease, uncomfortable with the issues that she was about to unleash on her brethren. Knowing that many would not be happy with her words, she struggled through the presentation with carefully measured words. On one side, she did not want to hurt any sensitivities; however, she felt the need to push the leaders of the church into action, to shake them from what she considered to be a sad indifference towards Negroes in the United States.

Color Line

Feeling that Negroes in the South had been abandoned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church for too long and that it was time to launch reforms and change the policies of the church, she opened her presentation declaring, “There has been much perplexity as to how our laborers in the South shall deal with the ‘color line.’ ” The Southern Work, 9. With this sentence, she projected onto the leaders of the church an issue that made them uncomfortable. In the sermon, she clearly stated her position on the nature of racism in America and the stance that the church should take.

Over 100 years have passed since Ellen White expressed her concern in regard to the “color line.” Although non-Adventist scholars have written thousands of books on race and racism, the literature produced by Seventh-day Adventist writers and scholars, with the exception of the writings of Ellen White, displays a pronounced silence on the topic. Adventist historians have, by and large, looked the other way. As a community, Seventh-day Adventists feel uneasy with the issue. However, the “color line” continues to be one of the most pressing issues facing the church today.

When Ellen White spoke of the “color line” in 1891, she was referring to a unique American phenomenon. Although the ideas have been exported to all of the corners of the earth, its roots are deeply imbedded in the history of the United States. The term “color line” refers to the fact that, in the United States, the quality of a person’s character is judged by the color of his/her skin. People with light-colored skin, or “whites,” as they are generally termed, are deemed to be of a pure and better stock. People of color, and especially Negroes, because of their dark skin, are considered to be of inferior stock.

Evidently it not only appears to be a thought accommodated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, but a living reality in our experience, that the white brothers and sisters are superior to the black brothers and sisters in the church and that the churches should be led only by “whites.” So, the church does not display much difference in attitude and behavior from the American society and the world at large.

Control and Power

In order for us to understand the uniqueness of the American racial attitude, the concern of Ellen White, and how it affects us as Seventh-day Adventists, we need to define the words slavery and racism. According to Webster’s Dictionary, slavery is defined as “the condition of a slave, bondage, the keeping of slaves as a practice or institution. Slavery emphasizes the idea of complete ownership and control by a master.” Racism is defined as “a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievements, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to rule others.”

In both definitions, we see no mention of color. What we do see is a desire to rule and control for selfish purposes. In the experience of the Israelites in Egypt, we clearly see that their situation had nothing to do with color: “And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them. Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel [are] more and mightier than we: Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and [so] get them up out of the land. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.” Exodus 1:6–11.

What we see in these texts is a position of control and power—not color, but control and power. So the American form of slavery and/or racism, which Ellen White called “color line,” is indeed a unique American phenomenon that has affected the nations of earth. It is this, friends, because it says that a person is not judged by his/her character but by the color of his/her skin, and that will determine the person’s character. But most specifically, this determination is aimed at the black race as the inferior race and the white race as the superior race.

Secular Perspectives

In the book Uprooting Racism: How White People can Work for Racial Justice (Kivel, Paul, New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, British Columbia, Canada, May 2002), it is stated that the American society has been built upon a foundation of racism for so long that it has become part of the landscape—always there but seldom acknowledged. The author, a Caucasian, also notes that racism is pervasive, its effect devastating, and the need to fight against it urgent, that people of color are being blamed for social problems and attacked on all fronts. Recent immigrants, African American women on welfare, youth of color, and affirmative action programs are just some of the current targets of white anger. It seems like gains made in Civil Rights and Social Justice during the 1960s and the 1970s are being rolled back in the 1980s, the 1990s, and 2000s.

Mr. Kivel also wrote that white people do many things to survive the heat. They move to the suburbs, put bars on their windows, put locks on their hearts, and teach their children mistrust, for their own protection. They believe the enemy is “out there” and they can be safe “in here.” They have never thought about what it means to be “in here” with other white people and why they are so afraid of people with darker skin color “out there.” Since they do not talk about their fears, they are precluded from doing anything effective to put out the fire.

Racism is often described as a problem of prejudice. Prejudice is certainly one result of racism, and it fuels further acts of violence towards people of color. The assumption of Kivel’s book is that racism is the institutionalization of social injustice based on skin color, other physical characteristics, and cultural and religious differences. White racism is the uneven and unfair distribution of power, privilege, land, and material goods, favoring white people. Another way to state this is that white racism is a system in which people of color, as a group, are exploited and oppressed by white people, as a group.

During a recent seminar entitled Vision Beyond the Dream presented by Dr. Claud Anderson (author of Black Labor, White Wealth: The Search for Power and Economic Justice, PowerNomics Corporation of America, Bethesda, Maryland, August 1994), racism was defined as a power relationship or struggle between groups of people who are competing for resources and political power. It is one group’s use of wealth, power, and resources to deprive, hurt, injure, and exploit another group to benefit itself. He said that the root word of racism is race, which means to be in competition, in a contest, or in a match for a prize or other group benefits.

Church Perspective

In a Review and Herald article dated January 21, 1896, under the title “Am I my Brother’s Keeper?” Ellen White made a very serious statement: “The law of God contained in the ten commandments reveals to man his duty to love God supremely and his neighbor as himself. The American nation owes a debt of love to the colored race, and God has ordained that they should make restitution for the wrong they have done them in the past. Those who have taken no active part in enforcing slavery upon the colored people are not relieved from the responsibility of making special efforts to remove, as far as possible, the sure result of their enslavement.”

Could it be that, as a church, we have adopted this American phenomenon philosophy from a religious perspective and have sought to justify it by misquoting the testimonies of the Spirit of Prophecy to suit our unregenerated hearts? Are black people within the Seventh-day Adventist Church contemplated and tolerated on the basis of economics?

In the book Against the Odds (Bowser, Benjamin, Editor, et. al., University of Massachusetts Press, November 2002), a native South African shares his experiences of racism in the Seventh-day Adventist Church in South Africa. He accounts that racial discrimination in the church raised its ugly head the first time for him personally in 1930. W. H. Branson, then President of the African Division of Seventh-day Adventists with headquarters at Clairmont, South Africa, separated the white members from the colored members in the Windberg church and instructed the former to attend the Clairmont church. The excuse was that colored people would have greater opportunities for leadership and that evangelism would be more effective among their group. The separation, in which colored members had no say, caused great bitterness among them. They felt rejected by their white brethren. Only a child at the time, this South African experienced the events on that fateful Sabbath in 1930 and listened to the feelings expressed by his family and other church members. The segregated colored church at Windberg remained a part of the Cape Conference until 1933. Ironically, Elder Branson, the man who set the Seventh-day Adventist Church on the road of racial segregation in South Africa, went on to become President of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists!

Thus it was Americans who introduced apartheid into the Seventh-day Adventist Church in South Africa. Unfortunately, white South Africans built on this episode and proceeded to institutionalize separation on the grounds of race in all spheres of Adventist life in that country. It is a sad fact that apartheid in the Seventh-day Adventist Church preceded apartheid in South Africa.

Misapplication of Quotes

Elder Branson, like many other white believers, evidently used Ellen White’s writings to justify segregation of whites and blacks, more specifically, worshiping separately. I suppose he used quotations such as those shown here:

“Let as little as possible be said about the color line, and let the colored people work chiefly for those of their own race.” Testimonies, vol. 9, 206.

“The colored people should not urge that they be placed on an equality with white people. The relation of the two races has been a matter hard to deal with, and I fear that it will ever remain a most perplexing problem.” Ibid., 214.

“In regard to white and colored people worshiping in the same building, this cannot be followed as a general custom with profit to either party—especially in the South. The best thing will be to provide the colored people who accept the truth, with places of worship of their own, in which they can carry on their services by themselves.” Ibid., 206.

The reasons for those statements made by Ellen White must be made clear. It is one thing to make statements, but it is another thing to make the statements clear. Why did Mrs. White make these statements? Did she support segregation? As a servant and messenger for God, who regards all men as equal, did she support racism? We know from her testimonies that she did not. There are justifiable reasons for her statements. We are given some very positive explanations in the same book; I will give six of them that she listed. These appear immediately following those statements given above.

She states, in regard to black and white worshiping together/separately that: “This is particularly necessary in the South in order that the work for the white people may be carried on without serious hindrance.” Ibid., 206.

“Let them [colored believers] be shown that this is done not to exclude them from worshiping with white people, because they are black, but in order that the progress of the truth may be advanced. Let them understand that this plan is to be followed until the Lord shows us a better way.” Ibid., 206, 207.

“Let us follow the course of wisdom. Let us do nothing that will unnecessarily arouse opposition—nothing that will hinder the proclamation of the gospel message. Where demanded by custom or where greater efficiency is to be gained, let the white believers and the colored believers assemble in separate places of worship.” Ibid., 208.

“Let the work be done in a way that will not arouse prejudice which would close doors now open for the entrance of the truth.” Ibid., 209.

“While men are trying to settle the question of the color line, time rolls on, and souls go down into the grave, unwarned and unsaved. Let this condition of things continue no longer.” Ibid., 210.

“The time has not come for us to work as if there were no prejudice. Christ said: ‘Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.’ Matthew 10:16. If you see that by doing certain things which you have a perfect right to do, you hinder the advancement of God’s work, refrain from doing those things. Do nothing that will close the minds of others against the truth. There is a world to save, and we shall gain nothing by cutting loose from those we are trying to help. All things may be lawful, but all things are not expedient.” Ibid., 215.

Mrs. White is here expressing concern about something, as God has expressed it to her, which shall be brought up shortly.

Intermarriage

Then there are those who are against intermarrying of whites and blacks on the grounds that Ellen White says so, without again addressing the reasons for her statements. Quotations such as the following ones are used.

“But there is an objection to the marriage of the white race with the black. All should consider that they have no right to entail upon their offspring that which will place them at a disadvantage; they have no right to give them as a birthright a condition which would subject them to a life of humiliation. The children of these mixed marriages have a feeling of bitterness toward the parents who have given them this lifelong inheritance. For this reason, if there were no other, there should be no intermarriage between the white and the colored race.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 343, 344.

Notice, she did not say between whites and other races; she said between white and colored races. There is a reason. She further wrote:

“In reply to inquiries regarding the advisability of intermarriage between Christian young people of the white and black races, I will say that in my earlier experience this question was brought before me, and the light given me of the Lord was that this step should not be taken; for it is sure to create controversy and confusion. I have always had the same counsel to give. No encouragement to marriages of this character should be given among our people. Let the colored brother enter into marriage with a colored sister who is worthy, one who loves God, and keeps His commandments. Let the white sister who contemplates uniting in marriage with the colored brother refuse to take this step, for the Lord is not leading in this direction.” Ibid., 344.

But why did Mrs. White give this counsel? Was she against interracial marriages? She further states in the same book, “Time is too precious to be lost in controversy that will arise over this matter. Let not questions of this kind be permitted to call our ministers from their work. The taking of such a step will create confusion and hindrance. It will not be for the advancement of the work or for the glory of God.” Ibid.

So we see that the thing God was concerned about, and thus shared with Mrs. White, was that these controversial matters not obstruct His work. If we were to accept the interpretation of some brethren concerning Ellen White’s instruction as fact that God is against races intermarrying, then we would need to address ourselves to the Holy Scriptures, where we read of Moses’ experiences with his sister Miriam and his brother Aaron.

“And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.” Numbers 12:1.

Backbiting, criticizing behind Moses’ back, Miriam spoke against his wife, who was of a different race. In the book Patriarchs and Prophets, 383, we understand that: “Yielding to the spirit of dissatisfaction, Miriam found cause of complaint in events that God had especially overruled. The marriage of Moses had been displeasing to her. That he should choose a woman of another nation, instead of taking a wife from among the Hebrews, was an offense to her family and national pride. Zipporah was treated with ill-disguised contempt.

“Though called a ‘Cushite woman’ (Numbers 12:1, R.V.), the wife of Moses was a Midianite, and thus a descendant of Abraham. In personal appearance she differed from the Hebrews in being of a somewhat darker complexion. Though not an Israelite, Zipporah was a worshiper of the true God.”

Some believers will still maintain that Mrs. White is only supporting what the Bible teaches, and they will quote Scriptural references such as Deuteronomy 7:3, 4; Judges 3:6, 7; Ezra 9:1–3,12.

“Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.” Deuteronomy 7:3, 4.

As you read the other scriptural references, you will see that the matter of concern arising out of these texts is that of intermarrying with heathen or unbelievers. The counsel had nothing to do with marrying people of color. Why should they not have married these heathen or unbelievers? Because the influence of these unbelievers would have turned the hearts of the children of Israel from following Jehovah. That was the concern of God.

To be concluded . . .

The Man Nobody Knew – Part I

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The gospel of John, chapter 8, verse 19, has become a very scary text to me. Why? It is because I preach. What is the purpose of preaching and teaching in the Christian church? When we gather to study God’s Word, we are supposed to learn to know God. That is the purpose of it. But this text involves a public conversation that Jesus had with the leaders of the Jewish church. You could call them the General Conference. Remember who Jesus was. He was the One who had instructed Moses by saying, “Go down to Egypt and bring My people out of there.”
(See Exodus 3:10.) He was the One. He was the One who spoke the Ten Commandments from the top of Mount Sinai. He was the One who appeared and spoke to Moses. He was the One who dwelt in that pillar of cloud and fire that led the children of Israel through the wilderness. He was the One who had inspired the prophets in the Old Testament. He was the One who had appeared to Gideon and Manoah.

The Jews had looked forward to the coming of the Messiah for over a thousand years, and when He came in human flesh, notice what Jesus said to them in John 8:19: “Then they said to Him, ‘Where is Your Father?’ Jesus answered, ‘You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.’ ” Now these were the religious leaders of that time. Do you suppose that they were the last preachers, the last religious leaders of whom Jesus said, “You don’t even know me”?

We are supposed to be teaching and preaching about Him. We are supposed to be helping people learn to know Him and to follow Him. That is what the leaders said they were doing. They said, “God is our Father. We are His people.” (See Verse 41.) But Jesus said, “You do not know Him. You do not know Me.” Why this is scary is that if I am to teach you to know Jesus, can I teach you to know Somebody whom I do not know? That is scary, if you are a preacher. These people were sure that they knew God, but Jesus said, “No, you do not know Him. You do not know Me. You do not know Him.” This is a theme that keeps recurring in the gospel of John.

John 17:25, 26 says, “O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare [it], that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” You cannot teach somebody about a love that you do not have. You cannot teach somebody else to know Jesus, if you do not know Him. How many were in the crowd surrounding Jesus when He said these words in John 17? Eleven men, that is all, just eleven.

Life Eternal

How important is it whether or not you know God or whether or not I know God? In John 17:2 and 3, Jesus is praying to His Father, and He says, “As You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” Notice the word and in verse 3. Sometimes little words in the Bible are important. This is eternal life: if they know You, that is the Father, and if they know Jesus Christ whom You have sent. Jesus said that if you know one, you will know the other. He made that very clear on a number of occasions.

In Matthew 11:27, He said, “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and [the one] to whom the Son wills to reveal [Him].” This idea, which the Jews had, the Islamic people and some other people have, that you can know the Father and not worry about the Son, is not so. Jesus said you cannot know just the Father; you either know both of us, or you do not know either one of us. How important is this? As we read in John 17:3, this is life eternal. If you know the Father and the Son, that is eternal life. Do you really want to know God?

Do You Know God?

Today, we are living in a world that is very, very dark. We talk about the explosion of knowledge, but the world in which we live is dark because of the misapprehension of God. People do not know God in the world in which we are living. They go to church; they sing about God; they pray to God; they read the Bible; but they do not know God. Do you know Him?

The Jews read the Bible. Probably most of them could quote more scripture than could most of us. They read the Bible, but they did not know the Author of the Bible. The same thing has happened among Christians. There are numerous people who go to a Christian church every week. They hear the Word of God read; they can quote the apostles’ creed and the Lord’s Prayer. Many of them can quote the Ten Commandments. All those things are fine and good. We are not criticizing any of those things, but do they know God? Do they know His Son?

Whatever you may know about theology—history, Greek, Hebrew, the writings of the church fathers, the teachings of the theologians—if you do not know God and His Son, you will not have eternal life. If you do know them, whether or not you can read or write or are knowledgeable about theology or history or Greek or Hebrew or all of those things, you will have eternal life. There will be many people in the kingdom of heaven that in this world did not know how to read or write. You do not want me to turn that around, do you? I am going to, so get ready. There are going to be a great number of people in hell who not only knew how to read and write but had extensive knowledge about theology and history, Greek, Hebrew, and the writings of the fathers and the traditions of the church but did not know God. These people, to whom Jesus was talking in John 8:19, knew theology. They could read Greek and Hebrew and Aramaic. They could read the Old Testament in the original handwriting of the prophets, but they did not know God.

Invest the Time

As I have studied this subject, I have not just studied it for your benefit; I have studied it for my benefit as well. I have been talking to the Lord about this. I said, “Lord, please, I want to know You.” I do not pretend that I could teach you to know Him in a short article.

I hope that you are spending time studying the story of Jesus every day. One of the best ways to start learning to know Him is to begin studying the story of His life when He was here in this world. It is recorded in four different places. It is recorded by two of His disciples, Matthew and John. It is also written in the words of the apostle Peter. A young man by the name of John Mark wrote down the words of the apostle Peter as he preached and explained the life of Christ. You can think of the book of Mark as Peter’s gospel.

Then there was a man who was called “The Beloved Physician.” He was an associate of the apostle Paul, and he worked and traveled with the apostle Paul all over the Roman Empire. Not only did he listen to the apostle Paul preach the gospel to the Gentiles, but he traveled back to Palestine and sought out the eyewitnesses who had seen Jesus work miracles and who had listened to Him, and he asked, “Tell me, what did you see and what did you hear?” Then he wrote it down. He was a historian as well as a physician. You can think of the gospel of Luke, Luke having been an associate of Paul, as being the apostle Paul’s gospel. It was written especially for the Gentile audience, and I have found that this gospel is the favorite of many Gentile Christians.

You can pick which gospel you want to study, but if you want to get to know Him, you are going to have to invest some time.

For those who have married, when you were getting acquainted with your spouse, did you say to him or her, “Look, I am too busy for you; we will spend time together for one or two hours a week, but that is all the time I have for you”? You recognize that if you are going to enter a human relationship like marriage, you are going to have to invest some time in somebody. Everybody knows that. If you want to know Him, you are going to have to invest some time in Him, also.

It is not going to be enough for you to simply attend church once a week for a couple of hours. The preachers in the sacred desk can preach their hearts out, but you need more time with Him than that. You need to be studying His life everyday.

I am so glad that I made the decision, before I turned 20 years of age, that I was going to study something from the life of Christ every day. It has been my practice for many years to attempt to do a detailed study of one chapter from either the gospel of Matthew or the gospel of John every single day. It used to be that I could accomplish it in less than an hour. It has recently become much more difficult, so much more difficult that sometimes it takes two days to cover a chapter. One day, not too long ago, I said, “Today I am not as busy as I sometimes am. I am just going to take the time to study a whole chapter.” I did complete the chapter, but it took most of the morning. So I do not always cover a chapter anymore, because even though I have read those chapters and quoted those chapters hundreds of times, I am finding more and more depth of meaning each time I study them.

Jesus Christ is the One that is described in the Bible as the One who is altogether lovely. (See Song of Solomon 5:16.) If you are not spending time with Him every day, you are missing one of life’s greatest pleasures. You are missing out. I invite you to begin, if you have not yet done so. Decide you are going to get to know Him; you are going to spend time studying His life every day.

Prejudice

“Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up,” that is to be crucified, “that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.” Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem for the last time. He knew that, when He arrived there, He was going to be crucified. “And sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. But they did not receive Him, because His face was [set] for the journey to Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John saw [this], they said, ‘Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?’ But He turned and rebuked them, and said, ‘You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save [them].’ And they went to another village.” Luke 9:51–56.

Jesus was on His way to the cross. He knew it; He was tired, and He was looking for a place to stay for the night. He sent messengers ahead of Him to the village to find a place for Him to stay the night. But the villagers were prejudiced.

Have you ever had to deal with somebody who is prejudiced? How do you deal with human prejudice? How do you deal with human annoyance? How do you deal with personal resentment? Rising above personal resentment and annoyance is one of the marks of a great person, and Jesus surpassed all the great men of history in this regard.

Abraham Lincoln

Perhaps some of you have heard the story of Abraham Lincoln. During the initial stages of the Civil War, things were very discouraging for the Union forces. The Secretary of War (today we call that position the Secretary of Defense) was Edwin M. Stanton. One day, Abraham Lincoln wrote a letter to Stanton and sent it by a messenger. When Stanton read this letter from Abraham Lincoln, the President of the United States, he tore it up and told the messenger that the President was a fool. He repeated it, evidently, at least twice. The messenger was so outraged he could hardly speak. Imagine talking about the President of the United States in that way when you are just an underling. You are the person who is supposed to be receiving the orders.

The messenger went back to President Lincoln so outraged he could hardly speak because of the insulting behavior of this member of the President’s cabinet. Abraham Lincoln inquired as to what had happened, and the messenger told him. He said, “He tore your letter up and said that you were a fool.” Then he waited to see what the President would say.

President Lincoln said, “Did he call me that?”

He said, “Yes,” and he repeated it.

Abraham Lincoln laughed and said, “Well then, it must be true; he is usually right.”

How do you React?

How do you react to personal resentment? How do you react to annoying comments? When people do not understand, when they are prejudiced against you and angry with you, and think you are a fool, how do you react?

The people in this Samaritan village were treating Jesus in these ways. They would not even give Him a place to stay for the night. James and John were just like Abraham Lincoln’s messenger. They knew Jesus was the Son of God. They became angry and said, “This is totally inappropriate. Do you want us to call fire down from heaven and burn these people up and get rid of them?”

Jesus said, “No, you do not know what spirit you are of.” They did not know Him yet. Do you know Him?

One of the ways that you know whether or not you know Him is the way you react. Do you react the same way Christ reacted when there is prejudice against you, when there is personal annoyance or resentment or even hatred? Someone may say things about you that are cutting; they may spread rumors about you, and talk against you, trying to destroy your influence. How do you react then?

I receive many letters from people who are angry and upset about various things. I will not give you a list of the things people are angry and upset about because I have learned that even repeating the list of things makes them more angry and more upset. People are upset about something that was said in a sermon or something that was printed in a magazine or something that was said or done by a missionary worker. We have had people write letters to Steps to Life and call on the phone about things. Maybe they saw a picture in our magazine about something that happened in Africa and have become upset as to how things were done there.

Do you know that it says in 1 Corinthians 13 that love does not become irritated? In the King James Version it uses the word provoked. That word means irritated. Love does not become irritated. How much can go wrong—with your husband or your wife or your children or your parents or somebody else where you work— before you become irritated? How you react gives you an indication of whether or not you are getting to know Him.

One of the most amazing things about Jesus’ life is that nothing ever made Him irritated. It is an amazing thing, when you see what happened to Abraham Lincoln, in that he could just laugh about it and go back to work. That is amazing. There are not very many men like that. But Jesus surpasses them all.

To be concluded . . .

Pastor Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life Ministry and pastor of the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Lessons from the Book of Amos, Part I

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For Three Times and Four

Amos was a very interesting prophet. He was simple. He was direct. He was willing to do God’s will when he was called to prophetic ministry. At the time Amos was called to ministry, the nation of Israel had been in existence for approximately 700 years. By this time in history, the nation had been up and down so many times on the scale of apostasy that it almost seemed second nature to them. Their spiritual ride had been like that of a roller coaster, which achieves great heights and then, all of a sudden, plunges down into its lowest depths.

The nation of Israel had split under the rulership of Rehoboam, Solomon’s son. The ten Northern tribes had left, falling under the leadership of Jeroboam. Nearly 200 years had passed from this split to the time of Amos.

Apostasy had deepened once again; conditions in both the Northern and the Southern kingdoms were poor. Apostasy seemed to be in the very air the children of Israel were breathing, and as far as God was concerned, it was almost as though His people had become incorrigible.

In this study, we are going to learn some things about the care that God takes over the earth. There is no question that God loves His people, but God also loves the world. Both comprise His creation. He watches the birds. The Bible tells us that not even a sparrow falls without God’s notice. Each hair on our head has been numbered. (Matthew 10:29, 30.) God takes care of His creation. Whether we are classed in Israel or classed in the world, God knows everything about us.

God is willing to go a long way for His people. This is why we are told, in John 3:16, that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son . . . .” God is willing to go the second, the third, and the fourth mile many, many times—even when we are not worthy of His doing so. We find, as we read the history of the Old Testament and the writings of the New Testament, that God was willing to do more than His children could even imagine.

Introduction to Amos

Amos 1:1 says, “The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.” Here is the introduction to the Book of Amos.

Bible names had meanings, and often, when a prophet’s name was given to him or her, it described the work that God had called the prophet to do.

The name Amos means bearer, or burden, or heavy. His given name was prophetically significant to the work that he was called to do. He was to bring a heavy message. It was weighty, and the burden of the words was weightier still.

In looking at the life of Ellen White, at times the burden of delivering some messages given to her became so heavy that she expressed a desire to die rather than deliver them. (See Selected Messages, Book 3, 36, 37.) She, however, had committed herself to be faithful and obedient to God. This perhaps gives us a little insight as to where Amos found himself—a messenger with a weighty message.

Heavy Message

Of course, that is nothing new. God has always laid heavy messages upon His messengers. Jonah, you may remember, ran away from his burden because of the weight of the words that God had given him to deliver. He took a “submarine ride,” crash-landed on the shore, and still had to deliver the message! His attempt to avoid delivering this given message from God did not change the message. (See Jonah 1, 2.)

Amos had a heavy message. It was not an easy message, but Amos did not run away from delivering it. Dealing with apostasy is never an easy matter. There is probably nothing more difficult than dealing with issues where one is unsure what the reactions will be of the individuals receiving the message.

Amos, it tells us in verse one, was a sheepherder. He lived in a small town called Tekoa, which was about 12 miles south of Jerusalem. Jerusalem was located in the Southern kingdom of Judah, but the message that Amos was given was directed, for the most part, to the Northern kingdom. Two possible reasons for this could have been that God could not have found a prophet in the Northern kingdom, or that the Bible principle that a prophet is not without honor except in his own country applied here. (See John 4:44.) God called Amos from the south and sent him to the north, hoping that somehow His children might listen to a stranger, a prophet of God who had a message for them.

At this time, Israel, that having been the ten Northern tribes where Amos had been called to minister the Word, was still intact. Israel was at its highest splendor; they had reached a peak of national prosperity. The reality of the matter was that they were rich and increased with goods and had need of nothing. (Revelation 3:17.) That is a very desperate position in which to be! The simplicity, which had characterized the national life, was completely gone. The problem is that prosperity so often brings a whole host of evil in its wake. Many have been the stories of people who have said, “You know, when I was poor and down and out, I was closer to the Lord than when I became prosperous.”

A class of nobles, in defiance of the Mosaic Law, had arisen in the nation of Israel. This class possessed large estates into which was swept the smaller holdings of the lower classes. To make matters worse, they began to oppress the masses that had sunken into a condition of poverty, and in some cases, they actually participated in slavery of their fellow brethren. They had adopted the social and political conditions of the world, and this they had incorporated into their way of life and into their thinking.

Show of Worship

While all of these terrible social conditions, oppressions, and cruelties were transpiring, there was still a show of worship taking place.

When considering the ten Northern tribes, we often perceive that, upon splitting from the other tribes, they apostatized and began to worship idols, but that was not really the case. They still kept up a position of worship in spite of their inclusion in all of the pressing things of the world. The Israelites would make their way to places of worship on Sabbath; they would bring their tithes and their offerings. The flow of social life, on the surface, was going on just as it had for centuries. The flow of their religious life was going on just as it had for centuries. It seemed that all was well on the outside, but man does not see as God sees. God sees into the heart. What God saw there was of such an alarm that it called for Him to get Amos to go north and deliver a message.

“And he said, The Lord will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither.” Amos 1:2. We need to realize that the place of residence for God was Jerusalem. It was not some city in the north such as Bethel or Dan. The house of worship was at Jerusalem. At Bethel and Dan, Jeroboam had built golden calves so that the people could worship there and not have to go to Jerusalem. (See 1 Kings 12:27–30.)

A Certain Theme

You may notice, as you read the first two chapters of Amos, that a theme is repeated over and over again. The end of this theme directs the attention toward the punishment that is to come. One of the things we need to understand is that God is very tolerant, to a point. When that point is reached, there is no more toleration.

The theme that is used in the first two chapters of Amos is not new to the writings of the Hebrews. One thing of interest, as you read through the scriptures, is that each author seemed to use a theme device to get his point across, and sometimes the theme was borrowed from another writer. Amos perhaps borrowed his theme from the Canaanites. The Canaanites used theme devices in their writings, as we may discover, going back into antiquity. The theme device that Amos used was a popular way of describing the level of tolerance that would be reached. The saying that the Canaanites used, and it seemed to be almost a universal saying, was “for two transgressions and for three.”

Amos takes this same theme and stretches it a little bit. He tries to describe that God has given them every chance, every opportunity He possibly can for them to repent and come back to Him. So the theme of Amos is showing the longsuffering nature of God. But even with God, the limit can be reached. The prophet wanted us to understand that we cannot go on sinning and sinning without expecting to have some measure of punishment meted out to us, so he said, “for three transgressions and four.” (Amos 1:3.) This is the way God is trying to say, “I want to save you for the kingdom.”

In Amos 1 and 2, six nations are mentioned, and God had tried to work with each of them at some point in time. He had tried to save them for His kingdom. One thing we can see in all of this is that God will only allow things to go so far, and then the line is drawn. God cannot be pushed and pushed and pushed to extend the time of probation. He draws a line and says, “If the line is crossed, it is all over.”

Damascus

What was it that filled up the cup of Damascus, the first nation that is listed? (See Revelation 18:5, 6.) They had been very cruel to God’s people. In one translation of Amos 1:3, it says that this judgment came upon Damascus because they sawed, with iron saws, women with child. You would think that this kind of crime would call for immediate retribution of some kind, but it took nearly 100 years for this crime to catch up with them. Here we are told that this is the reason their cup was full. God said, “Okay, it is all over.”

In 11 Kings 8:7–12, this event is also mentioned. If you read this passage, you will find that what they did to God’s people was the very punishment that would at some future time come back upon them. It became a fulfillment of the old adage—and we use that same adage today—that says, “What goes around comes around.” God had a way of using that same adage in Old Testament times. He warned that if this is what you have done to His people, mark it down, for it will come back around, and it will happen to you.

If you think there are times you are getting away with something and that God does not notice, you need to think twice. It may not come back upon you right away, but if you continue to persist in that sin, God will use that very sin to punish you, in an effort to encourage you to change your ways.

Psalm 19:9 says, “The judgments of the Lord [are] true [and] righteous altogether.”

Broken Bars

The prophecy in the first chapter of Amos predicted that the bar of Damascus would be broken. (Amos 1:5.) This means that the great bars placed across the city gates to protect the people from their enemies would be broken. The gates would be opened, exposing them to the ravaging nations around them, and the horrendous acts that were committed against God’s people would be repaid by removing all the defenses and allowing the cruelty of their heathen neighbors to seek them out.

It is interesting to consider the simple things God used for correction. All that was needed was for God to snap the bars of the gates, and their punishment could take place. An army did not need to be sent in; He needed only to open the gates and expose the city to the elements.

The foundation of morality is in knowing the true God of heaven. Remove that and the vacuum is filled with hatred. That is a principle of scripture. While the love of God is in place, God provides protection, but when hatred fills the vacuum where love has been, there is no good that can come. It only leaves the animal nature of man to run its course, and the animal nature is very selfish; it is very vicious. It does not regard any life other than its own.

Invariably, the evil things that we hear about daily in the news take place because there is a vacuum—the love of God has been expelled, and the vacuum has been filled with hate. For the least provocation, killing and other atrocities take place. The Lord says there will be a repaying that will come to pass, and it will be kind for kind.

Gaza and Tyre

Gaza was in Philistia, and the Philistines were a perpetual enemy of God’s people. Gaza is mentioned in Amos 1:6–8 as a representative of the nation of Philistia, but their chief cities are also mentioned. It could be that the sin for which Gaza was guilty became the sin of the other cities at a later date, which is why they were included here.

What was Gaza’s sin? The specific crime cited was the capture, enslavement, and sale of some of the people of Israel. Such action could have easily taken place along a border area. Raiders from Gaza could run over the border, capture some Israelites, and sell them—men, women, and children—as slaves. Sometimes they would take whole families.

The Law of Moses required the death penalty for this kind of crime. Kidnapping involving the selling into slavery was recognized as an international cruelty. No matter how often it was practiced in Bible times, it was still a very grievous wrong to steal families or members of families and sell them into a life of slavery. These slaves who were sold to foreigners were still human beings, created in God’s image.

It is unforgivable to use and abuse people for the profit of the mighty or the wealthy. This is why their crime loomed so great in the minds of Joseph’s brothers; it plagued them for many years. They knew their actions had been wrong. Even though the Law of Moses had not yet been given, those laws had been indelibly written in their minds as to how God required people to be treated. So when they took Joseph and sold him into slavery, they knew it was a grievous wrong, not only against their brother, but also against God, and their action haunted them. It would have been a lesser crime, in their minds, to have left him in the pit to die rather than to have sold him as a slave to be used and abused. (See Genesis 37:23–36; Patriarchs and Prophets, 212, 239.)

Amos 1:7 says, “I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof”—the places where luxury and sin abounded. This is where many times God strikes first in His judgment, because those who have reached these positions are usually the worst abusers.

The next nation was Tyre (verses 9, 10), which apparently was guilty of the same sin as Gaza and would suffer the same fate.

Edom

Here is a lesson that God would have us all learn, and learn well. We may not be related by blood the way Israel and Edom were, but nevertheless, we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, and the bond is, or should be, closer than blood relatives. Edom was involved in the slave-trading process along with all the other nations that were mentioned.

Edom received slaves and merchandised them as if they were animals, but they were blood rela-tives, and that is what made their actions even more grievous in God’s eyes. The relationship of a brother belongs in the realm of loving our neighbors as ourselves. (See Leviticus 19:18.) If this brotherhood is breached and if the great law of love is not protected, this then makes us accountable to God. It is bad enough to hate an enemy; it is worse to hate a friend, but it is worse still to hate a brother. It is a sin against nature.

The Bible says that no man hated his own flesh (Ephesians 5:29), yet because of the depth of sin into which Edom had fallen, the vacuum left from their lack of love was turned into hatred. This hatred caused them to receive as merchandise that human commodity that would be treated with the cruelty and abuse to which no human being should be subjected, especially a brother.

This is why, regardless of where we may find ourselves in our station of life, the brotherhood should be protected above all else. If we are protecting that level of brotherhood, we are fulfilling the second table of God’s Law, and He will honor us for that.

Amos said that Edom pursued with a sword. (Amos 1:11.) They were murderous in their pursuit and cast off all pity. This is what we are going to face in the last days. Think about this for a moment. But for the interposition of God on our part, during the time of trouble of the last days, there will be no one to have any pity of any kind on us. All natural feelings of humanity will go out the window.

This was apparently the condition in the days of Amos. This is why we can learn invaluable lessons as we study the scriptures and why I have always maintained, and will maintain until I am shown differently, that every book of the Bible is a book of last-day events. In every book we can find instruction concerning how we are to relate to issues in the last days. In Amos, we find some very clear instruction regarding these things and the events concerning our future involvement with people who are standing in the breach.

Ammon and Moab

The next ones to feel the thunderbolts hurled down in denunciation were Ammon and Moab. As we work our way through the nations, beholding woe after woe, it seems nothing can get any worse, and yet it does.

Ammon and Moab were children of unnatural and shameful sin. In Genesis 19:30–38, the story is told of how the mothers of these two children, wanting to be like the world and not wanting to stand out as being different, got their father, Lot, drunk, lay with him, and became pregnant. They gave birth to Ammon and to Moab. But as you look at this story, you will see that the main reason for this sin, which became a thorn in the flesh of Israel for centuries, was that they wanted to be like the world. They did not want the experience of being different. Their children, conceived in drunkenness and lewdness, set the stage for the rest of their lives, and we are able to trace the results of this sin down through the ages. We find also, as we begin to trace this family tree, that the sensuousness was passed on to the many generations that followed. It was strengthened, and it was confirmed. It was not faithfully dealt with, so it was perpetuated. According to the Bible, many of the Ammonite women became members of King Solomon’s harem. (See 1 Kings 11:1.) You see what God had to deal with!

There are two kinds of sin: inherited sin and cultivated sin. Our forefathers’ besetting sins are likely to be passed on to us. Now, I am not saying that sins are passed on from father to son. There are, however, inherited characteristics which, at times, seem overpowering to us and which we have great difficulty overcoming. These are most likely the sins that have been passed on to us from our forefathers. The scriptures we have been studying tell us that we need to struggle against such characteristics, with the help of the Holy Spirit, or they are likely to manifest themselves in our children who follow after us.

Ruth, the Moabitess, is a testimony that an inherited sin can be successfully dealt with. She responded to and was trained in a godly, Hebrew family. She allowed the Spirit of God to enter in and to work in her life. As a result, she became an ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ. (See Ruth 1:1–4:17.) This gives us a testimony of the power of overcoming sin.

Judah and Israel

As Amos finishes showering the nations around Israel with woes and judgments, he turns to God’s people, and using the pattern that he had already established, he starts in on them. He uses his theme device—“for three transgressions and for four”—this is the judgment that is going to come. When he finally comes to Judah and to Israel, it is almost as if he screams out, “Are you listening to me? Sit up and take notice, because for three transgressions and for four, you are going to feel the stroke of God.” He wanted to get their attention, because they were next on God’s list.

Here is the real reason for this testimony to the church. Because the Israelites had rejected far greater spiritual light than had the nations around them, they were under far greater condemnation. This is why Amos’ message became so hard, so heavy, and so weighty. It is much easier to condemn someone you do not know than to have to deal with an issue with someone that you do know.

But even though it came closer to home for Amos—to Judah and to Israel—the punishment was just as severe, because “to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth [it] not, to him it is sin.” James 4:17. God was going to deal with those people in a different way.

Judah had come under this condemnation because they had violated the Law of God and had refused to keep His commandments. They had knowledge of God, and because of that, their condemnation would be greater. But through it all, God said, “I want you to change.” He wanted them to see Him for who He really was. If they had only been willing to see God for who He really was, a love relationship would have developed, and they would have changed. But they had violated the covenant to such an extent that punishment was inevitable.

Amos 2:9–11 says, “Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height [was] like the height of the cedars, and he [was] strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. [Is it] not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the Lord.” God is asking, “Is not this the way that I treated you? Did not I treat you right? I want you to respond.” They were going to pay a price for their unfaithfulness. God was telling them that they would be sorry they had not remained faithful.

A Lesson for Us

This again is a lesson for those of us who are going to go through the last days. Only the faithful will make it through the last days, but God is not willing that any should perish. (11 Peter 3:9.) However, God cannot stand by and witness multiplied injustices taking place to the detriment of His work. He will not just stand by and watch that happen.

When people consider what is going on in the remnant church, there is a tendency to feel that God does not care or that He has abandoned His people. But all that is needed is to read the accounting process we see revealed in Amos 1 and 2, and we begin to see that God is still very much interested and still very active. Sometimes it takes a long time for the cup to become full. None of us know how fast our cup is filling, or when it is going to fill. It fills differently for different people. But when the cup is full, mark it down; the Lord is going to roar out of Jerusalem.

The lesson we find portrayed in the first two chapters of Amos is that in these last days, it is only going to be the faithful who are going to make it through. We can be among the faithful. We can allow our cups to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

God cares, and He is working. His will is going to be done in all areas. He is preparing a people who are going to come through the trials of the last days without spot, without wrinkle, or without any such thing. (Ephesians 5:27.)

In all areas of scripture, the lesson is basically the same: turn from your sins and be saved all you people of the Lord. (See 11 Chronicles 7:14.) This is what He wants more than anything else, and that is how He wants us to be found—pure and clean and ready to meet Jesus when He comes.

To be continued . . .

Pastor Mike Baugher is Associate Speaker for Steps to Life Ministry. He may be contacted by e-mail at: mikebaugher@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Lessons From Josiah’s Reign

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[Editor’s Note: In “Preparing for the Latter Rain, Part 11” by Maurice Hoppe (November 2003 LandMarks), some Ellen G. White statements were given pertaining to the rejection by the leaders and ministers of the counsel given in the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. The message delivered by Mrs. White at the 1903 General Conference session contains counsel and warnings that are applicable to God’s people today. We trust that it will be a blessing to each reader.]

Night before last, the experiences and the work of Josiah, the king of Israel, as recorded in the thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth chapters of 11 Chronicles, and the twenty-second and twenty-third chapters of 11 Kings, were presented to me as a lesson that I should bring to the attention of this Conference [1903 General Conference session].

“Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. . . . And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan, . . . the scribe, to the house of the Lord, saying. Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people; and let them deliver it into the hand of the doers of the work which is in the house of the Lord, to repair the breaches of the house, unto carpenters, and builders, and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house. Howbeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, because they dealt faithfully.” [11 Kings 22:1–7.]

This record contains precious instruction for us. Born of a wicked father, surrounded with temptations to follow in his father’s steps, with few counselors to encourage him in the right way, Josiah was true to the God of Israel. He did not repeat his father’s sin in walking in the way of unrighteousness. Although he had not the advantages of the Christian parental influences that many of us have had, he determined to climb upward, instead of descending to the low level of sin and degradation to which his father and grandfather had descended. Warned by their errors, he chose to walk in the right way, and, though surrounded by wickedness, he pressed in the upward path. His course of obedience made it possible for God to graft him from a wild olive tree to a good olive tree, giving him grace to do that which was right in the Lord’s sight. Thus he became a chosen vessel.

Josiah “turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.” [11 Kings 22:2.] As one who was to occupy a position of trust, he resolved ever to honor God, to obey the instruction that He had given. The only safety for every one in attendance at this Conference, is to determine that he will walk uprightly before God.

In the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, God chose him to superintend the repairing of the temple. It was as this work was being done that the book of the law was found. Through some mismanagement it had been lost, and the people had been deprived of its instruction. Brethren, have any of you lost the book of the law? Have not many of us lost sight of the precepts that are in the holy Book?

Upon finding this book, “Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan, the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. . . . And Shaphan the scribe showed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes.” [11 Kings 22:8–11.]

The reading of the book of the law, so long forgotten, made a deep impression upon the king’s mind. He realized that something must be done to bring this law to the attention of the people, and to lead them to conform their lives to its teachings. By his own course of action, he designed to show his respect for the law. He humbled himself before God, rending his clothes.

In his position as king, it was the work of Josiah to carry out in the Jewish nation the principles taught in the book of the law. This he endeavored to do faithfully. In the book of the law itself he found a treasure of knowledge, a powerful ally in the work of reform. He did not lay this book aside as something too precious to be handled. Realizing that the highest honor that could be placed on God’s law was to become a student of its precepts, he diligently studied the ancient writing, and resolved to walk in the light it shed upon his pathway.

When the law was first read to him, Josiah had rent his clothes to signify to the people that he was much troubled because he had not known of this book before, and that he was ashamed and painfully distressed because of the works and ways of the people, who had transgressed God’s law. As he had in the past seen the idolatry and the impiety existing among them, he had been much troubled. Now as he read in the book of the law of the punishment that would surely follow such practises, great sorrow filled his heart. Never before had he so fully realized God’s abhorrence for sin.

Josiah’s sorrow did not end with the expression of words of repentance, or with outward demonstrations of grief. He bowed his heart in great humiliation before God, because he knew the anger of the Lord must be kindled against the people. He rent his heart, as well as his garments, for the dishonor shown to the Lord God of heaven and earth. He realized what the outcome must be; that God’s displeasure would come upon His people.

An Investigation Instituted

The king did not pass the matter by as of little consequence. To the priests and the other men in holy office he gave the command, “Go ye, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not harkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that is written concerning us.” [11 Kings 22:13.]

Josiah did not say, “I knew nothing about this book. These are ancient precepts, and times have changed.” He appointed men to investigate the matter, and these men went to Huldah, the prophetess. [11 Kings 22:15–20 quoted.]

In Josiah’s day the Word of the Lord was as binding, and should have been as strictly enforced, as at the time it was spoken. And today it is as binding as it was then. God is always true to His Word. What should we do, we who have had great light? The law has been kept constantly before us. Time and again we have heard it preached. The Lord’s anger is kindled against His people because of their disregard of His Word. Conviction of soul should send us in penitence to the foot of the cross, there to pray with the whole heart, saying, “What shall we do to be saved? Wherewithal shall we come before the Lord?” My brethren, inquire quickly, before it is too late.

Josiah sent as messengers to the prophetess, the highest and most honored of the people. He sent the first men of his kingdom,—men who occupied high positions of trust in the nation. Thus he conferred honor upon the oracles of God.

Apostasy must be Punished

God sent Josiah the word that Jerusalem’s ruin could not be averted. Even if the people should humble themselves before God, they could not escape their punishment. So long had their senses been deadened by sinning against God, that if the judgments had not come upon them, they would soon have swung back into the same sinful course. But because the king humbled his heart before God, he received from Huldah the prophetess the word that the Lord would acknowledge his quickness in seeking God for forgiveness and mercy. Still, the king must leave with God the events of the future; for he could not change them. The provocation had been too great for the punishment to be averted.

The king, on his part, left undone nothing that might bring about a reformation. With the hope that something might be done to turn aside the judgment that was to be sent because of the leaven of evil permeating the principles and morals of the whole nation, he summoned a general assembly of the elders of the people, the magistrates, the representatives of Judah and Jerusalem, to meet him in the house of the Lord, with the priests and the prophets, and others engaged in various parts of the Lord’s service. All joined in the deliberations of the assembly. In the place of making a speech to the people, Josiah ordered that the book of the law be read to them. So earnest did he feel that he himself read the law aloud. He was deeply affected, and he read with the pathos of a broken heart. His hearers were greatly affected by the intensity of feeling expressed in his countenance. They were impressed by the fact that the king, notwithstanding his high official position, cast himself wholly on the Lord, trusting in the strength and wisdom of the King of kings, rather than in his human wisdom.

If those occupying positions of responsibility were as fully resolved to obey God’s law as they are to make laws for governing those in their service, our institutions would be managed along right lines. Those who occupy positions of trust are to make it their highest aim to know God, as revealed in His Word; for to know Him aright is life eternal.

Josiah proposed that those highest in authority unite in solemnly covenanting before the Lord to cooperate with one another in bringing about a reformation. “The king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all their heart and all their soul, which affirmed the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant. And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal and for the grove and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them without Jerusalem, in the fields of Kedron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.” [11 Kings 23:3, 4.]

Like unto Josiah “was there no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him. Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of His great wrath, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked Him withal.” [11 Kings 23:25, 26.] It was not long before Jerusalem was utterly destroyed.

Lessons for Us to Learn

Today God is watching His people. We should seek to find out what He means when He sweeps away our sanitarium and our publishing house. Let us not move along as if there were nothing wrong. King Josiah rent his robe and rent his heart. He wept and mourned because he had not had the book of the law, and knew not of the punishments that it threatened. God wants us to come to our senses. He wants us to seek for the meaning of the calamities that have overtaken us, that we may not tread in the footsteps of Israel, and say, “The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord are we,” when we are not this at all. [Jeremiah 7:4] When we reach the mark of our high calling in Christ, the protecting arm of God will be with us. We shall have a covert from the storm.

We have many lessons to learn. May God help us to learn them. Let us ask ourselves, Am I keeping the law of the Lord? Do I bring its principles into my home? Do I reverence God’s Word?

I felt so thankful when the college in Battle Creek was moved from there to Berrien Springs [Michigan]. This was a right move. If there had been a further carrying out of the principles that God has laid down,—the instruction that He has given to make centers in many places,—His salvation would have been revealed. A wrong policy has been followed in centering so much in Battle Creek [Michigan]. The Lord has told us that His work is to be established all over America. In every city a memorial for Him is to be established. Are we ready for this work? “Lo,” said Christ, “I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” “Go ye therefore and teach all nations, speaking the things I have commanded you.” [Matthew 28:20, 19.] We are to proclaim to all the world the truths by which every one is to be judged. When this gospel of the kingdom shall have been preached to every nation and kindred and tongue and people, the Saviour will come.

A Reformation Needed

In every institution among us there needs to be a reformation. This is the message that at the last General Conference [1901] I bore as the word of the Lord. At that meeting I carried a very heavy burden, and I have carried it ever since. We did not gain the victory that we might have gained at that meeting. Why?—Because there were so few who followed the course of Josiah. There were those at that meeting who did not see the work that needed to be done. If they had confessed their sins, if they had made a break, if they had taken their stand on vantage ground, the power of God would have gone through the meeting, and we should have had a Pentecostal season.

The Lord has shown me what might have been had the work been done that ought to have been done. In the night season I was present in a meeting where brother was confessing to brother. Those present fell upon one another’s necks, and made heart-broken confessions. The Spirit and power of God were revealed. No one seemed too proud to bow before God in humility and contrition. Those who led in this work were the ones who had not before had the courage to confess their sins.

This might have been. All this the Lord was waiting to do for His people. All heaven was waiting to be gracious.

God is in earnest with us. If the heart is pure, there will be purity of action and nobility of purpose in all the work done. Every mind is to be cleansed, every heart purified. All are to understand that sin is not to be tolerated by the people who have received the most precious light ever given to mortals. Only a little while, and He who shall come will come, and will not tarry. Those who choose to cleave to their sins must perish. But God will have compassion on all who will make thorough work for eternity.

I wish to say that the work that is to be carried on by our people is becoming less and less appreciated by many—not by all. Many of us do not realize the covenant relation in which we stand before God as His people. We are under the most solemn obligations to represent God and Christ. We are to guard against dishonoring God by professing to be His people, and then going directly contrary to His will. We are getting ready to move. Then let us act as if we were. Let us prepare for the mansions that Christ has gone to prepare for those that love Him. Let us stand where we can take hold of eternal realities, and bring them into the every-day life. We are to sit at the feet of Jesus and learn of Him.

A Great Work to be Done

The Lord has a great work to be done. If this meeting is a success, the laborers will go from it to open up the work in new places. The salvation of God will be revealed. I am thankful that during the past year something has been done in Southern California. I praise God for what has been accomplished there. It is hard work to press the battle to the gates, but this must be done. God calls upon every one of us to take hold in earnest.

Here is the medical missionary work,—a wonderful work. God gave us this work thirty-five years ago, and it has been a great blessing. It is to be to the third angel’s message as the right hand is to the body. The gospel and the medical missionary work are one. They can not be divided. They are to be bound together. Medical missionary workers should be encouraged and sustained. And let them remember that they are working for the Master. Unless they do this, they can not exert a strong influence for good in the world. And they must ever keep clear and distinct the line of demarcation between worldlings and those who are carrying the gospel of the kingdom to the world.

In the place of erecting large sanitariums, we should establish smaller sanitariums in many places. A few patients in a small institution can be helped and educated to much greater advantage than a large number gathered together in a large institution. God help us to let the light shine forth. It must shine forth, and God will make us channels of light, if we will let Him.

The Southern field needs our help. I have carried this field on my heart for many years. I have tried to make known its needs, and yet it has scarcely been touched. God has given me encouragement for the workers there, and I have followed them step by step in their work. There are those who say that mistakes have been made by the workers in the Southern field. Do you ever make mistakes? My husband and I used to grieve when we made mistakes. But often we found that in His providence God had permitted us to do as we had done, that we might understand what He wanted us to understand.

God does not cast us off because we make mistakes. Of Ephraim He says: “I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms. . . . I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love.” [Hosea 11:3, 4.]

The Spirit of Criticism to be Banished

My brethren, if you stand before God as true Christians, you will do in the year before us a work different from that which has been done in years past. Your wicked criticism is a sin in the sight of God. By it you are weakening the hands of God’s servants. This criticism is as a root of bitterness, whereby many are defiled. Let us come to the Lord in penitence, and ask Him to forgive us for not keeping His law, for not obeying the command to love one another as Christ has loved us. He says to us, “You have left your first love, and, unless you repent, I will remove your candlestick out of his place.” “Be watchful,” He pleads, “and strengthen the things that remain, that are ready to die; for I have not found thy works perfect before God.” [Revelation 2:4, 5; 3:2.]

Speech is a precious talent. It is the means by which we communicate with one another. The man who, though professing to be a Christian, allows himself to speak angrily because his will is crossed, needs to go apart and rest awhile. Let him go to God, and tell Him that he is sorry for what he said, and that he is ashamed of himself. Let him not try to vindicate himself.

Those who criticize and condemn one another are breaking God’s commandments, and are an offense to Him. They neither love God nor their fellow-beings. Brethren and sisters, let us clear away the rubbish of criticism and suspicion and complaint, and do not wear your nerves on the outside. Some are so sensitive that they can not be reasoned with. Be very sensitive in regard to what it means to keep the law of God, and in regard to whether you are keeping or breaking the law. It is this that God wants us to be sensitive about.

If it were not for the burdens that rest so heavily on my soul, I could do tenfold more than I do. But night after night I am unable to sleep, because so many of the people of God act like quarrelsome children. My brother, my sister, when trouble arises between you and another member of God’s family, do you follow the Bible directions? Before presenting to God your offering of prayer, do you go to your brother, and in the spirit of Christ talk with him. Christ says, “If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” [Matthew 5:23, 24.] Then you can offer it with a clear conscience; for you have cast out the root of bitterness.

There is much to be done at this meeting. But I do not feel depressed by the outlook. At times I do feel depressed, but I struggle against the feeling. I know that God wants His joy to be in us, that our joy may be full. He has a heaven full of blessings, and these blessings He will give to us, if we will take them. Our Father has an abundant treasure, but you do not want it. If you did, you would have it. You let so many things come between you and God! Your individuality is spotted and stained. It needs to be cleansed by the blood of the Lamb.

The judgment is right upon us. We can not afford to spend our time quarreling over little things. There is a great work before us. My brethren, we must wake up to the issues which face us, and that before this meeting closes. Heart must be cemented to heart. Pray for this; labor for it. Do not, I beg of you, allow differences to come in. May God help you to gather up the divine rays of light, and flash them across the pathway of others. May He help you to love one another as Christ has loved you. “By this,” He says, “shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.” [John 13:35.]

There is power with Christ to heal; there is power with Him to save to the uttermost all who come to Him. But we must be willing to be saved. We must put aside all self-sufficiency. We must be in spirit as little children, or we shall never see the kingdom of heaven. Our measurement of ourselves is too large. We are but little children. We have not attained to the full stature of men and women in Christ. There is much matured intelligence for us yet to gain.

We must overcome the pride that leads us to prefer to work by ourselves, rather than with a fellow-laborer, lest he rob us of glory. God wants us to press close together, that we may help one another. In Australia a minister was asked by a brother minister to leave the pulpit. “I want the people to see no one but me,” he said. And they did indeed see no one but him.

God calls for volunteers who will say, “I will do the very best I can.” God pities us as He sees the wickedness all around us. But He declares that we are not to be wicked. Though we are in the world, we are not to be of the world. The Lord desires His institutions to stand as educational powers in the world. Everything connected with them is to bear the seal of God. Every worker is to be sanctified, body, soul, and spirit. No coarse, rough words are to be spoken; no action that shows a grasping spirit is to be performed. In thought and word and act the workers are to represent Christ.

The Advent Message to be Given

Those who stand as teachers and leaders in our institutions are to be sound in the faith and in the principles of the third angel’s message. God wants His people to know that we have the message as He gave it to us in 1843 and 1844. We knew then what the message meant, and we call upon our people today to obey the word, “Bind up the law among My disciples.” [Isaiah 8:16.] In this world there are but two classes,—the obedient and the disobedient. To which class do we belong? God wants to make us a peculiar people, a holy nation. He has separated us from the world, and He calls upon us to stand on vantage ground, where He can bestow on us His Holy Spirit.

Soon will come the time of which John writes: “I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them; and they were judged every man according to their works.” [Revelation 20:11, 12.]

How prone we are to look to human beings for help, to listen to their opinions, to rely upon them for sympathy, succor, and counsel! When in trouble, we should shut ourselves up with God. How many there are who realize no refreshing because they have forsaken the living waters, and have hewn out for themselves broken cisterns, which can hold no water! When men do this, what can we expect but barrenness of soul?

“Thus saith the Lord: Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land, and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.” [Jeremiah 17:5–8.] Let us rely on God. He never fails a trusting soul.

From the moment of our conversion till the close of our earthly history, our lives are to be characterized by a spirit of true, intelligent service. Only thus can we be true to our covenant with God. He who is daily converted has crossed the boundary line that separates the children of light from the children of darkness. But he who professes to believe the truth, and acts as a sinner, will be treated by God as a sinner, and, unless he repents, will be punished as a sinner, only with many stripes, because he was given great light.

The General Conference Bulletin, April 1, 1903.

Ellen G. White (1827–1915) wrote more than 5,000 periodical articles and 40 books during her lifetime. Today, including compilations from her 50,000 pages of manuscript, more than 100 titles are available in English. She is the most translated woman writer in the entire history of literature, and the most translated American author of either gender. Seventh-day Adventists believe that Mrs. White was appointed by God as a special messenger to draw the world’s attention to the Holy Scriptures and help prepare people for Christ’s second advent.

The Man Nobody Knew, Part II

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When we look at the trial of Jesus, we see that He was contending with supernatural forces, with demons. These demons were in control of the minds of the men that were all around Him. The demons had induced these men to do the most insulting things imaginable to Him. One of the things mentioned in the Bible is that they spit in His face. (Matthew 26:67.) “Jesus stood meek and humble before the infuriated multitude, while they offered Him the vilest abuse. They spit in His face—that face from which they will one day desire to hide.” Early Writings, 170.

They tempted Him to lose patience, to become irritated, but He was too big for that. I want to tell you, friend, if you and I get to know Him, we will be too big for that, too.

People become upset over such insignificant things. People get upset when they think they have not been treated with enough deference and respect. Have you ever seen that happen? Composers of country music often depict this theme in the music they write. You have perhaps heard one of these songs on the radio. It is what they call the “Somebody Done Somebody Wrong” song. But when you read the story of Jesus from beginning to end, you find that He was always calm and self-possessed. He was bigger than all of that. Are you bigger than that? You will be, if you get to know Him.

Personal Magnetism

Let us look at one other aspect of Jesus’ life and ask ourselves, “Do I know Him?” This is an exciting and fascinating subject to study. Jesus was a person who had personal magnetism. You know what I am talking about. People were powerfully attracted to Him, because He had a love in His heart for people. You see, Jesus loved every human being. He loved the worst sinners—the lepers, the people who were outcasts from society, the adulterers, and the tax collectors. There are numerous stories in the gospel in reference to these people, the scum of society. Jesus showed them love.

No matter what mistakes you have made, no matter how many sins you have committed, He still loves you. Because He loves human beings so much, He has a personal magnetism beyond compare. If you and I get to know Him, we will have a personal magnetism, too, and as a result, people with whom we associate will want the religion we have. If people do not want the religion we have, there is something the matter with our religion. Something is wrong with our religion, because we do not really know Him.

Let us look at an example, which illustrates the personal magnetism Jesus possessed that was a result of the love He had for every human being. He passed by no human being as worthless. Matthew knew about this magnetism, and he recorded his own personal experience with Jesus in the gospel he wrote. Matthew 9:9 says, “Then as Jesus passed on from there [Caper-naum], He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, ‘Follow Me.’ And he arose and followed Him.” The more you study this verse, the more you will understand from it. It does not say that Jesus stopped; He was passing by. He was walking by the tax booth, and as He walked by, He gave the invitation, “Follow Me,” and Matthew got up and followed Him.

We cannot study this text without the realization that Jesus had personal magnetism; He had drawing power. Matthew was a man who had a lucrative job, but as Jesus passed him, he felt drawn to Him and did not hesitate to follow Him. If you need a leader in your life who will give you personal magnetism and make you an attractive human being, Jesus is the One you need.

Man of Authority

A similar example to Matthew’s experience is given in Matthew 8. In verses 5 to 13, the story is told of a person who understood this principle of magnetism. A centurion came to Jesus because his servant was “paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.” Jesus said that He would come and heal the servant, but the centurion replied, “No, Lord, you do not need to come.” The centurion recognized that Jesus had authority, and he said, “You do not need to come down to my house because I am a man under authority. And I say to this person, ‘Go here,’ and they do it, and to that person, ‘Go there,’ and they do it; and I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.’ ” This centurion realized that Jesus had much more authority than he had. He said, “You do not need to come down to my house. All you need to do is speak, and if you will speak the word, my servant will be healed.”

This man had never before met Jesus. If you read the story as recorded in Luke 7:1–17, you will see there that some of the Jews came to Jesus and pleaded, “Oh, Lord, please help us. Please help this man, be-cause he has been good to us. He has given us a lot of money for the church.” But when the man actually came into Jesus’ presence, he recognized immediately in Whose presence he was. The centurion told Jesus, “You do not need to come down to my house. Even though you volunteered to, you do not need to . . . . All you need to do is speak the word and it will happen.” This man understood that authority is dependent on faith. He also understood that faith is dependent on authority. Now you think that through. Authority is dependent on faith, and faith is dependent on authority. This man knew that he needed to express faith.

“When Jesus heard [it], He marveled, and said to those who followed, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ Then Jesus said to the centurion, ‘Go your way; and as you have believed, [so] let it be done for you.’ And his servant was healed that same hour.” Matthew 8:10–13.

Authority Depends on Faith

Authority depends on faith, and faith depends on authority. The Greek word for authority is exousia. At times, the King James Bible translates it power, but the most literal translation is authority. How much authority does Jesus have? How much power does He have? Well, friend, that is a question that I cannot answer. The way He described it to His disciples was, “Everything in heaven and earth is mine. I have all authority. I have all power.” (Matthew 28:18.)

We do not know Him, and that is why, friend, we experience so little of the power of God in our lives. We do not have faith in His authority and power. If we knew Him, we would know He has the authority and power to do everything; when He speaks, it happens.

Jesus demonstrated this over and over again when He was here. All it took was a word, a look, a touch, because He had authority; He had power. He had magnetic power to draw people to Himself.

Just before He was crucified, He said to the people, “If I be lifted up, I will draw all men to myself.” John 12:32. Do you know Him? If you know Him, you will have faith and confidence in Him, because you will know that He has all authority and all power.

Learn Dependence

There are people—friends in our own church family and in other places—who have been going through some terrible, terrible trials for which there is no human cure. Sometimes people wonder, “If you are serving an omnipotent God who has all power, why do you get into this kind of trouble?” This I cannot fully answer, but I will tell you one of the reasons. One of the reasons we find ourselves in such terrible troubles is so we will learn how incapable we are to know what is best for our lives, and we will realize that we need help from a higher power. God allows us to get into trouble where there is no human solution.

“The apostle Paul says, ‘When I am weak, then am I strong.’ 11 Corinthians 12:10. When we have a realization of our weakness, we learn to depend upon a power not inherent.” The Desire of Ages, 493. “Christ is our only hope. We may look to Him, for He is our Saviour. We may take Him at His word, and make Him our dependence. He knows just the help we need, and we can safely put our trust in Him. If we depend on merely human wisdom to guide us, we shall find ourselves on the losing side. But we may come direct to the Lord Jesus.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 486.

Pastors come into contact with such issues in the lives of those to whom they minister—there is no physician who can help a certain problem; there is no financial counselor who can help—then you need the Lord. Jesus has drawing power, and He has all authority to exercise it in your behalf. He has all authority. He has all power.

“The eternal Father is waiting for us to take our eyes off finite man, and place our dependence on him. Then look not to man for your light and strength. Put not your trust in the arm of flesh. All your love and praise and exaltation are to be given to him who loved you and gave himself for you. Strive to be one with Christ as he was one with the Father; but in no case exalt man, not even the ablest speaker that ever lived. Lift up Jesus. Talk of him, extol his name, and by so doing your own hearts will be warmed and encouraged and strengthened. As the believer studies the word and beholds Christ, he will become more and more like Christ. Searching the Scriptures, he will learn of Christ, whom to know aright is life eternal.” Review and Herald, October 16, 1900.

As You Have Believed

Maybe you are not receiving much of Jesus’ power and authority. Did you notice what Jesus said to the centurion? “According as you have believed . . . .” Matthew 8:13. You see, if we do not know Him, if we do not have confidence in Him, or if we do not have faith in Him, He cannot do much for us. That is something Jesus taught over and over again. When the blind people came to Him, Jesus would say, “Do you believe I can restore your sight?” They would respond, “Yes,” and He would say, “Well, according to your belief, let it be.” If they believed, what happened? They received sight. What if they did not believe?

An example of such unbelief is given in the Bible in Matthew 13:53–58. It is an experience that Jesus had in His hometown of Nazareth. “They were offended at him. But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honour, except in his own country and in his own house.’ And he did not do many works there because of their unbelief.” Verses 57, 58. How terrible! There were sick people in that town and people who needed help of all kinds, which they could have had, had they only believed.

“Some doubted. So it will always be. There are those who find it hard to exercise faith, and they place themselves on the doubting side. These lose much because of their unbelief.” The Desire of Ages, 819.

Oh, friend, think it through in your own mind. Is that your situation? Do you realize there is Someone who is all-powerful that wants to help you? He is attractive; He has personal magnetism; He has drawing power; but He cannot do much for you if you will not believe. That is one of the things that Jesus taught over and over again—I cannot do very much for you unless you will put your faith and trust in Me.

“Have you an unwavering trust in God? Lacking self-confidence, do you put your faith in him, rejoicing that you are privileged to be his child, even to suffer for his dear sake? Rejoicing in Christ as your Saviour, pitiful, compassionate, and touched with the feeling of your infirmities, love and joy will be revealed in your daily life. If you love Him who died to redeem mankind, you will love those for whom he died. A restful peace and happiness will fill your heart to overflowing when you believe that Jesus carries you and all your burdens.” Review and Herald, November 16, 1886.

Master of all Situations

I want you to ask yourself again, “Do I know Him? Am I going to become better acquainted with Him?” Jesus was the Master of every situation. Did you know that if you choose to put your trust in Him, you will never become the victim of circumstances? This is because He is still the Master of every situation.

In Matthew 8, we read that Jesus had been preaching and teaching all day. In verses 23 to 27, we see that He was very tired, and when He got into a boat, He went to sleep. While He was asleep, the devil tried to drown everyone in the boat. Great tempests came up on the sea. (The Bible is very clear that the devil is the prince of the power of the air. [See Ephesians 2:2.] He can stir up tempests, tornadoes, and a multitude of other things. It would be good to remember this the next time a tornado is called an “act of God.” That is a lie.) At about one or two o’clock in the morning, the boat was about to sink, and Jesus was asleep. What were the disciples to do?

Maybe you have not had such an experience; my wife and I have had this experience a number of times. What do you do when the phone rings at two o’clock in the morning? Are you ready to solve any problem that comes along at that time of the night? Jesus was, even though He was exhausted. The disciples awakened Him, and they said, “We are about to perish!” Jesus asked them, “Why are you fearful? You do not have enough faith; that is your problem.” He was not fearful. He was the Master of the situation, not because He was the Master of earth and sea and sky. Oh no! He had laid that power down. He was the Master of the situation because He was trusting in the Father’s might. He did not need to worry.

My dear friend, when you have chosen to commit your life to Him and you realize that He is the Master of every situation, you will not have to worry either.

“Trust yourself in the hands of Jesus. Do not worry. Do not think God has forgotten to be gracious. Jesus lives and will not leave you. May the Lord be your staff, your support, your front guard, your rearward.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 248.

What Will I Do If . . .

Someone may say, “What am I going to do? I may lose my job, and then I will not be able to buy any food or clothing nor be able to pay my rent. What am I going to do? I might succumb to some serious disease like all these other people I see getting sick. Then I will not be able to earn a living; I will not be able to do anything. What will I do?” Some people pass their whole life worrying, “What will I do if this happens? What will I do if that happens?” Do you know what Jesus said concerning this? He told us not to be anxious about what might happen. You can read about that in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5).

Why? Why not be anxious? Because your heavenly Father knows what you need; He knows how to take care of you. This does not mean you will not have to work. The Bible says that in this world we all must earn our bread by the sweat of our brow. (Genesis 3:19.) If you are following the Lord, you need not worry concerning the food you eat or the clothes you wear; your necessities will be taken care of. Jesus said, “You do not need to worry about that. If you make God first in your life and seek His righteousness and the kingdom of heaven, He will add the things to you that you need.” (Matthew 6:33, 34.) He is still the Master of all situations.

“Christ is our example. . . . He turned to His Father in these hours of distress. He came to earth that He might provide a way whereby we could find grace and strength to help in every time of need, by following His example in frequent, earnest prayer.” Testimonies, vol. 2, 509.

“You are as a child who is not yet placed in control of his inheritance. God does not entrust to you your precious possession, lest Satan by his wily arts should beguile you, as he did the first pair in Eden. Christ holds it for you, safe beyond the spoiler’s reach. Like the child, you shall receive day by day what is required for the day’s need. Every day you are to pray, ‘Give us this day our daily bread.’ [Matthew 6:11.] Be not dismayed if you have not sufficient for tomorrow. You have the assurance of His promise, ‘So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.’ [Psalm 37:3.]” Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, 110, 111.

Confidence in our Redeemer

So many times when people came to Jesus, trying to trick Him, they thought they had Him in a jam out of which He could not get. They thought they would either be able to destroy His influence or bring about His arrest by the Romans. It is very interesting to read the stories written in Matthew 21 and 22, in John 8, and in so many other scriptures. Jesus showed with ease, every time, that He was the Master of the situation.

If you are in a terrible situation for which there is no possible human solution, do you realize that He could be the Master of the situation in your life, too? He will be, if you commit your life to Him.

Ellen White wrote: “Let us have more confidence in our Redeemer. Turn not from the waters of Lebanon to seek refreshment at broken cisterns, which can hold no water. Have faith in God. Trustful dependence on Jesus makes victory not only possible, but certain. Though multitudes are pressing on in the wrong way, though the outlook be ever so discouraging, yet we may have full assurance in our Leader; for ‘I am God,’ he declares, ‘and there is none else.’ [Isaiah 45:22.] He is infinite in power, and able to save all who come to him. There is no other in whom we can safely trust.” Review and Herald, June 9, 1910.

Oh, friend, whoever you are, you need to know Him. If you choose to come to Him, to commit your life to Him, no matter how terrible of a sinner you are, no matter how weak you are, no matter how troubled you are, no matter how complicated your situation, He will be Master of the situation, and He will save you. Do you know Him? If you know Him, He will grant you eternal life, because He has all power and grace. He loves you, friend. He wants to save you.

[Bible texts quoted are literal translation.]

Pastor Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life Ministry and pastor of the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Lessons From the Book of Amos, Part II

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The Book of Amos is a book of declarations by God stating that He is going to deal with the situations that have built up over a long period of time. When reading Scripture, one thing we know, as we see how God has dealt with people’s faults, is that He does not deal with them instantly. It usually takes a long time for God to bring judgment and punishment. God understands our frailties, and He is longsuffering. He allows our cup to fill and fill and fill, but once that cup is finally full, a roar is heard from out of Zion. (See Amos 1:2; Joel 3:16.) This is the situation of which Amos is writing.

Chapter 3 of Amos begins, “Hear this word that the Lord hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” Verses 1, 2. As you read the Bible, you see very clearly that the plan of God is centered in a covenant—the covenant He established with Abraham and that has been handed down to successive generations. God did not consider Abraham his wife; He did not consider Jacob His wife. It was the offspring of Jacob, the twelve tribes of Jacob, that became the wife of God.

Wife of God

The nation of Israel was the wife of the God of Heaven. Their relationship with God came about as a result of the exodus. When Jacob went down into Egypt, 70 souls journeyed from the land of Canaan into Egypt, but it was a nation of one to two million people that came out of Egypt. (See Exodus 1:1–5; 12:37, 38.) This relationship was sealed at Mount Sinai by the response of the children of Israel when they said, “All that the Lord has said, we will do.” Exodus 19:8; 24:3, 7.

These were the only people that God had known in this special sense, as He emphasizes in Amos 3:2. This was a unique and special relationship; it was a marriage relationship, and God said to them, “You are the only one whom I have known in this way.” Did God not know the other families of the earth? Yes, He knew all the families of the earth, but He did not consider them in any special relationship as He did the children of Israel. Israel was, as it were, the sweet, blushing bride of God, but as we read the history of Israel, there was, almost from the time of the honeymoon, unfaithfulness.

Most of us are either married, have been married, or intend to be married. We have certain expectations and requirements regarding marriage. One of these requirements is that of faithfulness on the part of each spouse to the other. We do not get this idea from society at large; we get it from the Bible. But let us suppose that when we married, understanding that faithfulness was part of the marriage covenant, we decided the grass was greener on the other side of the fence, and we got caught sampling the greener grass. What kind of response could we expect to receive for this kind of unfaithfulness?

Most of us, upon arriving home—at least in Western society—would expect to find our bags packed and sitting out on the porch or, even worse, thrown out onto the street. There is something about the act of adultery that seems equal to the unpardonable sin in the human mind. A trust factor has been broken. Feelings of disgust well up in the heart of the one who has been betrayed. From where do our understanding and reaction originate? It comes from our understanding of faithfulness in the Bible. Love and faithfulness go together, and God is the Author.

We have gotten the idea that God does not experience these kinds of feelings in His marriage relationship with His people. One thing we need to remember is that the book of Amos was written in the language of the time in which Amos lived. It was not written in the language of today’s America. In the time of Amos, a woman was in a different relationship to a man than what we find today; she was not only his wife, but she was considered to be his property. This was the way things were done in Israel’s society. God communicated to Israel on this level.

Israel was God’s property, just as we are His property. We have been bought with a price, so we belong to God; we are His property not only from the standpoint of ownership but, also, from the standpoint of relationships. We are considered to be His bride.

The children of Israel were not in a slave relationship, but they were in a marriage relationship, of which God reminded them when He said, “I brought you up out of Egypt; you are the only one that I have known—the only one.”

God knew Israel intimately; there was no one else of whom this could be said. Because this was true, it would call for the greatest punishment for the practice of unfaithfulness on Israel’s part.

One – One = One

I do not want to belabor the point, but we all know the story of just how longsuffering God had been with Israel. As I mentioned, almost from the wedding night, Israel had climbed into bed with anybody and everybody that caught her fancy. God would forbear a long time with her, but the events that would follow would be crushing to Israel.

God warned, in Amos 3:2, “I will punish you for all your iniquities”—not just some, not just the most recent, but for all your iniquities. Did God have the right to do this? Yes, He did, because this was His wife; she was His property. Jesus alluded to this when he told the parable of the fig tree. (See Matthew 21:19–22.) Jesus came to a fig tree that was beautiful to look upon, but there was no fruit on it. There was no fruit of faithfulness on the part of the fig tree that represented His bride, so He cursed the tree so that it withered, dried up, and died. This is what happened to the Northern tribes. We find no trace of the Northern tribes today. I have heard people try to give some kind of an explanation as to what has happened to the Northern tribes. They try to trace them through secular history, but the Scripture reveals that those tribes withered and died and never came back on the scene again.

Although God was going to deal with the unfaithful children of Israel, He worked a miracle with mathematics that went something like this: One minus one left one—Judah. God wanted all of the tribes of Israel to be His bride, but the remaining two, Israel and Judah, had to be separated so that one could survive.

“Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” Amos 3:3. The answer to that is no; they cannot walk together if there is disagreement. There have been occasions when I have been asked to counsel couples who are experiencing problems in their marriages. One of the things I have learned is that usually these couples have not been getting along for a long period of time. By the time they call the pastor for counseling, the situation has been building and festering. Blessed is the couple who, when they get into difficulty, seek help immediately, because the best opportunity to deal with the healing of a marriage is when the problems first begin. If things are allowed to go on, alienation takes hold. This is what had happened as far as the children of Israel were concerned.

God was always available to deal with and resolve the problem, but they always wanted to be off “doing their own thing,” not paying any attention to Him. They could not walk with God and with other gods. This was an unworkable arrangement. Men who try to do this, without exception, are failures in their religious life. God knows that, and He does not want it to happen. That is why the first commandment says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:3. No other gods should be allowed to come in and take over a relationship where God should be. The person who fails in their love relationship with God will be a godless person. Alienation leads to apostasy, and the apostate is an outlaw, as far as God is concerned. The question we must ask ourselves is: “Are our affections given to Christ in self-surrender and in happy trust to Him as our God?”

The Lion Roars

As Amos unfolds the story, he is trying to gain the attention of these tribes, and he says, “Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing? Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin [is] for him? shall [one] take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all? Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done [it]? Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” Amos 3:4–7.

God is telling the tribes, I am going to punish you, and I want you to understand that it is coming. I am warning you. “Will a lion roar?” The nature of a lion when seeking prey is to roar when he has it in sight. He does this because usually the prey will freeze when it hears the roar, making it easier to catch. God uses this illustration, calling upon the prophet to convey these words by saying, “Listen, it is coming; I am not going to roar unless I have a prey, unless there is something in My sight that is going to suffer destruction.”

Can a bird fall in a snare where there is no snare set? The thought here is that the coming punishment is deserved. A bird is not caught in a trap unless a trap is set for it, and who is it that sets the trap? You have set your own trap. You have heard the idiom, give someone enough rope and he will get tangled up in it. In other words, allow him enough freedom and he will eventually hurt himself or be caught. That is basically what God is saying here. Sin sets the trap, and when the trap springs, the sinner is not going to escape. It is just that simple. We think we can parlay with sin, that we can dabble a little bit in it, and it will not catch us, but sooner or later, it will catch up with us. Praise the Lord! He is longsuffering! He will allow us to get into circumstances in hopes that we will turn away from those circumstances. This is what He was hoping for Israel, but Israel continued to become entangled. When God comes out of His place, you can mark it down—action is going to follow.

My father was not an angry or passionate man. Many parents today seem to beat and bang on their kids all the time, but that was not the case with my dad. We got what punishment we had coming, but I do not ever remember getting a licking that I did not deserve. My father never punished us on a supposition. I can remember, though, that if we acted up, he would warn us. If we did not stop, once he got up, it was all over; we knew what was coming. We could plead and plead and plead all we wanted, but the punishment still came. That is basically what God is dealing with here.

God was not the type of parent, as we find in many circumstances today, that would just scream and scream at the kids and do nothing. When I was in my early years of ministry, I went to visit a home that had an empty oil drum right outside the living room window. This family had a number of children, and when I came to visit, they all went outside to play. One of the boys, Mark, grabbed a big stick and began to beat on the oil drum. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. His mother yelled out, “Mark, you stop that.” Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. “Mark, I’m coming out there. You stop that.” Boom, boom, boom, boom. “I’m coming out there, Mark.” She never went out, and Mark never stopped.

God is not that way. He says, “If I get up, it is all over; I am coming out, and you are going to get thrashed.” That is the way it was with Israel. “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He reveals His secrets to His servants the prophets.” God does not get onto someone without giving him or her warning. We, as Seventh-day Adventists, have memorized this text!

Warnings Conveyed

God used the office of prophet to convey not just His will but to convey warnings. “I am telling you, this is the way it is going to happen. If you do not change, this is going to happen. If you do not turn around, this is going to happen.” And after a while, it happened.

“The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy?” Verse 8. The prophets could not withhold the warnings given to them by God. We know this from Ellen White’s life. She said that she could not withhold the warnings that God had given; she must convey them. (See The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, vol. 3, 1,296.) This is what verse 8 is saying. If God has spoken, who can but prophesy?

Spectators Invited

Continuing in Amos 3, we read: “Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the great tumults in the midst thereof, and the oppressed in the midst thereof. For they know not to do right, saith the Lord, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; An adversary [there shall be] even round about the land; and he shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be spoiled.” Verses 9–11.

God is calling upon the heathen to witness the whipping of those who are going to receive His punishment. He is saying that He wants them to come and watch what He is going to do to His wife. Now that is almost an inconceivable thought.

Egyptian bondage and the Philistine oppression were not forgotten history. These things were rehearsed over and over again to Israel. Because they never learned the lessons of deliverance and translated them into their lives, they began to repeat their former history, and they became oppressors of their own. While Egypt and Philistia went out from their own land and oppressed others, Israel began to turn upon their own and oppress them. They were different from Egypt and Philistia in that they looted their own fortresses rather than going out into enemy territory. So Ashdod and Egypt were told to come in to witness the punishment that God was going to render.

It is one thing to get a spanking. It is another thing to get a spanking in front of people. I always wanted to have my spanking by myself. I especially did not want to have my brothers see me getting a spanking. Inviting people to witness the spanking makes it even worse. This is the scenario that God was planning, as far as His bride was concerned. He was inviting all of their enemies to watch what He was going to do. He even told them to go up on the mountain where they could get a better look.

Why would God do such a thing? Never forget that God had a plan that through this bride the Redeemer would come. He was committed to the redeeming of those who accepted Him—not only of old but also the present and future generations who by faith would look to Him. God had a commitment; the Messiah would come. That Messiah would have to come through the bride that He had known, but sadly, Israel had lost all sense of sin; there was no shame.

No Sense of Shame

The shame was gone. Israel enjoyed living in the highest of luxury, indulging in all kinds of perverse habits. Yet, they would still prepare the bulletin for Sabbath School and church and plan other activities, believing that all was well.

It is no different today. When men lose their sense of sin, God appeals to their sense of shame. It seems strange that the sense of shame should survive the sense of sin. Many times people can be brought to repentance through a sense of shame rather than an understanding of sin. If they are shamed, they know they are caught, and they will say, “I am sorry; I am sorry.” That is the way it is. Sometimes we are more afraid of what people think of us than of what God thinks of us. There is a lot going on which, if revealed, would cause a sense of shame, but we continue on in sin. How do I know? Because we are still in this world! We have not gotten it right yet. That is why Jesus waits; that is why Jesus delays His coming. He wants us to have a sense of sin, not just a sense of shame.

The nations round about Israel were going to know that God’s protection had been removed. As a result, while they were in the height of prosperity, they would be served a calling card showing that God had removed Himself, and Israel would not stand a chance of escape. The punishment would come; it would come as a lion on its prey.

No Safe Place

This is one of the dangers that we face in America today. We have not been a righteous nation, contrary to what some would have us believe. As a result, God is removing His protection. We see that happening more and more, and as a result, the inevitable will come. Liberties are being removed—one of God’s ways of dealing with us. We know that with the Sunday laws our freedoms are going to be completely taken away.

The answer as to how to avert these problems is the same today as it was in the days of Amos. Repent and turn from your sins; turn to God for help. That is one of the things that the tribes of Judah and Israel would not see.

“Thus saith the Lord; As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear; so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed, and in Damascus [in] a couch. Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord God, the God of hosts, That in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him I will also visit the altars of Bethel: and the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground. And I will smite the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, saith the Lord.” Verses 12–15.

Amos finishes this message by giving an illustration of what happens when a shepherd retrieves the remains of an animal from the mouth of a lion. This reflects back to the Law of Moses, which required a shepherd to produce the remains of the animal that was killed while it was in his care as proof that he did not steal it. Amos was a shepherd, so he used the language of a shepherd to try to convey to the people the point that God wanted them to understand. He was telling them that as the remaining parts of the slaughtered animal tell the tale of its destruction, so the broken remains of the wealth of Israel would be a pathetic witness to the complete destruction of that kingdom.

According to the Law of Moses, if a fugitive got into trouble, he could run to the sanctuary, grab hold of the horns of the altar, and that would be a place of safety for him, a place of refuge—but that was a last refuge. It was not the first refuge. Even this last refuge would not be available to Israel. They could not run to the sanctuary and claim refuge by grabbing hold of the altar. The dye was cast, and now it would be just a matter of time until the blow fell.

A Lesson for Us

What is the lesson for us who are living in this twenty-first century? Mrs. White wrote: “We are all amenable to God. When we take into consideration our accountability to Him for every action, when we remember that we are ‘a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men,’ we will desire to be purged from our fretfulness and harshness, our lack of sympathy and tenderness for one another. These evils are as tares amid the wheat, and must be destroyed.” Notebook Leaflets from the Elmshaven Library, vol. 1, 79.

That is really what God wants to have happen in our lives. He wants to come into such a close relationship with us that everything that is offensive will be removed, and His work can go forward so Jesus can come.

I mentioned earlier that Israel had not learned the lessons of deliverance, and I have often wondered how well the church of today has learned its lessons. Are they of such dynamic significance to us that the deliverance has the power and strength to motivate us the rest of our lives or until Jesus comes? I have met people in Sunday-keeping churches who are exuberant that the love of God has delivered them from their sins. They just bubble and sparkle and are willing, at the drop of a hat, to tell you what God has done for them. You have met those kinds of people; I know you have. They are out there, but there are very few Seventh-day Adventists who have had that kind of experience.

Perhaps you have heard Adventists referred to as Sadventists. I realize that we do not have to get into a celebration mode, but somewhere along the line I would hope that we could become a little happier about what God has done for us and have a willingness to share that happiness with others. These lessons of deliverance, if we really reflect on what God has done for us, will change our whole lives. If we could somehow convey that to others, what a blessing we would receive! I have always in my life desired to continue the experience of a relationship that manifested itself in not only doing what was right but treating others in the right way as well, because that is basically the message that Amos is trying to get across.

God, I know, was doing everything possible to save Israel, but it did not happen. Although God had chosen Israel as His bride, they were unfaithful. Even though He warned them and tried to get them to change their ways, they ignored Him. Finally, God had to take measures of punishment.

“Those who might become co-laborers with Christ, and do good service in advancing the interests of His kingdom, but who use their talents and influence to tear down instead of to build up, are like noted rebels; their prominence, the value of the talent they use in the service of Satan, increases their guilt and makes their punishment sure. These will feel the wrath of God.” The Signs of the Times, October 24, 1906.

I do not want to be found in that category. I want to be found doing what is right and good so that the longsuffering of God is working to draw me into a more perfect relationship with Him, rather than a forbearance on His part until the axe has to fall. Is this your desire?

To be continued . . .

Pastor Mike Baugher is Associate Speaker for Steps to Life Ministry. He may be contacted by e-mail at: mikebaugher@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

The Filthy Garment, Part I

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There are some people today who are discouraged by what they see taking place in the world and in Adventism, but I am excited! I am excited, because I see the signs, in the church and in the world, that Jesus is coming soon. When I read inspired writings and look around at what is happening, I realize that God foresaw all of this a long time ago. Although the events we see occurring are awful, it is encouraging that there is Someone who knows all about them, who said that this is what would happen, who knows how to protect us and take us out of this evil world.

I want to study with you a passage of Scripture that was written over 2,500 years ago. This passage of Scripture, inspired by the Holy Spirit, has a special meaning. It had a meaning then. It had a fulfillment then. But it was meant to have a special meaning and a special fulfillment in the last days as well—in the times in which you and I are living.

The Accuser

“And he showed me Joshua the great priest standing before the angel of Jehovah, and the saw-tan was there, standing at his right hand.” Zechariah 3:1. In English, the Hebrew word saw-tan is converted to Satan. Satan is one of the few words in the English language that comes directly from the Hebrew language. The word saw-tan means “the adversary.” So the saw-tan, the adversary, was standing at his right hand “to accuse him.” In the book of Revelation, Satan is called “the accuser of the brethren.” Revelation 12:10.

Some months ago, when I was preaching a sermon, I was reading from Matthew 16:23 where Jesus, speaking to Peter, said, “You depart behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me because you do not understand the things of God, but those of men.” This verse clearly says, “Turning, He said to Peter, depart from Me, Satan.” I read that text and said, “Jesus, here, called Peter Satan,” and someone objected to that and wrote me a letter. They said, “Pastor John, you made a mistake, and it needs to be corrected. Ellen White says that Jesus was really speaking to Satan, not Peter.” (See Conflict and Courage, 312.) Well, I got my Bible out again and read it, and it says, “Turning, He said to Peter . . . .” I believe what Ellen White said—that Jesus was addressing Satan directly, but the Bible says that He was speaking to Peter. We must never take the insight of a later prophet and use that to nullify the Bible. From this text, I understand that when God rebukes the devil, He includes all the other intelligences that are allowing the devil to speak through them. Did you get that? When God rebukes the devil,—whether it is in Genesis 3:15, Matthew 16:23, or Zechariah 3:1—in that rebuke is included not only the archfiend himself but every other intelligence, whether angel or human being, that is allowing the devil to speak through them. I want to tell you, friends, there is a large number of people today who are allowing the devil to speak through them.

Zechariah says, “And he showed me Joshua the great priest standing before the angel of Jehovah, and the saw-tan was there, standing at his right hand to accuse him.” Remember that the high priest represents God’s people. How does the saw-tan, or Satan, accuse God’s people? He usually does it through other human beings. We read, in Testimonies, vol. 5, 609: “An earnest effort should be made in every church to put away evilspeaking and a censorious spirit as among the sins productive of the greatest evils in the church. Severity and faultfinding must be rebuked . . . .”

Faultfinding and Supposition

You will find yourself in plenty of trouble when you rebuke “severity and faultfinding,” but Mrs. White states that it must be rebuked “as the workings of Satan.” When a person is engaging in faultfinding, who is speaking through them? It is Satan, the adversary. Remember, Zechariah 3:1 says that the saw-tan, the adversary, was “standing at his right hand, to accuse him.” Satan was going to accuse him to the Lord.

I have noticed, as I have read various references in the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy on this subject, that when the devil accuses you, he always accuses you to someone else. When the Pharisees accused Jesus, they talked to his disciples about it, and when they accused the disciples, they talked to Jesus about it. Have you noticed this? Are you glad that God does not operate in this way?

When it is necessary for God to rebuke you or me, He will come directly to us. If you are praying, “Lord, show me what is wrong in my character,” believe me, the Lord will show you! He will not go and tell all your enemies about it, but He will show you personally.

Mrs. White continued: “Let all, in the fear of God and with love to their brethren, close their ears to gossip and censure. Direct the talebearer to the teachings of God’s word. Bid him obey the Scriptures and carry his complaints directly to those whom he thinks in error.” Ibid., 609, 610.

To whom is he supposed to carry his complaints? Is he supposed to carry his complaints to the head of the nearest ministry? No. Is he supposed to carry his complaints to the pastor of the church that person attends? What did the inspired writing say? It said that he is to “bid him to obey the Scriptures and carry his complaints directly to those whom he thinks in error”—not to the pastor.

I cannot count the many times people have either called me on the telephone, written me a letter, or come directly to my office wanting to tell me about someone that is in trouble. And, of course, they expect me to fix the situation. After I have read some of the passages from the Bible and inspired writings, I have decided that I do not even need to listen to such things.

If you have a concern, you need to go directly to the person for whom you have the concern and talk to them. Write them a letter; call them on the telephone; do not come to me. That is what the Bible says to do. (See Matthew 18:15–17.) Mrs. White continued: “This united action would bring a flood of light into the church and close the door to a flood of evil.” Ibid., 610.

Another statement that discloses how people allow the devil to speak through them—remember, when God rebukes the devil, He rebukes everyone who allows the devil to speak through them or to use them—is recorded in the October 17, 1899, Review and Herald: “There is a lack of frankness; the way is hedged up by supposition.” Supposition is one of the devil’s favorite ways in which to accuse people. Mrs. White explains how supposition works: “Some one discovers a supposed defect in a brother or sister, and he acts on this supposition, as if it were true. When criticism and faultfinding, and a desire for the highest place enter the church, the serpent, disguised, enters with them, leaving a trail of evil wherever he goes.” Ibid. Who is the serpent spoken of here? It is the saw-tan, the adversary, and it enters when there is criticism and faultfinding in the church.

So Satan, the adversary, the saw-tan, is at the right hand of God’s people. He is there to accuse, to find fault. This is one of the biggest problems among God’s people—has been in all ages and still is. Some people will overcome. Those who overcome will go to heaven; the people who do not overcome will not go to heaven.

“I saw that all the religion a few poor souls have consists in watching the garments and acts of others, and finding fault with them. Unless they reform, there will be no place in heaven for them, for they would find fault with the Lord Himself.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 145. If these people do not reform, will they be going to heaven? No.

“I feel an intense interest regarding every faultfinder; for I know that a quarrelsome disposition will never find entrance into the city of God.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 7, 271. If I have a quarrelsome disposition, I will not go to heaven.

Overcome Tendencies

After reading these statements, I have made the decision to overcome these tendencies. By the grace of God, I will not do these things anymore. How is it with you?

God has allowed some terrible things to happen so we will look at the inspired writings, wake up, and see what problems must be solved before Jesus can come and take us out of this world.

Numerous churches are in trouble. One of the reasons churches get into trouble is because they are lacking in church discipline. In some churches, you can say just about anything you please and still be a member of that church. If that is the situation in your church, it is going to be destroyed.

“When a person comes to a minister or to men in positions of trust with complaints against a brother or a sister, let the minister ask, ‘Have you complied with the rules our Saviour has given?’ And if he has failed to carry out any particular of this instruction, do not listen to a word of his complaint. In the name and Spirit of Jesus, refuse to take up a report against your brother or your sister in the faith. If members of the church go contrary to these rules, they make themselves subjects for church discipline, and should be under the censure of the church. This matter, so plainly taught in the lessons of Christ, has been treated with strange indifference. The church has either neglected her work entirely in the matter of correcting evil, or has done it with harshness and severity, thus wounding and bruising souls. Measures should be taken to correct this cruel spirit of criticism, of judging the motives of others, as though Christ had revealed to men the hearts of their brethren. The neglect of doing aright, with wisdom and grace, the work that ought to have been done, has left churches and institutions almost inefficient and Christless.” Review and Herald, April 16, 1895. When was the last time you were witness to someone being disciplined by the church for faultfinding or criticism? Is there a reason God’s people are in trouble? Yes!

Church Discipline

I want to present to you a couple of statements about this matter of church discipline, and I hope that you will pray about them and say, “Lord, help us to do in our church what You have told us to do.” If you do not, the devil will see to it that your church is destroyed.

There are certain things the Lord has said that are not to be allowed in the church. Here is one: “No church can be in a healthy, flourishing condition unless its leaders shall take firm, decided measures to repress this fault-finding, accusing spirit wherever it exists. Its indulgence should be made a matter of church discipline; for it is a violation of the law of God, a violation of the rules which Christ has laid down for preserving order in the church. If these mischievous talkers are not subjected to church discipline they become confirmed in their evil work, and God charges the guilt upon the church.” Review and Herald, October 19, 1886.

Satan, the saw-tan, stood at his right hand to accuse him. What about people who are working in institutions or ministries? “No one should be retained in any one of the Lord’s institutions who in a crisis fails of realizing that His instrumentalities are sacred. . . . The halfhearted and worldly, those who are given to gossip, who dwell on the faults of others, while neglecting their own, should be separated from the work.” Testimonies, vol. 7, 202. God’s work, in so many places, is so feeble, because we have not been following this instruction.

“It is the special work of Satan to cause dissension . . . .” Mind, Character, and Personality, vol. 2, 791. This is his special work. “We should be weeding out of our thoughts all complaining and faultfinding. Let us not continue to look upon any defects that we may see.” Ibid., 789. Notice she says that we should be weeding these things out of our thoughts. We should not even be thinking about them.

Help Each Other

You know, friends, if we spend our time looking at the defects of others, we will develop in ourselves the same defects at which we are looking, examining, watching, and studying.

Is there anything desirable in impatience? “The loud, harsh complaint, the fretful, fault-finding spirit, are evidences of a narrow, conceited mind. Impatience brings strife and accusation and sorrow.” Review and Herald, February 21, 1888.

What is the most powerful thing we can do to help our brother or sister who is very faulty? Mrs. White says, “A word of love and encouragement will do more to subdue the hasty temper and willful disposition than all the faultfinding and censure that you can heap upon the erring one.” Testimonies, vol. 7, 266.

How can we help each other to be cured from the faultfinding spirit? Ellen White suggested that “These notional, faultfinding ones would often cure themselves of the habit if they would go directly to the individual they think is wrong.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 145. How can we be cured of a faultfinding spirit? If such a person would make it a rule that, when someone else has done something wrong, they will not go to the local elder, deacon, pastor, or call some leader in a ministry trying to burden that person with the problem, but will go directly to the individual in question and talk to them, then possibly the problem would be resolved! Mrs. White says, “But it is easy to let the tongue run freely about this one or that one when the accused is not present.” Ibid. Oh, friend, we should never do that. If we find the need to point out something that is wrong with someone, the least we can do is talk with him or her directly, not talk about them when they are not present.

The Devil’s Work

As we have studied, we are in the shaking, and if we do not overcome on these points, remember, we will be engaged in the devil’s work. Zechariah 3:1 says that the saw-tan, the adversary, stood at his right hand to accuse him. Ellen White wrote: “Something will arise to test everyone. The great sifting time is just before us. The jealous and the faultfinding, who are watching for evil, will be shaken out. They hate reproof and despise correction.” Testimonies, vol. 1., 251.

The jealous and the faultfinding will be shaken out of God’s church. One of the awful things that hap-pens when someone is shaken out is that they usually do not get shaken out all by themselves. Someone goes out with them because of sympathy.

It was through sympathy that the devil caused the fall of about a third of the angels in heaven. And that is why, when someone gets shaken out, they never go out alone. Somebody else sympathizes with them. They sympathize with the one who has gotten reproved, and they hate the one who reproves. As Amos says, “They hate the one that rebukes in the gate.” Amos 5:10.

Ellen White said, “God will send reproof and warning to His people as long as they continue upon earth.” Testimonies, vol. 4, 180. There is only one way the reproofs can be made to stop and that is if we commit the unpardonable sin by refusing the invitation of mercy offered to us through Jesus Christ. When a nation or a person has gone so far, they have committed the unpardonable sin, and there is no hope for their salvation. It is then that the reproofs and warnings cease. (See The Desire of Ages, 324, 325.)

In another statement from inspired writings, we are told: “Bid him [the talebearer] carry his complaints directly to those whom he thinks in error.” Review and Herald, November 30, 1886.

As I have studied this subject, I have come to realize that God desires for us to be much happier than we are. We cannot be happy if our minds are full of all the things that are wrong in our church and with our brothers and sisters. If someone is doing something wrong, it is all right to go to them and talk with him or her about it, but we cannot be happy if we are dwelling on it all the time.

Ellen White wrote the following statement to a minister and a physician: “We must lay hold of the supreme Power, and close our ears to complaint and faultfinding. Crush this inclination, and empty the soul temple of evil-thinking. Let not one unhappy thought remain within.” This Day With God, 347. God does not want us to be full of unhappiness. He tells us to rid our minds of those unhappy thoughts!

There is Someone in charge, friends. Give Him a chance to work. Pray for the people who are in trouble. Go to them and show them how much you love them and how much you want to help them gain the kingdom of heaven.

[Bible texts quoted are literal translation.]

To be concluded . . .

Pastor Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life Ministry and pastor of the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Lessons from the Book of Amos – Part III

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When we began this study of the Book of Amos, we reviewed Amos’ ministry. We noted how he was a citizen of the Southern kingdom but that his work involved delivering messages out of his home area into the Northern kingdom. It had been over 200 years since Elijah had stood on Mount Carmel and had called for a decision on the part of God’s people, saying, “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him.” 1 Kings 18:21. That was a powerful call, and the people’s response to that call indicated that things would turn around, in that they would come back to God and carry out His will. (See verse 39.) But, as is often the case, revival and reformation did not last long.

In reality, this is one of the reasons why we have a congregation and a minister. It is so the minister can proclaim the Word and a continual revival and reformation can grow in the hearts of the congregation. This is why we should not go off in a hermit-like setting by ourselves. The Bible says that we should not forsake “the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is” and even more so as we see that day approaching. (Hebrews 10:25.) Why is that? Because there is a certain dynamic that takes place within preaching. Paul calls it “the foolishness of preaching” (1 Corinthians 1:21), but there is a power involved in preaching that works on the hearts of the people to draw them to Christ so that a change can take place in their lives.

That took place in Elijah’s day, but it did not continue. It seems that when a torch is passed from one generation to another, the flame grows dimmer and dimmer. Truth did not prevail, as it should have. It did not continue to burn in the hearts of those who were called God’s people. Truth must be held in righteousness. It has to grow in intensity and in strength. It has to lodge in the hearts of those who hear.

This is one of the problems we are facing in Adventism today. Truth, as it has been studied and handed down from one generation to another, has not been appreciated, as it should. Truth has become watered down; it has undergone attack, and instead of each succeeding generation possessing and preserving the truth, it has become weaker and weaker, until open apostasy has broken out with little or no protest.

Responsibility to Generations

Apostasy was taking place in the days of Amos. From the time of Elijah’s powerful call to the time of Amos, spirituality was deteriorating. The Lord called upon Amos to point out to His people just how precarious their position was. We will see, as we go through chapter 4, that God, upon reaching a point, deals with people in a decisive way.

“Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that [are] in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink. The Lord God hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks. And ye shall go out at the breaches, every [cow at that which is] before her; and ye shall cast [them] into the palace, saith the Lord.” Amos 4:1–3.

“Hear this word, ye kine . . .” Now, this is anything but a flattering statement. You would never find a pastor today addressing the ladies of his congregation this way. Kine, of course, are cows. This statement was directed to the women of Israel, because they were, for the most part, responsible for the heritage of their children who were to grow up to be worshipers of God and leaders in Israel. Were they living up to the call that God had given them as mothers of Israel? No, they were not. They had a love of luxury and fashion. This statement that Amos made to them was a statement of contempt as to their condition. It was a biting and caustic statement, which was intended to arouse their attention that they might be able to see their spiritual condition.

Attention Getter

What could we use in today’s vernacular as an equivalent statement? I remember when I was a child, and not a Christian, that when I saw a lady I did not like, I would call her an “old bag.” An even more derogatory phrase would be “old pig.” That approximates what Amos meant when he addressed these women. He was calling them a bunch of old bags or old pigs, trying to get their attention.

God does that at times. He uses His prophets to get our attention, to arrest us in the direction in which we are going so that He might then be able to convey a message to us. God knows that unless He can gain our attention, our lifestyles will not change. He has got to stop us in our tracks.

When I was in conference work, one of my colleagues, a seasoned and skilled minister, was often sent by the conference leaders to churches that had multiple problems and difficulties. The people in these churches were frequently scrapping and fighting and at odds with each other.

One day, at a workers’ meeting, we were sitting at the lunch table, talking shop, and he told me about a church to which he had been sent. It was a church with a membership of between 600 and 700 people. The members were experiencing numerous difficulties and problems. His opening statement of his first Sabbath sermon was, “You know, when I walked into this church building, the first thing that came to my notice was how filthy a condition it is in. There is dirt in the corners; there are cobwebs; the carpet is not clean . . . .” His comments went downhill from there. He said, “Certainly the condition of this building represents the characters of the people who worship here.”

“I will tell you something,” he told me, “if looks could kill, I would be a dead man.” He continued to tell me that as soon as the benediction was given, people spun gravel getting out of the driveway so they could get home and call the conference president, demanding that he get this man out of there church! “We will not have him as our pastor,” they cried. “We cannot stand him. Why did you send him here?” The president listened. He knew why he had sent this pastor to their church.

The interesting thing was that after his initial sermon, he began a program of visitation striving to pour healing oil where it was needed, but not necessarily in wounds that he had opened. He pastored that church for about eight years. When it came time for him to leave, the congregation collected thousands and thousands of dollars to send him and his wife on a trip to the Middle East and Europe. The people wept as they heard the news that he was going to be leaving, because he knew how to minister to their needs after opening their wounds.

Betrayed Trust

God does that, too, at times. God sometimes must open a wound in order for it to heal. There is one thing about the prophets that God called to ministry. They said it like it was. The sword of truth had two edges, and as they swung, it cut in both directions. But God never cuts unless He intends to heal.

These women of Samaria were asleep. They were well-fed creatures who, for the satisfaction of appetite, pleasure, and fashion, made continual demands upon their husbands, which, in reality, caused the oppression of the poor. It was for this reason that much brutal oppression was taking place within Israel.

There are some important lessons to be learned from Amos’ account found in the first three verses of Amos 4. Women have a special calling. They have a special responsibility before God and before the world. Women have been entrusted with a major role in creating and conserving the precious ties of human life. Because of this, God has, for the most part, endowed women with special gifts of pity, generosity, and morality. They become the custodians of the generation that has already been born and are responsible for the generations that are yet to come. God holds women accountable for how they affect human life in terms of integrity and righteousness.

That is not to say that men do not have a role to play in this also, because they do. But it is the special responsibility of women to communicate and pass on values to the offspring of mankind. This is why, I believe, God was very careful in selecting the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a tendency to recoil from the overemphasis of Mary in Catholicism, as she was never to be exalted. But the Bible tells us that Mary was indeed a very special mother. “Blessed art thou among women.” (Luke 1:28, 42.) Mary had been given a tremendous responsibility in giving birth to the Saviour and raising Him to love His Father.

The women of Samaria had betrayed the special trust to which God had called them. As a result of this betrayal, Amos came down on them like a ton of bricks. They had it coming. It is no wonder the prophets were so persecuted! You do not call women a bunch of old bags and get away with it! They will recoil, unless it gets their attention, and they take the words that follow to heart.

Fishhooks

Evidently an indictment that was all-inclusive was needed in this situation, as we read in Amos 4:2: “The Lord God hath sworn by His holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.”

I do not know that we living in America can really begin to understand the wholesale evil that was transpiring in the nation of Israel. There are instances here and there that we hear of awful things, such as the news story where a seven-year-old child, weighing only 36 pounds, was discovered locked in a closet. We hear about these terrible kinds of things, and we wonder where the pity and feelings of a mother could be.

As a whole, we do not have those kinds of problems as a nation. But what we see taking place in the Book of Amos caused the prophet of God to deal with these things in a very forthright way. We could probably expound endlessly on the degradation and the depth to which the nation had fallen, but it was evil on the part of these women to press upon their husbands their life of luxury and ease at the expense of the poor and the unfortunate.

God, by His very nature, will not allow such conduct as this to go unpunished. He is the Holy One of Israel, and the very fact that Israel covenanted with Him as His holy people is what made it an issue. God had not dealt with other people whom He had not covenanted with like this. Do you know why? Because that is the way unconverted people naturally act. They are not regenerated. They do not have new hearts. They have not come to God. That is the way they are. But not God’s people! God’s people are not to act that way. And when you enter into a covenant with God, pledging that you are not going to act the way unbelievers act, that you are going to keep His Law, and then you go contrary to that, God says, No, this is not going to wash.

Two things come to light in reference to this verse. First, hooks give the mental conception of pain. When God removes you with hooks, it is not a pleasant experience. Some of you may have done some fishing in your lifetime. I used to fish when I was a child, and there were times when the hooks hooked into my skin. It was not a pleasant experience! Hooks bring to mind the thought of pain, and these were not just the tiny little fishhook like I used to catch trout. These were probably more like a gaffing hook used for a larger type of fish, where you hook onto it and drag it into a boat. This verse is referring to that type of a hook—one with barbs that will not allow the hook to release easily, that is big enough so an adult cannot pull away. So, second, a hook gives the idea that there is not an escape.

If you are hooked and you follow the leading of that hook, you are going to go wherever that hook pulls you. That is the idea in this verse—your experience will be a punishment for your sin, and you are not going to escape from it. I will not go into this aspect of it, but as you search out other references relating to hooks in the Bible, you will find these expressions are usually used when the devil is involved. The devil has his hooks that he will place in you, and he will lead you at his will.

People who live lives of luxury are prone to believe that they can do just about anything they want and never have to pay the price for their wrong doings. They think they are above punishment because of who they are or what they have. It may take years for the consequences of their actions to finally catch up to them. The wheel of punishment may turn very slowly, but it will eventually come around. God has put into practice the adage, “What goes around comes around.” It took years for the events recorded in Amos to finally catch up with the children of Israel, but they finally did.

Form with no Power

“Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, [and] your tithes after three years.” Amos 4:4.

You see, since the time of the building of the temple, Jerusalem had been the place of worship. It was here that the Ark of the Covenant was located in the sanctuary. This is where God met with His people. Any worship that took place anywhere else, on any other scale, was a worship that did not originate with the direction of God. It was worship that was instigated by the will of men, and it was void of the blessing of heaven. It could be a formal worship, but in reality, it was a ritual worship with no heart worship at all.

These people, even in Jerusalem, were going through a ritualistic kind of worship. They were very zealous in what they were doing. Sacrifices were offered every morning; they brought their tithes and offerings. They brought the second tithes and offerings every three years. But when you look at what was being done, following it back to its origin, you find it was nothing more, from a spiritual standpoint, than a Canaanite-type worship, because it had form without power. Although the people seemed very sincere in their worship, it had no merit or value with God.

God has a sanctuary where worship is to be directed. It is where the ark is contained. Where do we actually direct our worship today—to the sanctuary of our local church, to the church building? Or do we direct our worship to where the ark is located today? Any worship that does not direct its worship to where the ark is located is valueless, as far as God is concerned. Such worship is nothing but form and ritual.

That is how the children of Israel were worshipping. They were directing their worship to Gilgal and Bethel where there was no ark. God said, Go ahead and do it, but it does not have any value. It was worship that was instigated by the will of men, and it was void of the blessing of heaven.

Rebuke and Chasten

And so again, here is a lesson for us. There are forms of worship that are not acceptable to God. God has described the type of worship that is acceptable. We have abundant material in the writings of Ellen White and the Bible on the subject. But many have left the simplicity of worship and have gone over to Babylon. They have found something there they feel is more meaningful, and they have brought it back into our churches and have called it worship. It is not.

It is interesting to see how God has responded to past situations that are brought back for our consideration today. This is one reason we need to study the Bible more than we have before. We need to know where we stand with God. When we depart from God, even in small ways, it may appear that we are getting away with something, but the hand of God is at work. The message to the church of Laodicea is a prime example of how God has worked in the past and how He is still working today. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The message to the church of Laodicea says, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.” Revelation 3:19. God has worked that way all through the course of history.

The word chasten is a particularly interesting word. It is a word that God uses to describe what He is going to do to His people. Webster gives the definition of this word as: punishment, suffering, to discipline, to purify. When God chastens, He does it for these reasons—to punish, to cause us to suffer, to discipline, and to purify. All these things are designed to get our attention. Punishment and suffering are intended to get our attention, so we will listen to what He has to say. God does this, but He does it in love.

Chastisements Increase

Amos goes on to record how God dealt with His people over time. In verse six of Amos 4 we read: “And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities . . . .” God is not giving them tubes of toothpaste. He is giving them famine. They do not have food on their teeth. This verse means they are licking them clean; they are suffering famine. “I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. And also I have withholden the rain from you, when [there were] yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.” Verses 6, 7. The Bible says that God causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45), but not in the realm of chastening. When God chastens, He pours out the rain over here, but He causes another area to dry up over there.

Verse eight continues: “So two [or] three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.” Chastening number two!

“I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured [them]: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. I have overthrown [some] of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.” Verses 9–11.

As we read, we find that the intensity of the chastisements increases with every one. Yet God says that none of these things have changed the Israelites at all. Their hearts are still going in the same direction. There has been no turning around on their part. There was no reversal on their part in returning to Him.

Principle of Apostasy

Counsel was given by Ellen White that refers to the principle of events we find in Amos 4—apostasy.

“The Israelites had been guilty of treason, and that against a King who had loaded them with benefits, and whose authority they had voluntarily pledged themselves to obey. That the divine government might be maintained, justice must be visited upon the traitors. Yet even here God’s mercy was displayed.” Review and Herald, February 11, 1909. With all the chastisements that we have read about, God has mingled mercy. If the chastisements were not mingled with mercy, He would have just wiped the Israelites out completely. “While he maintained his law, he granted freedom of choice and opportunity for repentance for all. Only those were cut off who persisted in rebellion.

“Love no less than justice demanded that for this sin judgment should be inflicted. God is the guardian as well as the sovereign of his people. He cuts off those who are determined upon rebellion, that they may not lead others to ruin.” Ibid. Why do we weed our gardens? So the strength can go to the plants we want to grow. Weeds will sap the moisture and nutrients from the soil, and sometimes we have to pull them out so the good things will not be lost. “In sparing the life of Cain, God had demonstrated to the universe what would be the result of permitting sin to go unpunished. The influence exerted upon his descendants by his life and teaching led to the state of corruption that demanded the destruction of the whole world by a flood. The history of the antediluvians testifies that long life is not a blessing to the sinner; God’s great forbearance did not repress their wickedness. The longer men lived, the more corrupt they became.

“So with the apostasy at Sinai. Unless punishment had been speedily visited upon transgression, the same results would have again been seen. The earth would have become as corrupt as in the days of Noah. Had these transgressors been spared, evils would have followed greater than resulted from sparing the life of Cain. It was the mercy of God that thousands should suffer, to prevent the necessity of visiting judgment upon millions. In order to save the many, he must punish the few. Furthermore, as the people had cast off their allegiance to God, they had forfeited the divine protection, and, deprived of their defense, the whole nation was exposed to the power of their enemies.” Ibid. That is why Satan can come in with hooks. Once God’s protection is removed, the devil can come in, put his hook in, and lead us at will. The Israelites had forfeited their defense. “Had not the evil been promptly put away, they would soon have fallen a prey to their numerous and powerful foes. It was necessary for the good of Israel, and was also a lesson to all succeeding generations, that crime should be promptly punished. And it was no less a mercy to the sinners themselves that they should be cut short in their evil course. Had their lives been spared, the same spirit that led them to rebel against God would have been manifested in hatred and strife among themselves.” Ibid.

Stop and think about that for a minute. If God had not dealt with and cut short the issues that were causing His people to be separated from Him by the destruction of thousands, the millions would have turned upon themselves.

Bloody God or Loving God

I have had people come to me and say, “I do not want to have anything to do with the God of the Bible, because He is a bloody God.” Is He a bloody God? Let us be honest. Yes, He is. He is a bloody God. But the blood that God sheds is in mercy, sparing multitudes whose lives continue on.

Somehow we must understand that God is a loving God, even in these acts that seem repulsive to us. He knows the heart and the probation of every individual, and He is working to save each one. When that probation is finished, God has to take action. We need to understand that. It will help us appreciate our God much more. God, through His prophet Amos, intended to prepare a people for their coming punishment. He was going to deal with this matter. He was not going to let it pass by, as the people hoped that He would. God said, I have allowed all these horrible things, yet you have not returned unto Me.

Prepare to Meet Thy God

“Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: [and] because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.” Amos 4:12. Every Israelite knew that not one could be in the presence of God and live. Each had, through history and the stories that had been handed down and through the Holy Word of God, instruction that no one could be in the presence of God and live. They all knew that. So in verse 12, when it says, “prepare to meet thy God, O Israel,” it is not meaning, “Why don’t you bring a sacrifice and an offering of repentance so you will be welcomed into the courts of heaven by God?” That is not what it is saying at all. It is telling them that they are going to be ushered into the presence of God. That should have terrified them! The sinner who knows that he is not right with God does not want to be brought into the presence of the holy God, because he knows that is a death sentence.

Amos comes along and tells the Israelites that, in fact, they are going to be ushered into the presence of God and that they had better be prepared to meet Him. How would they react? How will we react?

A Lesson for Us

Amos 4:13 says, “For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what [is] his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The Lord [that is Jehovah, that is the God of heaven], The God of hosts, [is] his name.” He is the one into Whose presence we are going to be ushered—the Creator of the entire Universe. It is judgment hour. God is a merciful God. God is a loving God. But He is also a God of justice, and He will deal with sin. It may take Him a while, and in the process of time, there may be some chastisements along the way to get our attention. But if we ignore them and continue on as we have been, we had better be prepared to meet our God.

To be continued . . .

Pastor Mike Baugher is Associate Speaker for Steps to Life Ministry. He may be contacted by e-mail at: mikebaugher@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

The Filthy Garment, Part II

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We need to not only guard our tongues but guard our ears, as well. During these last days, there are things all around us to which a Christian should not be listening. “My ears must be closed to evil. . . . The ears must not be defiled by listening to any gossip that faultfinding ones would have us hear, for I not only cause them to sin in allowing them to talk of others’ faults, but I sin myself in listening to them.” The Upward Look, 237.

Do you want to quit sinning? If it is a sin to listen to gossip and faultfinding, it is a sin to allow someone to tell it to us. We need to say to them, “I am sorry; you will have to stop talking. I cannot listen. You need to talk directly with the person.” “I can prevent much evil speaking in thus having ears consecrated to God. I can say before the evil is done, ‘Let us pray,’ then ask God to enlighten both our minds to understand our true relation to one another and our true relation to God.” Ibid.

As I have been studying this subject, I realize that if I could put this principle into strict practice, it could really decrease my workload! People call me from all over the world, wanting to tell me about someone else’s wrongs. I have decided that I do not need to listen to such things. These people need to go directly to the person about whom they are talking. Ellen White has told us that as long as we are in this world, there will always be something we can criticize. Did you know that? (See Review and Herald, February 16, 1897.) Things are never going to be perfect in this world.

Someone may think that what I am saying seems to be teaching the Pollyanna attitude, and in historic Adventism, we have never held to this teaching. We have always believed that we need to speak out and speak up when there is sin in the camp. Well, there is a godly way to speak out, and there is a saw-tan [Satan] way to do it. The godly way is to go directly to whomever you know is doing something wrong, talk to them in the meekness and tenderness of Christ, and see if you can help them bring their life into harmony with inspired writings.

If you cannot do this, let them go. If they are living in open sin, and you have gone to them two times, according to Matthew 18, it will be necessary to take their situation to the church for action. If the church will not act, and they allow someone with open sin to stay in that church, then you will have to get out of that church if you want to go to heaven.

When we say that we should not find fault, we are not talking about having a Pollyanna attitude and just letting anything go. This was not Jesus’ instruction. This was not Ellen White’s instruction. In the Review and Herald, July 20, 1905, Mrs. White wrote: “Because we are not to find fault, this does not mean that we are to pass by things that are wrong, without saying a word. If you see one doing wrong, go right to him, and tell him his fault in the way outlined in the Scriptures. In the meekness of Christ tell him the truth, and you may save his soul from death. But if you gloss over the mistakes, leaving those who have made them to think that they have done nothing wrong, you must share in the punishment, because you were unfaithful to your trust.”

So, we are to go directly to the person. We are not to go to someone else and tear down another’s reputation. In fact, Ellen White said that we are never to tear down the reputation. “Many are filled with self-importance and esteem themselves above their brethren. Such should let self die; let the carnal mind be crucified. If you have enmity, suspicion, envy, and jealousy in your hearts, you have a work to do to make these things right. Confess your sins; come into harmony with your brethren. Speak well of them. Throw out no unfavorable hints, no suggestions that will awaken distrust in the minds of others. Guard their reputation as sacredly as you would have them guard yours; love them as you would be loved of Jesus. Work for their interest, instead of seeking to tear them down that you may build yourself upon their ruins. It is Satan’s work to injure the brethren, and he loves to have you help him in it. But disappoint him; do not let him triumph over you.” Ibid., April 29, 1884.

“Do not accuse your brethren. Rather accuse yourselves. An untold amount of mischief is done by words of faultfinding and slander. Never tear down the reputation of a fellow being.” Ibid., November 10, 1910. What could happen in our churches if everyone, waiting for the return of the Lord, would say, “By the grace of God, I am never, ever going to tear down anyone’s reputation again”?

Disfellowshipping Sometimes Necessary

If a person is a faultfinder and they have been reproved for it but will not listen, they are to be disfellowshipped. Not only are they to be disfellowshipped but those who sympathize with them are also to be disfellowshipped.

“There are those members who are busybodies, speaking evil, sowing the seeds of doubt and infidelity, who pay no heed to the light God has given them in His Word. If we have but one church member who by his spirit, words, and influence seeks to counterwork the influence of the minister of Christ, labor with that one faithfully; and if after taking the steps required by Christ, he will not hear, will not change his course of action, then separate him from the church, and let him know the reason why the church cannot hold him in her fellowship. And if there are those who sympathize with him, who will not discern the right from the wrong, who, after patient instruction has been given them, choose to keep on the wrong side, let them also be suspended. God’s name must not be dishonored by murmurers, faultfinders, and those who are continually sowing seeds of disaffection.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 15, 163, 164.

Do you realize, friends, that what we are talking about right now is the very thing that kept the children of Israel in the wilderness for forty years? Of course, we have been in the wilderness for over 150 years.

Jesus has given us an example: “When Christ was living on this earth, how surprised would have been His associates, if, after becoming acquainted with Him, they had heard Him utter one word of impatience, one word of accusation or of faultfinding!” The Paulson Collection of Ellen G. White Letters, 16. His associates would have been shocked if they had ever heard Jesus say anything like that. Oh friend, if you could get a hold of this and if your church could get a hold of it, your church would not only be saved from destruction but it could prosper. People could be brought into your church, and the lambs of the fold, the people who are lost, would not be afraid to come into your church, because it would be a safe place. It would not be a place where people are tearing each other down and destroying each other’s reputations by faultfinding and gossip. It would be a place where people are building up one another. Instead of trying to tear people down by telling them their faults, they would be trying to help them to overcome. “He [Christ] expects those who love Him and believe in Him, to represent Him in character.” Ibid.

A Brand Plucked

Zechariah 3:2 says, “And Jehovah said to the saw-tan [the adversary], Jehovah gives a rebuke to you, the saw-tan. Even Jehovah gives a rebuke to you who has chosen this one at Jerusalem. Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?”

If you are a part of God’s people, you are one of those brands plucked from the fire. The New Testament talks about this. James talks about it in the last few verses of his book. Jude 23 talks about it. Paul talks about it in 1 Thessalonians 1:10: “We have been saved from the coming wrath through Jesus.”

What an awesome, awesome thing to think about. All of us, friends, were absolutely destined to destruction with no way out. We were headed for the fire, all of us, but the Lord said, “I am going to give you a second chance; if it is your desire, I will get you out of the fire.”

Filthy Garments

In Zechariah 3:3, it says, “And Joshua was clothed in filthy garments; he was standing before the angel.” Joshua was clothed in filthy garments. Friends, this is not just a description of history; this is a prophecy about God’s people at the end of time. It should be something that would motivate us to think very seriously. When the Holy Spirit wrote down in prophecy a description of God’s people in the end of time, He said, “They are clothed in filthy garments.” Filthy garments. Are you clothed in filthy garments? You should know, if you are spending time with the Lord and the Holy Spirit is speaking to you, that this is how you are clothed, because the Scriptures say so.

Friends, no one can enter into the kingdom of heaven with a filthy garment. The filthy garments are representative of the sins and the defective characters of God’s people.

The devil’s accusation is so difficult to meet, because it is true. I have noticed that when any human being is accused of anything, —this is true in the world, and it is true in the church—they immediately try to find some flaw in the accusation, so on a technicality, they can show that the accuser is wrong. That happens in the courts all the time; a technicality brings victory.

But friends, you cannot obtain the victory on a technicality of this charge, because the accusation is true. The devil is a liar, but this time he is telling the truth. “While Jesus is pleading for the subjects of His grace, Satan accuses them before God as transgressors. The great deceiver has sought to lead them into skepticism, to cause them to lose confidence in God, to separate themselves from His love, and to break His law. Now he points to the record of their lives, to the defects of character, the unlikeness to Christ, which has dishonored their Redeemer, to all the sins that he has tempted them to commit, and because of these he claims them as his subjects.” The Great Controversy, 484. The devil knows accurately the sins that he has tempted us to commit; he has a complete record, and he brings it to the Lord and says, “Look here. These are your people!” He has a record. The accusation is true.

What to do?

What are we going to do? As awful as this is, I have been encouraged, as I have studied these issues, because I saw that the Lord is going to give a command to “Take those filthy garments off.” (See Zechariah 3:4.) I do not know what you are doing in your private devotions, but in my private devotions, I am praying that the Lord will bring me to the position in my Christian walk where He can remove the filthy garments from me. I want them off. I want His clean clothing placed on me. (See Verse 5.)

“Who will now put on the white robe of Christ’s righteousness, which is without spot or wrinkle, so that Satan cannot in derision point to their filthy garments? Keep the soul clean and pure. You have no time to gather up the mistakes of others. Attend to your own mistakes, and make the erring ashamed by your kindly, sympathetic interest in them.” The Upward Look, 117.

Take encouragement in the following quotes:

“Satan tries to bring reproach against those who are trying to serve and honor God. He presents them in a questionable light, as those who are clothed with filthy garments. God says, take away the filthy garments. You have no right to put them upon my children. Take them away. My people may have imperfections of character. They may fail in their endeavors; but if they repent, I will forgive them.” Review and Herald, April 30, 1901.

“The robe of Christ’s righteousness is prepared for all those who will exchange their own sinful, filthy garments for the robe Jesus has prepared for them. This garment was furnished at great cost by the Son of God, and he presents it as a free gift to any one, rich or poor, high or low, wise or ignorant, who will exchange his sin-defiled garments for this robe of matchless purity.” The Youth’s Instructor, August 11, 1886.

“There are very many who cling to their filthy garments, which Christ stands ready to remove, choosing the spots and stains of sin rather than the pure robe of Christ’s righteousness. The pure and holy garments are not prepared to be put on by any one after he has entered the gate of the city. All who enter will have on the robe of Christ’s righteousness and the name of God will be seen in their foreheads. This name is the symbol which the apostle saw in vision, and signifies the yielding of the mind to intelligent and loyal obedience to all of God’s commandments. There will be no covering up of sins and faults to hide the deformity of character; no robes will be half washed; but all will be pure and spotless.” Ibid.

“Jesus loves His children, even if they err. They belong to Jesus and we are to treat them as the purchase of the blood of Jesus Christ. Any unreasonable course pursued toward them is written in the books as against Jesus Christ. He keeps His eye upon them, and when they do their best, calling upon God for His help, be assured the service will be accepted, although imperfect. Jesus is perfect. Christ’s righteousness is imputed unto them, and He will say, Take away the filthy garments from him, and clothe him with change of raiment. Jesus makes up for our unavoidable deficiencies.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 2, 184.

Are there unavoidable deficiencies? Evidently. We do not know what the unavoidable deficiencies are of somebody else. That is why we must not judge them nor find fault with them. We do not know! There are some people who have physical deficiencies that they cannot help. We can recognize those things. But there are people who have mental and spiritual deficiencies that they cannot help. Only the Lord knows, so we must not judge them. Now, there is no excuse for open sin, whatever the deficiency is. But Mrs. White says that Jesus makes up for our unavoidable deficiencies.

This is good news! We should be glad there is Somebody that knows! God does not ask us to do something that we cannot do without His help. He says, “Do not worry about the unavoidable deficiencies.” The Lord is going to make up for those, but are we doing our best, and are we asking the Lord to help us?

Lord’s Injunction

Zechariah 3:7 says, “Thus said Jehovah of hosts: If in my ways you will walk and if my injunction you will keep, also you will judge my house, and also you will keep my courts.” What does He mean when He says, “If you will keep my injunction”? What is the Lord’s injunction? Ellen White tells us very plainly that it is the Ten Commandments. (See Manuscript Releases, vol. 21, 385.) The Ten Commandments is not ten laws. It is one law with ten parts, so it is spoken of in the singular throughout the Bible.

The encouraging thing to me, as I have studied this, is that there is going to be a group of people in the world who are going to have the filthy garments removed, and they are going to have the festal garments placed upon them. They are going to be the people who keep the injunction; they will keep the commandments. Friends, I want to be one of those people.

Jesus told the Jews, “If you do not believe that I am the one, you are going to die in your sins.” John 8:24. Many, many times I have prayed to the Lord asking that He does not let me die in my sins. That is all. If I die in this world, that is all right, but I do not want to die in my sins. If the filthy garments are going to be removed and if the festal garments are going to be put on, it is going to happen in this world—not in heaven.

“After the filthy garments have been removed, the subject changes, showing that this has its application in the future. If the people of God will walk in the ways of the Lord and keep His charge, which is the ten commandments, then the promise is that they shall judge His house and have places to walk among the angels.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 21, 385.

There will be a group of people upon whom the Lord will look and say, “These people have repented. These people are not going any longer in the way of sin.” You see, the Lord cannot take away the filthy garments from most of the people in the world and give them festal garments, because they would get them dirty the first day of wearing them. A woman does not put on her wedding dress and then change the oil in her car. She does not put on the dress until she is going to keep it clean.

The same applies here. The Lord cannot take away our filthy garments and place upon us the festal garments until we are in a condition where we will not get the festal garments filthy. That is the condition, the experience, that I want. Is that the experience you want? If it is, ask the Lord to give it to you.

[Bible texts quoted are literal translation.]

Pastor Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life Ministry and pastor of the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.