Bible

Lessons From the Book of Amos – Part VI

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Reading the Book of Amos is a disturbing experience, because as we read, we are faced with the awesome demands a righteous God makes on the lives of His people. We are also presented with the consequences, if we do not follow the commands that God makes upon our lives.

In Part v of this series [April 2004], we noted the parallels between the church of Laodicea and the children of Israel with whom Amos dealt. In the message to the church of Laodicea, we know that, if it does not come into line with God’s position, He is going to spew it out. (Revelation 3:16.) In Amos, we are told the process that the church will go through. It is all revealed to us there. It is not a welcome message; it is not a comforting message, and if we have not been perturbed and disturbed by it, we probably have not yet grasped the message of Amos.

Selective Hearing

In reality, I think all of us have that little mechanism built into us where we tune things out. If you have ever had dogs, you know how they can exercise tuning you out when they want to. They will filter out all the whistles, all the shouts, and all the screams that are supposed to make them come to you or to mind. But it is uncanny how they can hear the rattling of their dish when food is being poured into it. They may be at the other end of the house or out in the field, but they can hear that food being poured into the dish, and they know that it is time to eat. Human beings are a lot like that as well!

We all have our sophisticated ways of tuning out what we do not want to hear. We find this technique, often called selective hearing, operational in the lives of husbands and wives. We tune out what we do not want to hear.

If we human beings can find ways of avoiding messages from each other, we certainly can do that with God. But God tells us over and over again, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22. He speaks to us out of heaven with all the authority of our Creator and as the One Who has the right to rule and to control our lives. But we bristle when God wants to control our lives for us. If what He wants us to do does not meet our selective hearing, there is a tendency for us to tune Him out.

This is what was happening in Israel of old. They also had selective hearing. They did not want to hear that God had the right to rule over them or that He had the right to expect them to respond. For the most part, sinful human beings do not want to be ruled over; they want to rule. If you do not think this is true, then I do not think you have heard the message that has been presented in the Book of Amos.

Filtered Messages

As we study the prophets of old, there is a tendency to filter out the messages that they delivered, because we do not want to face the truth that their messages have applications to us today. We especially hold this view pertaining to the Old Testament. And even though we, as Seventh-day Adventists, like to console ourselves that we are Bible Christians, when we come to a commanding passage in the Old Testament, we like to say that it applied to the people in that day. If there is something in the New Testament with which we do not want to come into harmony, we say that that instruction was given 2,000 years ago.

And then we look at the messages and instructions given in the Spirit of Prophecy, written just over 100 years ago. There are those today who allege that Ellen White was a creature of her day and time—that her writings do not really apply to us. There are even some people who want to rewrite her writings and update the English. I have never had any problem reading what she has to say. It is very clear to me. But there is always the desire to tinker with something that we do not want to hear. Amos 7 gives an account of this.

Vision of Disaster

“Thus hath the Lord God shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, [it was] the latter growth after the king’s mowings. And it came to pass, [that] when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord God, forgive, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he [is] small. The Lord repented for this: It shall not be, saith the Lord.” Verses 1–3.

Here is described a vision of judgment given to Amos. It was a vision of a natural disaster about to occur. The latter crop is referred to in verse 1. The first crop, or the first mowing, was given to the king as a tax, and the people had to depend upon the second mowing to not only feed themselves but also their animals and to have enough left over for the next year.

There is always more in the first mowing than there is in the second mowing, so you can imagine what was left—only enough for the people to just get by. But in this vision, Amos saw grasshoppers come in and begin to eat things down so that nothing was left. When Amos saw this, he, like Moses, began to intercede on behalf of Israel to God, so this would not take place. And the Bible says that God changed this disaster. He let it pass. He said, “It shall not be.”

Then Amos is given another vision.

“Thus hath the Lord God shewed unto me: and, behold, the Lord God called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part. Then said I, O Lord God, cease, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he [is] small. The Lord repented for this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord God.” Verses 4–6.

Now, if the grasshoppers were a picture of a natural disaster, fire would seem to be something supernatural. If you have ever been through an area where a forest fire has burned, you know how devastating it is. All the vegetation has been destroyed, and it takes many years for restoration to take place.

That was the vision God gave to Amos—a warning of the devastation that was to come upon Israel as a judgment. And Amos said, “Lord, please, spare them; they are so small.” And the Lord said, “Alright, this is not going to happen.”

Intercessory Prayer

I wonder how many times intercessory prayer, prayer that we may never even know about, has spared us. Here was Israel, doing things that they thought God had no idea of, and the only reason they were spared judgment was because of God’s prophet. They did not even like Amos, but he was interceding on their behalf.

I am sure that we all have stories we could tell, either about parents or grandparents, who have interceded on our behalf. We will never really know or understand how many times intercessory prayer has preserved us until we enter into the kingdom of heaven.

The Plumbline

But then a third vision is given.

“Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall [made] by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand. And the Lord said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumb-line. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more: And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.” Verses 7–9.

A plumbline is a very basic tool of masonry or carpentry. It is used to build a wall so that the wall is plumb, that is, exactly vertical or true. The wall referred to in verse 7 had been established using a plumbline. It was set vertically straight by a plumbline.

Amos, in vision, saw the Lord standing like a construction foreman or a surveyor with a plumbline in His hand. He was checking the wall to see if it was still straight, if it was still bearing the load all right, and if it was still correctly aligned. He was looking to see that there was no hint of bulges or overhanging tilts or cracks or something that would cause the wall to go over.

What is the meaning of this vision? It is saying that the Lord brought Israel into being. He promised to save them; His laws were there to guide them. They were supposed to be in a covenant relationship with God and with His Law, and because of that, it was now necessary for God to take a plumb-line in His hand and to measure that wall to see if it was still straight.

God periodically comes by every one who has entered into a covenant relationship with Him and uses the plumbline to see if we are still straight and upright. It is not an arbitrary assessment; it is a highly precise and discriminating act, and we need to learn from Amos that this is how God works with His people. When we have agreed to be obedient to God’s Law and when we have been baptized to wash away our past sins, God uses the plumbline to continue measuring us.

Right to Measure

The two visions that Amos saw about disaster—the grasshoppers and the fire—have given way to a vision of something far more familiar in small scale, something almost domestic—the building of a wall with a plumbline. No disaster was involved in that. Grasshoppers coming through the field are disastrous. A fire sweeping through and consuming everything is disastrous. But using a plumbline to measure a wall is not disastrous. Everybody knows that a leaning wall cannot stand. A leaning wall has to be demolished and rebuilt.

The first two of these three visions equaled the equivalent of hell. This is the destruction; this is the wasting that is going to take place when judgment comes. The third vision of the plumbline is asking how are you going to measure up? Amos does not make any comment against this vision of judgment. He does not fall down on his knees and begin to pray, “Lord, spare Jacob.” The disasters of grasshoppers and fire had been canceled out in answer to the prayers of Amos. But Amos does not make any appeal against the use of the plumbline, because there is nothing harsh or capricious or arbitrary about God measuring His people. He has the right to do that.

Amos knew that. He knew what was going on, and if he should pray that God would overlook this fact—“Lord, do not measure Your people”—he would be a false prophet, because the words of the prophet deal with measuring.

Like Moses and others, he knew that this was God’s right and that it was helpful for His people. But Amos also knew that judgment would come, because he knew what was taking place in Israel.

Coming Judgment

The Bible never lets us escape from the fact that there is a judgment coming, and we are held morally accountable. As we see this fact being brought about in the Book of Amos, it should sober us in our thinking. This is why the apostle tells us that we are to be sober. (1 Peter 1:13; 4:7.) It should sober our thinking, because we live in a universe where good and evil matter. A lot of people do not think that evil matters. A lot of people do not think that good matters. But in God’s universe, good and evil matter, and where and on what side we place ourselves does matter.

“Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land. Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it [is] the king’s chapel, and it [is] the king’s court.” Verses 10–13.

Apparently, Amos had been telling what was going on around the countryside. That is not always the best or the most enviable posi-tion in which to be found. There was an encounter with the High Priest of the county, and this man went to the king and told him that Amos was conspiring against him.

Church and State Integration

Let us ask some questions here:

First of all, who was this man Amaziah? He was the priest of Bethel; he held a religious position. One of the things we need to understand is that for Israel the church and the state were very integrated. The priest and the king were to work together. The church controlled the state; religious ideas were to overrule any civil ideas of the government.

If we were to translate this into a setting of spiritual understanding today, we would see that the priest of Bethel would be like the Secretary of the Northern Conference of Israel, and the king would represent the conference president.

The priest dealt with the sanctuary; the king dealt with the business administration of God’s people. The king ruled God’s people; the priest dealt with the sacrifices of the temple. They worked very closely together.

Here was Amaziah, a priest, trying to pull rank on Amos, who was God’s prophet. Amos, if you please, was a self-supporting minister in God’s cause, and Amaziah was attempting to control how his ministry was run. This offers the opportunity for many parallels, but I will suggest only one. The priest of the order and organization was trying to dictate how independent ministries were to work and to operate! Indeed there is nothing new under the sun!

Attempt to Prejudice the Hearer

Amaziah was passing on information designed to prejudice the king from even entertaining the message that Amos had for him. He was building a case against Amos and his message so the king would not even consider whether or not the words that Amos spoke were true.

How many times have we heard about those kinds of things happening today? They happen so often on a religious level. If someone has a position to defend, many times they will go to any length to defend that position, even to the extent of misrepresenting the facts. They resort to bribery or falsehood or whatever meets the need at the moment.

Amaziah misrepresented Amos and then turned on him, and in so many words, he told Amos, “You are out of your league up here. This is religious headquarters. It is not the right place for a small-town preacher like you. Anyway, you belong in the south. They will enjoy your prophecy down there. Go back there, if you want to make a living.”

The expression in verse 12, “go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there,” implies that Amos was only doing the work of God for money. “You are only up here causing all this trouble, operating this independent ministry for the money that you get out of it.” Of course, that is always the issue with religious headquarters who think that they have a corner on the market of the self-supporting minister.

As mentioned before, religion and politics were mixed together in this setting, and for a prophet to predict the imminent fall of the nation and the death of the monarch, as Amos did in verse 9, would have been seen as terribly demoralizing and politically treacherous. So Amaziah took it upon himself to deal with this prophet by using misrepresentation and belittlement. Amos was not welcome. No wonder the land could not bear Amos’ words. No wonder the established religious leader tried to silence him. It was the natural response of the human heart. Amaziah felt he was just doing his duty. We need to understand that those conditions have not really changed at all today.

Chosen of God

Notice Amos’ response: “Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I [was] no prophet, neither [was] I a prophet’s son; but I [was] an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit: And the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.” Verses 14, 15.

If we examine Amos’ reference to his occupation as a shepherd and a tender of sycomore trees, it appears that he was answering Amaziah’s criticism of prophesying for money by saying that he had no need of the prophet’s stipend, and he was not doing the work for the money. Amos made it clear that his background was entirely secular, that he was dedicated to the Lord and that the Lord had chosen him and had sent him.

God had chosen him because He could not find anyone else—not even from the ranks of the religious orders or from the king’s court or from the sanctuary—who could be used to carry His message. He sought one who was tending sheep and said, “I want you.”

Amos then became a type of the Great Shepherd, the One who comes to us bringing the message of gospel and truth. God chose a holy man. The Bible says, “Holy men of God spake [as they were] moved by the Holy Ghost.” 11 Peter 1:21. You do not have to be a priest; you do not have to be a king to carry God’s message of salvation. All you have to be is one who is dedicated wholly and completely to God, and He can use you in His cause.

“Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I [was] no prophet.” A lot of people asked Ellen White if she was a prophet. She always responded that she did not claim to be a prophet but a messenger of the Lord. The same feeling probably welled up in Amos when he was asked this. He said, “I am no prophet, neither am I a prophet’s son.” This is where the phrase comes from that we use so many times—“I am not a prophet or the son of a prophet, but I can tell you, from what I see, that . . . .”

Work of Lay People

It is interesting to note that God called an Israelite to preach to Israelites. That is the method God uses to get His message across. If the professional rank and file are not going to do His will in completing the work He has called them to do, then He is going to raise up lay people to accomplish His purpose. When that happens, a scorning of the work that the lay people accomplish is going to take place. We need to be ready for that. If the message cannot be refuted from the writings of Inspiration, then you better watch out, because God has declared that His word will not return to Him void. You need to be aware, however, that there is always going to be opposition to the preaching of the truth.

Amaziah had said, in effect, that there was no salary for Amos, no career future. But Amos replied, “I am not a career man. I am a called man. The Lord took me from tending the flock, and He told me to go prophesy to His people, Israel.”

This is where spiritual gifts come into play. If God calls you to do a work for Him, He will equip you to accomplish the work. God calls individuals to ministry.

I believe that one of the failures that took place in Israel regarding the sanctuary was that those who were working in the sanctuary did not have a calling. They had a birthright. How many preachers’ kids do you know who have gone into ministry that did not have the same dedication as the father? The reason probably is that they did not have the calling to ministry. The father may have had the calling to ministry. The father may have encouraged the son to follow in his footsteps in ministry, but if that child did not have the call of God to go into ministry, it would be better that he work the plow than to try to fulfill a calling for which he has not been equipped. If God calls you to ministry, He will equip you for that ministry. He will give you the gift that is necessary for you to accomplish His ministry.

Service or Career Choice

There was a vast difference between Amos and Amaziah. This difference still divides those in full-time, Christian service today. The decision to serve God in full-time service can never be simply a career choice. I have colleagues who have selected ministry as a career choice, rather than being called of God. This was not the case with Amos. Amos did not decide one day that he was tired of following sheep from hillside to hillside and then choose to change professions and begin preaching. He did not think to himself that with such a change he would not have to get up so early in the morning to tend the sheep or worry about those who were out on the hillside in the bad weather. He did not consider that all he would need to do is preach on Sabbath morning and be done for the rest of the week. A lot of people believe that of a preacher. I do not think that very many of them have followed a preacher throughout the weekly routine to see just what he does.

Amos was not trying to focus attention on any sacrifice that
he was making to do God’s will. Rather, he was admitting his own lack of qualifications for the job. In effect, he was agreeing with Ama-ziah that he was out of his league as a country boy in the king’s sanctuary at Bethel. In other words, this messenger was utterly insignificant. What mattered is the fact that the Lord had sent him. He had a message from God, and Amos was driven by the message that he had received.

It was not his qualification for the job that put him where he was; it was God. All we need is a heart to obey God. That is all Amos had. We each need to pray for a heart to obey God, and if we are listening to the Word of God and trying to obey it, God can and will use us. When the occasion arose to defend the cause of God, all Amos needed was the word from God, and he was ready to go; he packed his suitcases and was ready.

“The Lord took me,” he said, “as I followed the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.”

Judgment Proclaimed

“Now therefore hear thou the word of the Lord: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not [thy word] against the house of Isaac. Therefore thus saith the Lord; Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land.” Amos 7:16, 17.

That was Amos’ response to Amaziah. He was told not to prophesy again at Bethel. So what does Amos do in response? He immediately goes and prophesies against Israel at Bethel.

The location was important. Amaziah had not forbidden Amos to preach. He had not said, “Do not preach those things at all anywhere.” He just said, “Do not point out the wrongs that are being done at Bethel.” Why? Because that was the king’s chapel.

The offense of preaching often is found in where God’s message is delivered. Nobody minds the preaching of the Three Angels’ Messages, as long as the judgment is not part of the matter. “You can preach that all you want, but do not include us; do not point out what we are doing that is wrong! Tell all the people you want that they are going to hell, but do not tell us at headquarters that we are going to hell or that we are in danger of judgment.” This is basically what Amos was being told—“Go into someone else’s district; do not come into my district.”

Not My Backyard

A good friend of mine, a retired minister—independent minister now—was on an airplane in the Northwest. Little did he know, as he boarded the plane, that already seated in the plane was the local conference president. The conference president did not reveal himself to this man until after the plane landed at its destination. My friend got off first. The conference president followed him down the concourse and, coming up behind him, ran into him to the extent that it almost knocked him off his feet. When he recovered his composure, the conference president said to him, “What are you doing in my district?” My friend gave an excellent response: “I did not know it was your district. I thought it was God’s district.”

For Amos to speak in Jerusalem, where he was from, the things that God had told him to speak in Bethel would not have accomplished the purpose that God intended. God called him to preach in Bethel. His words, in verse 17, concerning Amaziah, his wife, his children, his land, and where he himself would end up would cause little or no problem if preached in Jerusalem. But speaking those things in the back yard where the priest lived was going to cause some problems. It would not be appreciated.

God had not just given Amos a message; He had given him a destination for that message. God said, “Go and prophesy to my people Israel.”

Rebuke; Exhort

Sometimes it is very difficult to deal with religious issues in the way that we should. It is not easy to speak out, pointing out areas where evil is taking place, but when God gives the message and calls us to go with that message, do you realize that we would be lost eternally if we did not carry out that message?

Ellen White would lament many times; she would weep before the Lord that she did not want to deliver the messages that God gave to her. She did not want to hurt people’s feelings with the messages that she had to carry. But she carried them anyway. She spoke them anyway. (See Spiritual Gifts, vol. 2, 60, 61.) We will never understand the anguish that she went through in having to do it.

In the instruction Paul gave to Timothy, the young man who would follow in his footsteps, he said, “Rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering.” 11 Timothy 4:2. That was where Amos’ personal experience was found. He told Amaziah that he must be obedient to what God had called him to do and that there was a vast difference between the word of man and the Word of the Lord.

Difference in the Word

Perhaps in Amos’ day it was at times difficult to distinguish the difference, particularly when some prophets spoke falsely in the name of the Lord, but that is not the case today. Why is that not the case today? Because, as 11 Peter 1:19 says, “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed.” We now have the written Word of God, and that becomes the basis and the foundation of everything that we are to be and everything that we are to do. There is no doubt today about what God has said. We do not have to say, “Well, I heard this prophet, and I heard that prophet, and I heard another prophet, and I cannot figure it out.” No, we go to the Word, and there we find what is the truth. We can be sure that word, that message from God, always remains the same.

How are we to deal with situations like this? We see in this much more than just ourselves. We have before us the setting of prophet and priest, a setting where there is the confronting of the unwelcome, unsettling, unchanging Word of God. How are we to relate to that? How are we to cope with the voice of God when it applies to our situation?

Remember, we do not want to fall into the trap of filtering. When the Word comes, do not tune it out—examine it. Even though it may be cutting across our grain, do not filter it out. Do not become angry with the one who gives the message. Study it out; see if it is the truth. If you want to be angry with someone because it is the truth, be angry with the Lord, but do not be angry with the one who spoke the Word of the Lord. Does that sound reasonable? God can deal with anger. The message is the word of truth, so do not filter out what God is trying to get across. We will be in the same danger as Israel of old, if we do.

Do not try to fudge things or sort out things and put them into categories that we can get around. Take them as they come. If we will take God at His Word and apply God’s Word into our lives, it will not be long before Jesus can come. I am looking forward to that. I am longing for that day. I am getting tired of the things that I see going on in the world. I want it brought to an end. I want the Lord to come soon, and I know that you do, too. But we need to make sure that we are following as closely as we can what God has revealed to us in His Word.

To be continued . . .

Clean Hands and Pure Hearts, Part I

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We, in historic Adventism, have been involved in a spiritual war. The most painful thing about this war is that it involves our own brethren. It involves people who we have loved so dearly, those who we just cannot bear to fight, and yet we must because of the apostasy. We have been fighting, not because we enjoy it, but because a war is going on, and we must fight in order to have a clear conscience. We must proclaim the truth to have a clear conscience.

Ministers have been teaching in Seventh-day Adventist churches that all one must do to be saved is just believe in Jesus—one can go on sinning and be saved anyway. There are ministers who are telling people that they will sin until Jesus comes, and then they will go to heaven.

That is not what the Bible says, and that is not what the Spirit of Prophecy says.

Because people will go to hell as a result of what they have been taught and believed, historic Seventh-day Adventist preachers have said, “We have to tell people the truth, and we have to engage in a war with this false doctrine.” That is what we have been doing.

When you attend historic Seventh-day Adventist meetings, you will hear about the New Testament doctrine of perfection. You will hear about the necessity of overcoming sin. I have been studying Psalm 24 for quite some time and investigating the Spirit of Prophecy on the subject of clean hands and pure hearts. There are many Spirit of Prophecy quotations on this subject. There are also many Bible verses that apply to this study. Jesus is coming to take a people, and these people are going to have clean hands and pure hearts, without one spot or blemish. While all of this is true, I want to give you a word of encouragement.

All Things Are Possible

Sometimes people become discouraged. They are presented the standard, and they begin to weep. They become depressed, and they feel discouraged. They think they will never make it and believe they are stuck. If that is how you feel, consider what happened the morning after the transfiguration of Jesus.

The record of the transfiguration of Jesus is recorded in Mark 9:2–13. Jesus and the three disciples—Peter, James, and John—are coming down from the mountain, and it says, in verses 14–23, “Coming to the disciples [that is the rest of the disciples] they saw a great crowd around them and scribes arguing with them. And immediately the crowd, seeing him, was greatly amazed, and running towards him they greeted him. And he said to them, ‘What are you arguing with them about?’ And a certain one answered him, out of the crowd, ‘Teacher, I brought my son to you having a dumb spirit [that is, he could not speak]; And wherever he seizes him it dashes him and he foams at the mouth and he gnashes his teeth and he wastes away. And I brought him to your disciples that they might cast it out, but they were not able.’ And answering, he says to them, ‘Oh faithless generation, how long am I going to be with you? how long am I going to endure you? bring him to me.’ And they brought him to him; and seeing him, the spirit immediately convulsed him and falling upon the earth he wallowed, foaming, and Jesus questioned the father saying, ‘How long a time is this that he has been like this?’ And he said, ‘Since childhood. And often times he has cast him into the fire and into the water that he might destroy him. And if you are able to do anything, please help us and have compassion on us.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘If you are able, all things are possible to the one who believes.’ ”

This is a man whose son has had a problem since childhood that he cannot overcome. Have you ever met somebody who has a besetting sin in his or her life that they cannot overcome, and that person declares, “I am going to quit”? Mark Twain said, “It is not hard to quit smoking; I have quit a thousand times.” So the individual quits the sin for a week; then the habit overcomes them again. Or maybe they are more successful than that. Maybe they quit for a month; then it overcomes them again. Maybe they quit for three months, and then it overpowers them again. They quit; they start again—repeatedly. Friend, this is the real world. I am not talking about something imaginary. I talk with such people. I visit with them in their homes and in the hospitals. After this pattern has been repeated over and over again, people sometimes become discouraged.

Envy and Jealousy

That is what happened to the father in Mark 9. He had already brought this boy to the leaders of the Christian church. I do not know if you have ever been in a situation where you have dealt with someone who has been possessed of an evil spirit. I have. Surely there is no situation where a human being feels more helpless. The elders of the church gather around, and when the evil spirit takes control of the person, the church leaders begin to pray, because they know that they cannot cast that evil spirit out; there is no human power that can take an evil spirit out of somebody.

If you are a minister, an elder, or a teacher, study what Ellen White says in The Desire of Ages concerning those nine disciples who were at the base of the mountain and why they could not cast out the devil.

These nine disciples had a real problem with feelings of envy and jealousy, because three of the disciples were given certain privileges that these nine did not have. Can you see how easy that would be? Let’s say you are a disciple; Jesus calls Peter, James, and John and takes them off separately for a special trip, and you are not asked to go. That happened quite a few times, did it not? It certainly did.

Because the nine disciples had feelings of envy and jealousy in their hearts, when they tried to cast out the evil spirit, the spirit just mocked them.

My dear friend, there is a reason. When people possessed of evil spirits call upon Seventh-day Adventist ministers, elders, and deacons to pray for them to cast out the demons, there is a reason why they are not successful. It is a reason for which every one of us who is a minister or an elder or a deacon in the church needs to go to the Lord. We need to pray, “Lord, are there any feelings or thoughts in my heart, in my mind, or in my life—are there any sinful thoughts, any sinful feelings, any sinful words, or any sinful actions in my life—that prevent You from working through me?”

Incurable

You see, if we go to meet these situations in our own natural temperaments, we are in this situation. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things.” The next Hebrew word in this text is a very interesting one. It is the word ‘anash, which means incurable. What does the Bible say about the heart of man? It says that it is deceitful above all things and is incurable. That is the way the Bible describes your heart and my heart.

What hope is there, if it is incurable? The text continues, “Who can know it?” Well, who can know it? Ellen White states that one of our problems is that “the vileness of the human heart is not understood.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 18, 295. So when humans, with hearts like this, come into contact with an evil spirit, it is just going to mock them, even if it is more evil than they are.

Our only hope is that there is a Divine Physician that specializes in incurable diseases. The Bible says, in both the Old and New Testaments, that the natural man has to be crucified and has to die. It is so bad that you cannot improve it. You just have to get rid of it and get a new heart, because it says, “the heart of man is deceitful above all things;” it is incurable.

David’s Prayer

That is what David was praying about in Psalm 51. David’s experience has been a stumbling block to Christians ever since that time. It has been difficult for a lot of people to understand. You see, there will be people on the outside of the Holy City who are lost and who will burn up in hellfire that never killed a man and took his wife. Yet, what David did has been used as an excuse. The Lord told him that from then on the wicked would blaspheme his name because of what he had done. He also told him that the sword would never leave his house. It is true to this present day. But if the Holy Spirit ever reveals to you how incurable and deceitful your own heart is, then the story of David will take on a new meaning, because you will discover that as sinful as you are, you can be saved.

One of the reasons people become discouraged is because the Holy Spirit has been speaking to their hearts. The first thing the Holy Spirit does, if there is sin in your heart, is to point out the sin. John 16 teaches that. And people, when they begin to get just a little inkling of how vile they are, say, “There is no hope for somebody this bad.” That would be true for all of us, if there was not Someone that specializes in people who have hearts that are incurable and desperately wicked.

A Pure Heart

Psalm 51 is the Psalm that David prayed after Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had been with Bathsheba. (See 11 Samuel 11:2, 3.) In verse 10, he says, “Create in me, Oh God, a pure heart.” He knew he did not have one. It is a very interesting word he used here, bara’. It is the very same word that is used in Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created [bara’] the heavens and the earth.” How did He create it? He spoke it. Psalm 33:9 says: “He spoke and it was.” (See also verse 6.) There was nothing there before, but He spoke and then it was. David used the same word. He knew that his heart was so bad it could not be improved, so he said, “I need You to create a pure heart for me, because I need a new one.”

Friend, you and I need new hearts too. We need pure hearts. Maybe God has allowed you to become discouraged so you would realize what you needed. You need what David needed. You need a new heart, a pure heart, and the only way that you are going to get one is if God creates one, because the natural one you were given in your first birth is not pure. It is “deceitful above all things,” and it is incurable.

You can pray the same prayer as David prayed. God will hear the prayer, because you are praying it right out of His Word. It says, “Create,” and that means speak. Create something out of nothing. Ask God to create a new heart for you. Tell Him that the one you have is deceitful and incurable, and you need a new one. David said, “Create in me a pure heart.” That is the kind of heart you must have to go to heaven. Nobody with a deceitful heart can go to heaven. Nobody with a wicked heart can go to heaven. But you cannot change your heart. Only Someone else can create in you a pure heart.

Humble Spirit

David had been in the true church for a long time when he had become involved with Bathsheba. He was so scared when he realized how bad he really was. He was afraid that he had committed the unpardonable sin. He was afraid that the Lord would take the Holy Spirit from him, and he would be lost. He said, “Lord, Lord, please help me. If You want me to give You sacrifices, I will, but I know that will not help. That is not what You want.” You see, David was a rich man. It would not have been any problem for him to give a great number of sacrifices. He was the king. But he knew the Lord desired someone with a humble and broken spirit. My friend, if you are willing to study this prayer and if you are willing to humble your spirit and if your spirit is broken because the Holy Spirit has revealed to you how bad you are, ask God to create in you a pure heart.

Steadfast Spirit

David prayed, “And renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10. That word steadfast means to stand firm, to be established, to be faithful, to be fixed—a spirit that cannot be moved. He had not had a steadfast spirit. He knew he needed a new spirit; he needed a pure heart, and he asked the Lord to give it to him.

Speech Changed

Friend, if you and I have received new hearts, pure hearts, our speech is going to change. We do not know our hearts. We do not know, many of us, whether we have the old, deceitful, incurable heart or whether we have the new heart, so the Lord, in His inspired writings, gives us some clues. We cannot read other people’s hearts; we cannot even read our own hearts. They are so desperately wicked; they deceive us with self-deceit, and we do not even know what is the condition of our hearts. The Lord gives us some pointers so we can begin to understand our hearts by what is on the outside.

Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” Matthew 12:34. If you start praying about this and begin evaluating your speech, it will reveal whether or not your heart has been changed. If David’s heart had been changed, he would rather have died than to take another man’s wife. The way you can know if your heart has been changed is to monitor how you talk about your neighbor.

If you do anything to diminish your neighbor’s reputation, you do not have a new heart—yet. You still have the old, deceitful heart that is incurable. If you see that I have a problem and you do not come talk to me about it but go tell somebody else, that is proof you do not yet have a new heart. Not yet. When you have the new heart, you will love your neighbor as yourself, and you will never do anything to hurt them, even if they sin. Oh, you may say that it will hurt them if you go and talk to them about the problem. Yes. That is the same as getting a thorn in your finger when you were a child and going to your mother and asking her to remove the thorn, even though you knew that it would hurt to get it out. Why? It was going to hurt less to get it out at the time than to leave it in there. For sure, it is going to hurt if you go talk to somebody because they have a sin problem in their life, but it is going to hurt less than if you do not go to them.

What is going to have to happen? Oh friend, I long to see the day when, among God’s people, we have pure hearts and clean hands. We will be filled with the Holy Spirit as a result! We will have unity and harmony like we have never before seen. And when we come into contact with people who are possessed with evil spirits, we will be just like the apostles. When the apostle Paul came into contact with that girl who was possessed with an evil spirit, Scripture says that he was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he turned around and commanded the spirit to leave, and it left. (Acts 16:16–18.)

We are not like that today. There is a reason for it. We are just like those nine disciples. We gather around and pray, and may the Lord be praised, and may we be gracious and thankful for His mercy, but I can tell you, friend, we do not have the power the apostles had. We do not have it. We might as well recognize that we do not have it. We need to pray that we will come into a condition that we can have it, like they had it. There will be a time before probation closes when there will be a primitive godliness amongst God’s people that has not been since apostolic times. And friend, I am willing to be the doorkeeper, to perform any lowly office, as long as I can be part of it.

A Way Out

The nine disciples could not cast out the demon, because they had the wrong spirit. They were jealous and envious of the privileged three. That was the same problem the devil had in heaven. He was jealous of Christ.

The devil goes around trying to get all of us. No matter who you are, the devil can find somebody of whom you can be jealous. That was their problem, and they could not cast out the evil spirit.

The father was discouraged. His son had a problem that they could not overcome. No matter what they did, it came back. This is like the person who has a besetting sin that he cannot overcome. He may quit it for a month, but then it comes back. Maybe he quits it for three months, but it comes back, until finally he is so discouraged that, like this father, he says to Jesus, “Lord, if you can do anything, please have compassion on me, and help me.” Jesus promised, “If you are able to believe, all things are possible to the one who believes.” Mark 9:23. All things are possible.

Does that include the drug addict? Yes. I work with drug addicts. Does it include the alcoholic? Yes. Does it include the prostitute? Yes. Actually, as bad as that is, I am not as concerned for their eternal salvation. A lot of prostitutes have been saved in Jesus’ time and our time. I am not as concerned about the prostitutes as the people who go to the prostitutes.

Oh friend, where are you? Somebody needs a word of encouragement, because the devil has you in a situation where you think there is no way out. That is where this father was. He was in a situation where he thought there was no way out. But if you come to Jesus, there is a way out, because He is the way out. And He said, “If you are able, all things are possible to the one who believes.”

To be continued . . .

Lessons From the Book of Amos – Part VII

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As we study the Book of Amos, we need to pray for God’s eyesalve to look not only at what was transpiring in the past but to also see what is happening in the time in which we live.

Too often we find ourselves reading God’s Word for an immediate answer to some problem or difficulty that we might have at the time—a solution that will answer the questions for the here and now. But this is not really the way to study God’s Word. Ellen White tells us that the prophets wrote more for our day than for the day in which they themselves lived, so our study of Amos is timely. (See Selected Messages, Book 3, 338, 339.)

Sad Judgment

Reading the contents of Amos 8 is like reading the obituary at the funeral of a friend, because we realize the finality of the deceased one’s life. Amos 8 is a sad chapter. What makes it even sadder is that the same dire consequences and circumstances will fall upon God’s people at the end of time as fell upon God’s people, Israel, in the Northern kingdom. Those who have had the benefit and the privileges of knowing the Three Angels’ Messages will, we are told, leave by the millions. We boast today, in Seventh-day Adventism, a membership of over 12 million, but one day, millions of these members will leave. Many, we are told by the Pen of Inspiration, will leave this truth and join the ranks of the opposition. (See The Great Controversy, 608; Historical Sketches of the Foreign Missions of the Seventh-day Adventists, 195, 196.)

The story does not end there. “Standard after standard was left to trail in the dust as company after company from the Lord’s army joined the foe and tribe after tribe from the ranks of the enemy united with the commandment-keeping people of God.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 41. We are told that “the broken ranks will be filled up by those represented by Christ as coming in at the eleventh hour.” Last Day Events, 182.

The circumstances in the Northern kingdom were bleak, and it was into this situation that Amos came. He was not a citizen of Israel. He had come from the Southern kingdom of Judah. When he arrived, Amos began to deliver to the nations around Israel the message he had been given, declaring that it would not be long until the wrath of God would fall upon them.

The people of Israel, upon hearing Amos’ message, said, “Amen, brother, preach on. Preach it like it is.” He was naming the sins of the other countries and declaring that they and even the Southern kingdom, where he was from, would receive punishment. None of this got Amos in trouble. I suspect this part of his preaching brought a lot of applause and praise.

Amos saved Israel, the Northern kingdom, for his last message. When he began to preach, “You people of Israel, your sins are as bad as or worse than the rest; God is going to destroy you,” he was no longer the popular preacher that he had been. The people then told him to mind his own business and to go back to where he had come from!

Themes Used

In our previous studies, we have learned that God uses theme devices as He inspires His prophets to bring His word to us. As we endeavor to study the Word of God, we must understand God’s theme devices, or we are going to get off track in our interpretation of God’s Word. God uses theme devices for learning, so we will remember the lessons that are taught and will stay on track.

When Amos began his book, with the pronouncements of judgments on Israel and Judah as well as the surrounding nations, the theme device was, for three transgressions and for four. (See Amos 1.) Amos used this theme device to get their attention. The reasons were given as to why the judgments were coming. Then again, in chapters 7 and 8, this theme device surfaces in all of its full-blown glory.

No Escape

God repented of the first two of four visions of judgment. God was willing to overlook, for the greater benefit of the nation, their first two follies. That tells us something about God: He is willing, through His mercy, to overlook many of our faults, but we should never presume that because He does not punish us immediately, we can take advantage of that mercy by continuing to sin. If we do, we will find that God will ultimately bring judgment instead of mercy upon us.

God was willing to overlook things—for three transgressions and for four,—but the third and the fourth visions of judgment are very soon to kick in.

God has laws of operation that govern everything He does, including how He presents His messages to His people. If we are going to stay on track, we must understand how these laws operate. Let us study this further.

The fourth vision of Amos tells of the final judgment of Israel. As we read the words of this Old Testament prophet, we cannot escape the depicted concept of judgment. Judgment is not a comfortable topic. It is the very opposite of being comfortable. We are so disturbed by the topic that we often deny that God is bringing judgment upon a land or upon His people. We miss the point that God has for us, because we do not want to discuss judgment. Judgment denotes the idea that something really dreadful is going to take place, and the human psyche cannot cope with it.

We all remember 9/11—the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City, New York, and on the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001. This generation will probably never forget 9/11. We may forget a lot of things, but that date is going to stay with us. When we saw the pictures on television showing the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center burning and then collapsing, we could not believe that such a horrendous thing was taking place. We were in a state of disbelief that something like this could happen on American soil. Of all the words that have been spoken regarding 9/11, I do not remember hearing anything said that this was a judgment of God. Thousands of lives were lost; hundreds of millions of dollars in damage was done. Could it have been a judgment from God? I believe so, because Ellen White tells us that such terrible disasters are indeed judgments of God upon the land. (See Manuscript Releases, vol. 11, 1.)

Most people’s minds will not allow them to process that kind of thought. Many people are in a state of shock, because some things are so awful they cannot cope with them. It is no surprise that many minds find it difficult to grasp the reality of the judgment of God, but it is important that we do think about it. The Bible makes sure that we do, because without judgment, all systems of human morality collapse. People want to do away with punishment. They manipulate laws so that punishment becomes less and less because of this concept of judgment in their minds. They do not want to deal with judgment. They do not want to deal with harshness, because they know that at some point in time—if indeed there is a God—they are going to have to face the judgment themselves. They somehow think that if they are merciful, then God will be merciful to them in their sin.

Amaziah’s Actions

In a way, this was the case with the High Priest, Amaziah. (See Amos 7:10–13.) He did not want to face the fact that judgment would come. As a result, he tried to silence Amos. This story is particularly intriguing, because it tells of an attempt by a religious official to stifle the preaching of a prophet whose message was unpleasant, embarrassing, and even threatening to the religious and governmental establishment.

From a purely human point of view, Amaziah’s actions were reasonable. He wanted to silence Amos. He viewed him as a prophet who was not authorized to be in the Northern kingdom. He did not appreciate being told that they were not following God. The reality of it is, however, that when you try to silence a prophet of God, you are, in fact, trying to silence God.

We know that this is not something new. There is nothing new under the sun! In the New Testament, we see this phenomenon was raised up again and again. Those whose fathers had killed the prophets also thought that they could silence John the Baptist, Jesus, Paul, and the other prophets. Sadly, they had failed to learn this lesson outlined in Amos. They thought that it applied to someone else, not to them. In reality, is not that the tendency of human beings today?

History tells us that religion always tries to have peace and harmony prevail above the truth that God demands justice and faithfulness. I have heard people say, “When we hear the governments in the Middle East crying peace and safety, that is then the sign of the end.” No, that is not the sign of the end.

The sign of the end is when religious pressure becomes so great that it forces all religious groups into a uniformity—not a unity, but into a uniformity—where there are no longer the variances that now exist. That is the peace and safety that needs to be carefully watched, because it has always been the plan and purpose of religion to bring peace and harmony into the lives of those who are following their religion.

This God is going to judge, and ignorance is not bliss. Refusal to consider the reality of God’s wrath against evil amounts to willingness to condone evil. The truth, today, is that people do not consider what is right or wrong. They do, however, consider how they feel about something.

How we feel, most of the time, is wrong, because we base our feelings, for the most part, upon our sinful natures. The sad story is that Amaziah, who wanted to protect his king and countrymen from hearing the predictions of their doom, would inevitably be unable to escape the effects of that doom himself. Amos’ message did not come from some manifestation of his own will but was a direct message from God. Amaziah, along with his fellow Israelites, was destined to experience the penalty of ignoring and opposing the message.

Summer Fruit

Consider now this vision of the summer fruit in Amos 8: “Thus hath the Lord God shewed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit. And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the Lord unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.” Verses 1, 2.

God asked Amos, “What do you see?”

Amos replied, “A basket of summer fruit.” The vision of summer fruit brings the message that it is over for Israel.

One of the things that my wife, Judy, and I like is tree-ripened, summer fruit. There is nothing quite like it. When we go to the grocery store, the fruit we buy there has been picked green and shipped across the country. It looks good, but it has little taste, and we often wish we had never bought it. There is nothing like tree-ripened, sweet, summer fruit.

What God is presenting to Amos in this vision of summer fruit is the idea that summer fruit does not last long. It is ripe. When we obtain tree-ripened, summer fruit, we had better eat it or preserve it immediately, or it will turn to mush. God is communicating the fact that the time is ripe. Their cup is full. They have presumed upon the mercy of God long enough.

“What did you see, Amos?”

“I saw some summer fruit. It was ripe, and it was ready to have some-thing done with it.”

God said, “You are right. It has to have something done with it. It has to be dealt with.”

After the plumbline of Amos 7, and then the rejection of God’s Word by the priest, Amaziah, the end of the line has come for God’s people—the summer fruit. God is not going to spare them any longer.

Picture of Disaster

Amos 8:3 depicts the awful picture of disaster: “And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord God: [there shall be] many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast [them] forth with silence.”

They were singing these songs at the temple in Bethel—a temple that was in a state of high apostasy, and had been from its very beginning. They would find that even though they received pleasure in the past from their songs, they now would be turned to howlings, to songs of lamentation. Dead bodies were going to be everywhere.

This is why I say that Amos 8 is such a sad chapter. It is like attending a funeral, because there is death and carnage and disaster in every place. God says, “I want you to pay close attention, because this is a type of the disaster that is going to take place at the end of the world.”

Often we have the idea that the disaster at the end of the world will be terrible because of so much bloodshed, but that is not the disaster with which we need to be concerned. The disaster at the end of the world is the fact that God’s people—those who have professed God—are going to be the ones slaughtered.

The world will get what it has coming, but God’s people have made a profession. They have said, “All that the Lord has said, we will do.” (Exodus 19:8; 24:3, 7.) They have the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish this, if they will. The tragedy, the disaster, is not that the world is going to be destroyed; the tragedy is that those who have taken the name of the Lord upon their lips are going to be destroyed.

Amos 8:3 is not talking about the dead bodies of the surrounding nations. It is referring to those who are at the temple singing the songs and worshiping. There will be many dead bodies.

New Moon

“Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; [yea,] and sell the refuse of the wheat? The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works. Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as [by] the flood of Egypt. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day: And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only [son], and the end thereof as a bitter day.” Verses 4–10.

The new moon heralded the coming of the new month, and it was a time to come before the Lord. The people of Israel had watchmen set to watch for the new moon. When the new moon came, they blew the trumpet, announcing that a new month was on its way.

We read in Isaiah 66 that the Lord is going to come, and He is going to create new heavens and a new earth. “And it shall come to pass, [that] from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.” Verse 23. Somehow most of us have a tendency to zero in on this Sabbath promise to the neglect of the new moon promise. I would like to suggest to you that the new moon spoken of in this text is going to be just as much a reality in the new earth as will the Sabbath issue, because it is qualified by saying that the Lord is going to create new heavens and a new earth.

How do we as Seventh-day Adventists relate to the new moon concept? In Amos, the people were saying, “Get this new moon thing out of the way so that we can sell our corn. Get the Sabbath over with so we can sell our wheat.”

What about the new moon? Does it have significance for us? It most certainly does. Do you remember what is going to take place in the new earth concerning the tree of life? We are going to eat the fruit of that tree, how often? Every month. (See Revelation 22:2.) Isaiah’s prophetic vision reveals that he saw God’s people coming once a month to worship before the Lord and to partake of the fruit that will continue to sustain immortality. They will come Sabbath by Sabbath as well.

The Burden of Sabbath

The people of the Northern kingdom could not wait for the new moon to be gone. They could not wait for the Sabbath to be over. They would say, “Jeremiah, go out and look at the sundial in the garden. See how long the shadow is. Is the sun down yet?” What did they have on their minds? They wanted to get going with the worldly things of their lives. They had forgotten about God. The Sabbath was a burden.

There are Seventh-day Adventists today in the same situation. If they are keeping the Sabbath, it is a burden. They want it to be gone, so they can do their own things. They do not consider the Sabbath to be a time of spiritual blessing and refreshing. They cannot wait for the sun to go down.

There are others who make no pretense about the Sabbath at all. They just do their own things anyway. Maybe they are refrained a little bit. I remember hearing a teacher in one of the church’s academies stating that their family would go window-shopping on Sabbath. This teacher thought that as long as they did not buy anything, they were not breaking the Sabbath. Then, when the sun went down, they were ready to go into the stores to buy the items they had seen on Sabbath. They were “cultural Adventists.” Although they had grown up in the system, they had never really understood what a blessing the Sabbath day is.

God Sees It All

In Amos 8:7, the Lord says, “I will never forget anything that they have done.” God sees it all. God sees not only what takes place on the surface, but He is also able to look into the heart when you are keeping your eye on your watch, thinking that that action is not breaking the Sabbath. God knows that down in your heart you are hoping that you can make it to the store just before the sun goes down, so you will be ready to purchase when the clock strikes. Is that Sabbath keeping? Not at all. God says, “I see it all.”

Not only does God see our Sabbath-keeping, but also He sees every financial deal with which we are involved. He sees every greedy acquisition, every religious act, and every critical thought. Nothing is forgotten. God writes it all down, and our only hope is to come to a point in our lives where nothing matters but our God and the vindication of His character by our own. That is our only hope.

Coming Famine

As we come to the close of this chapter, I would suggest to you that there is a hint in the final verses of how judgment might have been averted.

In verse 11, we read: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread . . . .” No, there was not going to be a famine of bread, because Israel was at the height of its prosperity, but they were at the bottom spiritually.

You know, there will come a time, when the Spirit is being poured out on God’s people, that there will be some sitting in the pews who will not even realize what is happening. Some will receive the Spirit and others will not, but from all appearances, the difference will not be discerned.

But there is coming a famine in the land, “not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.”

That is a sad thing to think about, is it not? We pride ourselves in regard to all of the Bibles we have in the United States, but the day is going to come when there is going to be a famine in the land. That famine will not focus on whether or not you have a Bible. It is going to be more profound than that.

Many people think that if they have the Bible and if they have memorized verses, they are going to be okay. I am sorry to say that they are not going to be okay. When this famine strikes, it is going to be more profound than that. It is going to be so profound that they will not know how to apply the verses they have memorized, unless their hearts have been changed.

Spirit Withdrawn

“And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find [it]. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth: and, The manner of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again.” Verses 12–14.

One of the attributes of judgment is the fact that God withdraws His Spirit. When God withdraws His Spirit, that which you think you have a good handle on, you have no handle on at all. That can be part of judgment, and that is what is described in these last verses. The people are running everywhere, trying to find out what they should do, but they are not able to find it. They take their Bibles down from the shelves, open and leaf through them, but cannot find an answer that satisfies the need of their hearts. They have not paid attention to God’s Word. That is what was wrong in verse 5 when the described religious services were taking place. Instead of treasuring up those things that God had for them, they were wishing the Sabbath hours away.

The Application

How can we apply the lessons in this chapter of Amos to our lives? Part of what makes up God’s judgment is the withdrawing of His Word from His people and the withdrawing of the Holy Spirit so that the Word cannot be understood. It is only the Holy Spirit that guides into all truth. (John 16:13.) A famine of hearing the words of the Lord—what a warning to Seventh-day Adventists today!

Each Sabbath day, across the world, thousands of congregations meet. I wonder what takes place in those church services each Sabbath. I wonder what the Spirit of the Lord sees—not only from a pulpit point of view but also from a congregational point of view. Does He see His Word exalted? Does He see the moving of His Holy Spirit upon the congregations, or is the Spirit grieved away? Are the services frivolous, a time-passer to get people through the hours of the Sabbath day?

The Seventh-day Adventist Church was founded upon the Word of God, and it is the Word that needs to be preached today. It is the Word that needs to be followed, if we are ever going to get out of this world alive.

Mark it down. Amos 8:11 will be fulfilled to Adventists as well as those of other denominations. That day is going to come when there will be a famine in the land—a famine for the Word of God.

Ellen White talks about this day, and she places it near the end of time when judgment is going to fall. “Those who had not prized God’s Word were hurrying to and fro, wandering from sea to sea, and from the north to the east, to seek the Word of the Lord. Said the angel, ‘They shall not find it. There is a famine in the land; not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the Lord. What would they not give for one word of approval from God! but no, they must hunger and thirst on. Day after day have they slighted salvation, prizing earthly riches and earthly pleasure higher than any heavenly treasure or inducement. They have rejected Jesus and despised His saints. The filthy must remain filthy forever.’ ” Early Writings, 281, 282.

I am convinced, in my own mind, that the fulfillment of Revelation, when it says that they have no rest day and night, applies here. (Revelation 14:11.) Searching, wondering, wondering, searching—no rest day or night. What we see in these verses and in this quotation is another example of the parable of the ten virgins. (Matthew 25.)

Equal Chance

Remember, the Bible says that five of the virgins were wise and five were foolish. Do you know why it uses five and five? Why did Jesus not say there were four and six or three and seven? Why five and five? The reason five and five is used is because it is an equal number on each side, which means there is an equal chance for you to be in one group or the other. You are not in a lop-sided situation where there were two wise virgins and eight foolish. With those numbers, it would be difficult to get into the wise group, but you have an equal chance. The choice rests with you. So the five wise and the five foolish are presented before us.

The parable tells us that all ten virgins fell into the Laodicean condition. They all slumbered and slept, and when the cry was given, the five wise virgins trimmed their lamps and went in to the wedding, but the five foolish went out and began to search for oil. Oil represents the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the guide to God’s Word. It guides us into all truth.

They could not find any Holy Spirit; they could not find any Word. There was a famine in the land, as far as they were concerned. They went out, and they searched and searched.

What would they do? They would come up to someone and ask, “I know that you have an experience with the Lord. Can you please tell me what I need to know so that I can make it into the wedding feast? I am confused; I do not know. Please help me.” This is the plea they give. This is the plea for the oil to put in their lamps—a searching for truth. They knew they needed to have this oil so they could be saved.

While they hesitated, while they looked, while they searched, while they inquired, the door was closed, and it was all over—just like the story Amos relates in chapter 8. The idea is left with us that we need to make hay while the sun shines. We need to make our search now. We need to make our application now. You see, it was never God’s plan that Israel should suffer the fate that they suffered. His plan was perfect.

It is not His plan that we should suffer a similar fate, and we do not have to. Remember the five wise virgins and the five foolish. We have an equal chance to be in either group, if we learn the lessons.

A Land for Us

As this article is written, there is a war going on in Israel. They are fighting over a piece of real estate that has no blessing in it whatsoever. But God has a land for us. It is right now a land that we can see only by faith, but it is a real land nonetheless. If we are faithful, one day God is going to usher us into that land.

We need to make sure that we are learning the lessons that God has for us, because if we do, we will be classed with the five wise virgins and will be invited to go in to the wedding feast. God is going to say, “Come thou, blessed of the kingdom, enter into the joys that the Lord has prepared for thee.”

I am looking forward to hearing that pronouncement, and I know that you are, too. Let us spend time with the Lord and learn the lessons that He has for us in His Word. Do not just read it through on the surface. Dig down a little deeper, and we will be blessed as a result of our efforts.

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.

Clean Hands and Pure Hearts, Part II

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The father was discouraged. His son had a problem that they could not overcome. No matter what they did, it came back. (See Mark 9:17–22.)

This is like the person who has a besetting sin that he cannot overcome. He may give it up for a month, but then it overpowers him. He may give it up for three months, but again, he is overcome, until finally he is so discouraged that, like this father, he says to Jesus, “Lord, if you can do anything, please have compassion on me, and help me.”

Jesus promised, “If you are able to believe, all things are possible to the one who believes.” Mark 9:23. All things are possible.

Necessity of Faith

All of a sudden this father had a new revelation. He realized that whether his son was going to be healed or whether he was going to die under the possession of this evil spirit depended on whether or not he had faith. He became scared. We ought to feel scared sometimes.

There is nothing wrong with a minister preaching about hell once in a while. Maybe we do not preach about hell enough. Ellen White said that few believe that we have a heaven to win and a hell to shun. (The Desire of Ages, 636.) It is true that everything is lost if we do not have faith, and this ought to make us scared. We should feel compelled to go to the Lord and ask Him to give us enough faith to be saved. We ought to start talking faith.

Ellen White said that if we talk faith, we will have faith. (Sermons and Talks, vol. 1, 307.) She said, “The simple prayer of faith is music in the ears of the Lord.” The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, vol. 4, 1696. He has the power to solve every problem we have, if we will turn things over to Him, if we will trust Him, and if we will make a full commitment to Him.

We, in English-speaking countries, do not understand very well what the meaning is of the word faith. We think it is a mental assent. That is what they taught in Jesus’ time, too. It is not just making a mental assent; the word faith in the New Testament embodies believing something so much that we make a commitment—a life and death commitment.

This father was scared, and verse 24 says, “Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, ‘I believe.’ ” He made a decision. He decided that he was going to believe, but he was struggling with doubt. I have seen this happen over and over again. A person chooses to believe, but he or she is struggling with doubt. The father knew he was in the presence of Someone that had the power, and I believe he ascertained that this Person knew whether or not he had faith. That made him even more scared. He said, “I believe,” but he was struggling with doubt, so he said, “You help my unbelief.”

Commit to Jesus

If you need a word of encouragement, commit your life to Jesus Christ. That is what the word faith means; you make a commitment; you commit your life to Him. He has never, ever, lost one case that has been fully committed to Him. He will not lose your case either, if you make the commitment. You may be the weakest; you may be the most sinful; you may think that your problem is worse than anyone else’s problem; but it is still true that Jesus has never, ever lost one case.

In the day of final judgment at the end of the millennium, when all the lost people are gathered around outside the Holy City, if there is one person in that group who could say, “Lord, I committed my life totally and completely to You by reading Your Word and endeavoring to follow Your instructions, but now I am lost,” it would destroy the government of God. Do you know why? Because if there were just one person who could say that, it would prove that God is a liar.

In Hebrews 7:25, the Bible says that He is able to save perfectly everyone who comes to Him. Jesus said, in John 6:37, “He that comes to Me, I will in no case cast out.” That includes each one of us.

Even if you are the most sinful—even if you are like the father of this child with a problem you have been struggling with for years—come to Jesus.

Causes of Discouragement

Why do people become discouraged? One reason is because they have a problem that seems unsolvable. It just seems to come back again and again.

Another reason people become discouraged is because of what they have lost. I will give you an example from a long time ago. In a cemetery in Petersburg, Illinois, just a few feet from where many of my family members are buried, there is a tombstone for Ann Rutledge. Ann Rutledge was a sweetheart of Abraham Lincoln. No doubt they would have been married, but she became ill and died. On her tombstone is a poem about the experience she shared with Abraham Lincoln. He never got over her death. If you have ever really loved someone and then lost him or her, you may understand.

Ancestral Lessons

Recently, I had the opportunity to travel to Denmark and to meet with some of my family members whom I had never seen before. They had arranged to take me to the ancient Grosboll Farm. They told me, “Your family does not live here anymore. Even though it is called by your name, all of your family left this farm in 1832.” They took me to two different churches. At the first church, they told me, “Your great, great grandfather was a leader in this church.” It was a very, very old church—hundreds of years old. The nation of Denmark was set in the Protestant Reformation so my family was Lutheran. When we went to the second church, they said, “Your great, great grandmother was christened in this church.” In the back of that church were displayed all the pastors from previous years—all the way back to 1580.

It was there that I learned how different people in my family had been named. Some of the names went back as far as hundreds of years. One of the popular names in that country for Protestant Christian boys was Christian and for female children a feminized derivative of the name Christian. We do that in North America, too. There are several feminine forms of the word Christian, such as Christiana, Christina, Kerstin, and Christine, which I discovered was a common name. All those are derivatives of the name Christian. My great, great grandmother, I learned from her tombstone, was named Kerstin, so that became a very common name in our family. My grandmother named her oldest daughter that name; her middle name was Christine.

Tragic Loss

When my Aunt Christine was 20 years of age, she and a young man were planning to be married, but she became sick and died very suddenly. I met a lady in Texas a few years ago who had been with her the day that she died, and she told me that Aunt Christine had said over and over again, “I do not want to die.” When you are 20 years old, you do not want to die.

Thirty-five years later, the man whom she would have married was the president of the college that I chose to attend. My mother and I went into his office to talk with him, and when we introduced ourselves, he immediately began to talk about Christine.

There was a loss in our family that, in this world, we will never get over. It occurred over 60 years ago. My uncle once told me, “She was the cream of our family.”

People become discouraged because of what they have lost, and some people have lost a lot. Sometimes people come to be discouraged because nobody in this world seems to understand the trials, the trouble, the loss, the grief, the cross, the suffering, the loneliness, the pain that is in their hearts. There may not be anyone in the whole world that understands the pain that is in your heart, because you have a secret grief that nobody else can understand. I want to tell you something. There is Someone that does understand. Not only does He understand, but if you will commit your life fully to Him, He wants to make a contract, a covenant, with you.

Reward of Commitment

The covenant He would like to make with you is found in Matthew 19:29. It says, “Everyone whoever has left houses or brothers or sisters, father, mother, wife [spouse], or children or lands [real estate], on account of My name . . . .” “Oh,” someone may say, “Pastor John, you do not understand my situation. My parents tell me that I must not marry a non-Adventist, and there is no Adventist within close proximity of where I live who is available. How is the Lord going to work out my problem?” I do not know how the Lord is going to work out your problem, but I do know one thing. If you commit your life to Him and if you should lose out on everything for His name’s sake, you shall receive a hundredfold. My aunt lost out on some things. She never married. She never had children. She was trained to be a missionary nurse, but she was only able to work as a missionary nurse for about one year. She missed out on many things of life, but Jesus said, “Anyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold.”

Jesus is coming soon! Sometimes when historic Seventh-day Adven-tist ministers preach, showing the people God’s standard—we must be perfect; we must have absolutely pure hearts; we must have a sinless record; we must have a garment or character without a spot—people wonder how they will ever get ready in time. If you make a complete commitment with the Lord, then that is His problem! Philippians 1:6 says that if you make the commitment, He is going to see you through to the desired goal. God does not make junk, and He does not do a job halfway and then let it be. He is going to lead you to where you need to be, but you must make the commitment.

Jesus is coming soon. I want to tell you one of the things that I look forward to seeing. When I was in Denmark, I visited different cemeteries and churches, and I looked at pictures of my ancestors, and I said to myself, “I know they were all Protestant Christians; I hope these people are saved. I want to meet them.”

A short time before she died, my Aunt Christine had a dream. In her dream, she was taken up to heaven. It was shown to her that most of her family was going to be saved, but not all. That dream made an impression on her younger brother, my father. When I was growing up, my father used to gather us in a circle, at family worship time in the morning and in the evening, and he would pray to God that our family would be saved without the loss of one. I know that I must be saved in order for my father’s prayer to be answered. I have to make the commitment to the Lord so I can be saved and my father’s prayer can be answered.

A Hundredfold

When we are taken up to that better land, I am looking forward to many things, but to one thing especially. Matthew 19:29 says, “Whatever you’ve lost . . . .” If we could fully grasp this, it would change our whole lives. We would not be nearly as concerned about what we have lost in this world. “Whatever you have lost, will be returned to you a hundredfold.” My Aunt Christine is going to be granted a reward that I am not. I did not lose what she lost. I did not have to give up my life when I was 20 years old. I got married. I have two children; I have two grandchildren. I did not lose what my aunt lost, so she is going to receive a reward I am not going to receive, and it is going to be a hundredfold. I do not know what it is, but I want to be there and see her receive it!

Oh, friend, you cannot afford to miss this. You cannot afford to allow the devil to make you so discouraged that you give up. You cannot afford that! If you give up, you are lost. You have to come to the Lord, as did the man in Mark 9. He said, “Lord, if you can do anything, save us.” Verse 22.

The Lord said, “If you can believe, all things are possible.” Verse 23. There is no one so weak, so sinful, that God cannot save, if they are willing to commit their lives to Christ.

“None but God can subdue the pride of man’s heart. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot regenerate ourselves. In the heavenly courts there will be no song sung, To me that loved myself, and washed myself, redeemed myself, unto me be glory and honor, blessing and praise. But this is the keynote of the song that is sung by many here in this world. They do not know what it means to be meek and lowly in heart; and they do not mean to know this, if they can avoid it. The whole gospel is comprised in learning of Christ, His meekness and lowliness.

“What is justification by faith? It is the work of God in laying the glory of man in the dust, and doing for man that which it is not in his power to do for himself.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 456.

My friend, I do not know who may read this, but I know there is someone who needs a word of encouragement. I want to tell you that Jesus said, “If you can believe, all things are possible to the one that believes,”—to the one who makes the commitment.

The father answered, “Lord, I believe. You help my unbelief.”

The messenger to the remnant church says, “You can never perish if you will pray that prayer.” (See The Ministry of Healing, 65, 66.) Are you willing to pray that prayer right now?

[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.

A Controversy Between Truth and Error

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In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams.” It is thus that we are introduced to the monarch of the greatest of earthly kingdoms in his own home. In chapter one [of the Book of Daniel], Nebuchadnezzar is referred to as the one who besieged Jerusalem; in chapter two, he is spoken of as the ruler of every nation on earth. The kingdom which Nebuchadnezzar brought to the height of its glory can be traced in Bible history to its foundation. The history of Babylon is the story of the great controversy between Christ and Satan, begun in heaven, continued on earth, and which will end only when the stone cut out without hands from the mountain shall fill the whole earth.

Satan’s accusation against God is that the Father is unjust. “But give me a fair chance,” argued Lucifer, “and I can establish a kingdom on earth which will excel in glory the kingdom of heaven.” He was granted the privilege of making a trial. The plains of Shinar were chosen; the people whom God told to fill the whole earth were gathered into a city. Babylon grew, and its mighty walls three hundred and fifty feet in height and eighty-seven feet thick, with the massive gates of brass, were designed to imitate the strength of the city of God. At the time of the founding of Babylon, Satan was still meeting with the council of the representatives of worlds, which was held at the gates of heaven. It was his design to counterfeit the plans of God. The earthly city was patterned after the heavenly. The Euphrates flowed through it, as did the river of God through Paradise. The government was an absolute monarchy; a man occupied the throne, and as it grew, every knee of earth was caused to bow to its king. Tyranny took the place of love. This is always true when man is exalted above God. There was a close union of church and state, for no power was tolerated above that of the monarch. It was to such a kingdom that Nebuchadnezzar fell heir, and the beauty and power of the kingdom were increased by him in every possible way, until it was spoken of everywhere as “Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency.”

Not only the power, but the wisdom also, of Nebuchadnezzar was exceedingly great. The king favored education, and during his reign Babylon was the educational center of the world. Every art and science was taught in the schools of Babylon. The wisdom of the ancients was made known to the students who sat at the feet of her magicians and wise men. They reveled in the study of astronomy and the higher mathematics. There were linguists who could teach the language of every nation.

The king himself was highly educated, for it was he who examined the students on the completion of their course, and granted their degrees. Babylon was proud of her educational system; she trusted to it for salvation, but it was the cause of her ruin. “Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath caused thee to turn away.”

God himself speaks, saying: “Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” In the Babylonish court this was exemplified. Nebuchadnezzar and his counselors,—the wise men, astrologers, and soothsayers,—on one side, represented the education of the world. Daniel, a youth not over twenty-one years of age, a Hebrew and a slave, was chosen by God to confound the wisdom of the mighty.

The Dream

The Scripture gives the story in language that can be readily understood. But why did God give Nebuchadnezzar a dream? How could the God of heaven reveal truth to this heathen king? Doubtless he could, not during his waking moments, but Nebuchadnezzar had contemplated the glory of his kingdom, and fell asleep with a longing desire to know its future. He knew that life was short. Soon he must die; what would the future be? It was God’s opportunity, and while those eyes were closed to earthly things; while self was lost,—dead, as it were,—the future history of the world was spread before Nebuchadnezzar. On awaking, he found no language to express his thoughts. He who was acquainted with the world’s wisdom knew not the language of heaven. This he had never been taught. He tried to think what he had seen, but as his eyes again rested on the glory about him, the vision faded away. Earthly things drew a veil over the things of God, and while he knew he had seen something, he knew not what it was.

The king demanded an interpretation, but the wisest men of the king answered: “There is not a man upon the earth that can show the king’s matter. . . . There is none other that can show it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” That the pretended knowledge of the wise men of Babylon might be exposed, the Lord had in his providence given Nebuchadnezzar this dream, and then allowed him to forget the details, while causing him to retain a vivid impression of the vision. The king was angered by the request of the wise men for him to tell them the dream, saying, “I know of certainty that ye would gain the time, because ye see the thing is gone from me.” That is, they would be able to agree on some interpretation if the king could tell the dream. The king then threatened that if they failed to tell the dream, they should all be destroyed. The wise men urged that the requirement was most unreasonable; but the more they argued, the more furious the king became, and in his anger he finally “commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.”

This decree was made in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. He had ruled two years conjointly with his father, Nabo-polassar, and two years alone; so Daniel and his fellows were serving their first year as wise men in the court of Babylon, having finished their three-years’ course in the schools. They were therefore sought out by Arioch, the king’s captain, to be slain. Daniel asked: “Why is the decree so hasty from the king?” Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel. Daniel alone had the courage to venture into the presence of the king, at the peril of his life, to beg that he might be granted time to show the dream and the interpretation. The request was granted.

“There are in the providence of God particular periods when we must arise in response to the call of God.” The supreme moment had come to Daniel. For this very moment had God been giving him a preparation. From his birth every detail of his life had been pointing forward to this time, although he knew it not. His early education was such that at this moment when death stared him in the face, he could look up to God and claim his promise.

Although Daniel had been granted a diploma from the schools of Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar himself, and had been accounted ten times wiser than his fellow students, he had not as yet been classed with the astrologers and wise men of Chaldea. Probably his youth and inexperience delayed such recognition. But God chooses the weak things of earth to confound the mighty, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men.

Four Hebrew youth bowed in prayer, and that night “was the secret revealed unto Daniel.” How could God talk with Daniel?—Because the Spirit of the Lord is with them that fear him. Daniel’s education had acquainted him with the voice of God. He was in the habit of seeing eternal things with the eye of faith. God showed Daniel the same things which he had revealed to Nebuchadnezzar, but which were hidden from him by the glamour of worldliness.

The song of praise which rose from the lips of Daniel when the vision came, shows how self-forgetful he was, and how close his heart was knit to the heart of God.

The schools of Babylon developed pride, love of pleasure, haughtiness, and self-esteem. They fostered an aristocracy, and cultivated the spirit of oppression and slavery. Contrast with this the native simplicity, the courtesy, gentleness, and self-forgetfulness of the child of God as he enters the court and is introduced by Arioch.

Years before this, when Egypt was the educational center of the world, God taught Egyptian senators by the mouth of Joseph, a boy no older than Daniel. When Babylon had outgrown the counsels of Heaven, another Hebrew meets the men of the schools. “Can not the wise men show the secret unto the king?”

Before Daniel was the king in his glory; around him stood the very teachers with whom he had studied three years. At this time were exemplified the words of the psalmist: “I have more understanding than all my teachers; for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.”

Nebuchadnezzar was careworn from loss of sleep, and in great anxiety because the dream troubled him; but Daniel was calm, conscious of his connection with God, the King of kings. Daniel now had opportunity to exalt his own wisdom, but he chose rather to give all the glory to God. He plainly told the king that it was beyond the power of man to reveal the dream or give the interpretation; “but there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days.” The king’s mind was directed to God alone.

In one night God revealed the history of over twenty-five hundred years, and what the human historian requires volumes to explain is given in fifteen verses. The Scriptures explain themselves, and in divine records every word is well chosen and put in the proper setting.

In the image revealed to Nebuchadnezzar, the glory of the Babylonian kingdom is recognized by the Lord, and represented by the head of gold. But while giving due credit to the present state of things, the spirit of prophecy with equal candor points out to the self-exalted king the weakness of the institution in which he has placed his trust, and the inability of the Babylonian learning to save from impending destruction.

“Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground; there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. Take the millstones and grind meal.” From being master of all, Babylon must become the most humble servant. Because these people had disregarded the God of heaven, and had said, “None seeth me,” evil would come from unknown sources, and Babylon should be cut off. She would make a desperate effort to save herself by turning to her educators and wise men. “Let now the astrologers, the star-gazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up and save thee from these things. . . . Behold, they shall be as stubble.” When the trial came, there was nothing in all the realms of Babylon that could save her.

“The strength of nations and of individuals is not found in the opportunities and facilities that appear to make them invincible; it is not found in their boasted greatness. That which alone can make them great or strong is the power and purpose of God. They, themselves, by their attitude toward his purpose, decide their own destiny.” [The Youth’s Instructor, September 29, 1903.]

Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom lasted only until the reign of his grandson, when the second or inferior nation represented by the breast and arms of silver came upon the stage of action.

Medo-Persia took the place of Babylon; Grecia followed the Medo-Persian kingdom, while Rome, the fourth kingdom, was to be broken into ten parts, which were to remain until the end of time. In the days of these kings the God of heaven would set up a kingdom which would never be destroyed nor conquered by any other people; it would break in pieces and consume all former kingdoms, and stand forever.

The image was a comprehensive outline of the world’s history. The “glory of kingdoms” formed the head of gold, all following kingdoms deteriorated from Babylon as shown by the grade of metals forming the image. First gold, then silver, brass, and iron. In the latter part of the world’s history, a marked change was revealed by the iron being mixed with miry clay. There were to be no more universal kingdoms ruled by men when the power of the fourth kingdom was broken; it was to remain divided until the end. In place of one kingdom there would be several.

The clay mixed with iron also denoted the union of church and state. This combination is peculiar to the latter part of the world’s history, to the feet and toes of the image.

Religion was the basis of government in the heathen nations; there could be no separation of the church and the state. When apostate Christianity united with the state, each remained in a sense distinct as the miry clay is separate from iron. This union continues until the stone smites the image upon the feet. The very fact that the “stone was cut out of the mountain without hands,” shows that the last kingdoms on earth will not be overthrown by any earthly power, but that the God of heaven will bring upon them final destruction by giving them to the burning flames.

A Changed Heart

The king listened to every sentence Daniel uttered when telling the dream, and recognized it as the vision which had troubled him. When Daniel gave the interpretation, he was certain that he could accept it as a true prophecy from the God of heaven. The vision had deeply affected the king, and when the meaning was given, he fell upon his face before Daniel in wonder and humility, and said, “Of a truth, it is that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret.”

The youth of twenty-one was made ruler over all the provinces of Babylon, and chief governor over all the wise men of the kingdom. Daniel’s companions were also given high positions in the government. It should be remembered that this dream as recorded in the second chapter of Daniel was given to Nebuchadnezzar in the second year of his sole reign. It was still during the lifetime of Jehoiakim, king of Judah.

It was in the providence of God that his people should carry the light of truth to all the heathen nations. What they failed to do in the time of peace, they must do in time of trouble. Babylon was the ruling power of the world; it was the educational center. The Jews were comparatively a small people; they lost the power of God by neglecting the education of their children; they failed to let their light shine. From their midst God took a few who were trained in the fear of the Lord, placed them in the heathen court, brought them into favor with the ruler of the world, so making himself known to the heathen king. He did even more; he revealed himself to the king, and used these children of his to prove that the wisdom of God excelled the wisdom of the Chaldeans. Having exalted true education, he put Daniel and his companions at the head of that vast empire that the knowledge of the God of heaven might go to the ends of the earth.

Having acknowledged the God of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar was in a position to save Jerusalem instead of destroying it. It was because of these experiences that God could send word by his prophet a few years later that, should Zedekiah, king of Judah, deliver himself to the king of Babylon, Jerusalem would not be burned, and the world would receive the light of the gospel.

The history of the city of Baby-lon is put on record because it is God’s object lesson to the world of today. The Book of Revelation, which is the complement of the Book of Daniel, frequently uses the name, applying it to the modern churches. The relation of the Jews to the Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar is the same as that sustained by the remnant church, the true Israel, to the churches which, having known the truth, have rejected it.

The sins of ancient Babylon will be repeated today. Her educational system is the one now generally accepted; her government, with its excessive taxes, its exaltation of the rich and the oppression of the poor, its pride, arrogance, love of display, its choice of the artificial in place of the natural, and the exaltation of the god of science instead of the God of heaven, is the one toward which the world of today is hastening.

As God called Abraham out from the idolatry of Chaldea, and made him the father of the Hebrew nation; as he delivered to that people a form of government that would exalt God; as he gave them commandment so to teach their children that the Jews would become a teacher of nations and might be an everlasting kingdom, so today he calls forth a people from modern Babylon. He has entrusted to them principles of healthful living, which will make them mentally and physically a wonder to the world. He has given them educational principles which, if followed, will make them the teacher of the world, and finally bring them into the kingdom of God. And to them he has delivered the principles of true government which recognize the equal rights of all men, and which in the church organization bind all together—one body in Christ Jesus.

Only a few—four out of thousands—were true to these principles in the days of Daniel. How will it be today?

Story of Daniel the Prophet (1904), 28–38. Printed with permission of the publisher, TEACH Services, Inc., Brushton, New York, 1995.

Lessons From the Book of Amos – Part VIII

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This article concludes our study of the Book of Amos. Amos was a prophet who had a burden to present and to make clear God’s cause and solution. The last chapter of any book usually consists of a conclusion, and that certainly is the case with the writings of Amos.

Amos is a difficult book to read. It was conceivably more difficult for Amos when he first gave his message to the Northern kingdom of Israel. Practically the whole book is composed of judgments—judgments that were to fall upon Israel as well as the sinful, surrounding nations and upon Judah, the Southern kingdom.

God Always Gives Hope

In the opening verses of Amos 9, we see that God is detailing the fact that no one is going to escape the judgments that are going to fall upon this people. One thing is certain, as I have read the words of Inspiration, and that is that God, even though He of necessity deals with people in a very severe way at times, never leaves them hopeless. He has to punish; He has to deal with sin, but through it all, there is hope. There is a light shining that says, “This can all change.” Where He pronounces woe, He pronounces mercy. Where He wounds, He heals. Where He pronounces judgment, He provides a way of escape.

This is what we find as we come to the close of the Book of Amos. Even though it begins with, and the majority of the book deals with, problems and trials and judgments and difficulties, God says, “There is a light at the end of the tunnel for you.”

This tells us something. It tells us, first of all, about the mercy of God. He is not only a God of judgment, but He is a God of mercy as well. He has to deal with all the issues, however, and that may take up more space than the solution does. There are nine chapters in the Book of Amos and eight and a half of those chapters deal with judgment! Just a final little portion deals with His mercy. But the book does end in hope—hope in spite of the doom that has been pronounced upon those who have departed from God.

Destruction is Coming

“I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered. Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down: And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them: And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.” Amos 9:1–4.

If the Old Testament were printed like the New Testament, with the words of Divinity written in red, these verses would be written in red. As a matter of fact, every verse in this chapter would be written in red, except for two, indicating that God was speaking. Amos states that he saw the Lord standing on the altar and then records the words that come forth from that place. It is there where those words would begin to be written in red.

The altar that is referred to is not a lone altar but the whole of the sanctuary that was located in Bethel, where Amos was conducting his ministry. The people who went to this altar to worship thought that everything was just fine, that all was well between God and themselves. They did not realize that they were on the very verge of destruction.

The Lord standing with the altar under His feet signifies that everything in this world is in subjection to Him. This is something that we must realize also—everything in this world is subject to God. It may not seem that way right now, but it is so nonetheless. God has control over it all. But then, God gives the command that destruction is to take place.

If we reflect on other Old Testament history, we find stories of destroying angels that God dispatched to do a work of destruction. Here is one of those instances. There are those who believe that God does not destroy and that, ultimately, those who have died through the centuries will, through some universal act, all be purified and end up in the kingdom of heaven—including the devil and his angels. That is heresy! If there is anything that can be observed as we read Scripture, it is that God is sovereign over all; God judges all things; He judges righteously, and when righteous judgment is finished, destruction takes place.

Shaking

This being the case, I want to take you on a little trip, back to what took place in Jerusalem in 70 a.d. The Jews of that time had not learned the lessons of history. They had been given the messages of the prophets, such as Amos. They knew what was required of them, but they changed the messages in such a way that they became smooth messages. As a result, the Jews paid a price for their disobedience. Their temple was destroyed, because they failed to learn from the past. There is a lesson in this for us as well.

Do we have a temple? Yes, we do. “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which [temple] ye are.” 1 Corinthians 3:17. We see these lessons come down through all the various eras of history to us, and we must learn from them. The Lord standing on the altar says, “Let everything shake itself down and fall on the heads of those who are seeking shelter there.” When the shaking begins, there will be no one who will escape. There will not be any place to hide where the Lord will not find them.

Where does the shaking begin? It begins in the house of God. God makes statements somewhat similar to what we have heard in recent newscasts concerning terrorists: You can run, but you cannot hide. That is what the Lord pronounces in Amos: “Mark it down. I will find you, and you will forfeit your lives.”

If the Jews of Jesus’ time would have read this material and understood it as it was to be understood, they would never have suffered the fate that they did. This is not recorded as just a history lesson for us, although there is history in it. These words have been inscribed so that we can make a spiritual application into our own lives from the events that have transpired in history. Ellen White wrote that “the ancient prophets spoke less for their own time than for ours, so that their prophesying is in force for us.” Selected Messages, Book 3, 338.

Lessons of Amos

We as Seventh-day Adventists have altogether too small of a view of what God plans to do in the end of time. There are some definite lessons for us, so I want to look at the whole picture that God has presented and that is being taught in Amos.

The nation of Israel is presented. We see that of this whole nation—all twelve tribes—the largest portion of the people abandoned the Lord and left His cause, never to be recovered again. The kingdom of Judah was left after this major apostasy of Israel took place. You would think that the ten tribes of the Northern kingdom would have served as an example to the two tribes of the Southern kingdom, but Judah did not learn, and as a result, they went into captivity. God wanted to redeem and preserve them, but most of them went into captivity in Babylon. Only a few who were vinedressers were left in Palestine. (See Jeremiah 52:12.) Only a small remnant of those taken came back to the Holy Land. We learn that of those who returned, the vast majority rejected the Messiah when He came. So this leaves, of the original number, a very, very small remnant. The whole scenario is repeated again with the Christian church!

The majority of the Christian church went into apostasy, but a smaller number of faithful few continued to maintain the faith. The Reformation breaks, the truth seems to be on track again, but then there is a turning back, and they begin to follow in mother’s footsteps and become harlots, just like her.

Out of the remnant is called those who would be faithful to the preaching of the Three Angels’ Messages. Yet, just like Judah of old, the majority of those who are called turn their backs and decide that the message given by God is no longer that important. That is why the servant of the Lord tells us that in the last days the majority of those who make up the church are going to go out of it. Is there a precedent? Is there history on which to base that conclusion? Absolutely! Over and over and over again, history has repeated itself.

Why is this happening? It is happening because the people have continued following the same thinking pattern as the Jews of old. No intervention has taken place in their lives. They have not experienced a dynamic conversion.

One thing we see as we study the last chapter of Amos is that there will be a remnant that will be saved. Ellen White says that it is a very small number. (See Testimonies, vol. 2, 445.)

So, here is God on the altar. He gives the command to destroy every vestige of worship that is conducted there; it is no longer acceptable. As a matter of fact, God says that it is an absolute stench in His nose. The words are, “Destroy it all. Search out those who are involved in Israel and destroy them also. Bring the pillars and the mantles down on their heads.”

As an interlude, Amos responds with an “Amen” to that which God declares. “And the Lord God of hosts [is] he that toucheth the land, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up wholly like a flood; and shall be drowned, as [by] the flood of Egypt. [It is] he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, and hath founded his troop in the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord [is] his name.” Amos 9:5, 6. This is like saying, “Amen, amen,” to what is going to take place.

Blood Thicker than Water

The pace changes in verse 7. God asks a question: “[Are ye] not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the Lord.” What does He mean by this? Well, what is happening is a comparison between the heathen and those who are called His family. The Lord makes the point that, as far as He is concerned, there is no difference between those who compose the heathen nations and His own children. It is not, in the least, a racial issue or a racial distinction that is being made here. It is a spiritual distinction.

The children of Israel, as you know, were called and held by God in a special position. They had a rank, which was head and shoulders above all the other nations around the world. They were a special people. They were a “called” people. They were a people with distinction. But when they forfeited that distinction, God changed in how He viewed them. They then became as nobodies, as far as God was concerned. They had no status whatsoever. God used the Ethiopians because of their proximity to Israel, but the Ethiopians had no standing as far as a people whom God recognized. They were classified as heathen people. God says that those who were called at one point in time were no better than those who were not called, because they had forfeited their calling. They forfeited their calling because of their practices as His people. They had fallen out of favor with God, and now they were nobodies.

I do not quite understand how it can be that God calls His people and, should they forfeit their calling, says, “You are no longer My family. I do not want you anymore. I do not know you anymore. You are a nobody to Me.” God says, “My ways are not your ways, neither are your ways My ways.” As I thought about what transpired here, in light of that Scripture, the thought came to me, “We do not do that as family.” Many times our family members will fall out of favor with one another, but blood is thicker than water. Right? But with God, it is viewed differently.

We are all members of His family, if we stay within His family. If we choose to go a way different from God by going out on our own, He says, “You are no longer My family.” We, as human beings, cannot quite grasp this, because we have close blood ties to family. We have a tendency to view God in a different way and think, “I am really better than God, because I would not disown my own family.” But the reality of the whole thing is that God says, “You depart from My way and it is all over.”

When we are in Christ, we are somebody. When we are not in Christ, we are nobody. This is why the Lord tells us that there are “Many that will come to Me in that day, saying, Lord, Lord, I know You. Have not I preached in Your name? Have not I done many wonderful works in Your name?” And how does the Lord respond? He says, “You are a nobody. I do not even know you. Depart from Me.” (Matthew 7:21–23.)

Amos reminds the people who God is. In Amos 9:6, it says, “The Lord [is] his name.” His name, Jehovah, Yahweh—however you want to pronounce it, He is the Almighty God. He is the all-powerful One Who is able to save you, Who has gone to every possible length to save you. But if you depart from Him, He does not know you. That is the point Amos is trying to get the people to understand.

“[Are] ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the Lord. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? Behold, the eyes of the Lord God [are] upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord. For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as [corn] is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.” Verses 7–10.

The Way God Is

In the first eight chapters of Amos, 131 verses are filled with woe, judgment, and destruction. It does not seem that God has any desire or compassion to bring about some kind of recovery. This is why I have stated that Amos is a difficult book to read and to study, because most of it is filled with woe and destruction. But God desires to get a message across.

Is this really the way God is? Better mark it down. This is the way God is. He will go to every possible length to bring about an understanding of our condition so there will be a change of heart for our redemption.

The last five verses of the last chapter of Amos have real lessons for us. They hold out to the sinner the hope of recovery. Even though we may have gone far from the path He would have us take, God holds out His hands and He makes an appeal. He says, “Come unto Me, please. Do not let the day come when I have to say, ‘Depart from Me, I never knew you.’ ”

This is the heart of the messages of the prophets who have seen in vision the plain plan of God. It can only be for a time—the pain and the discouragement and the anguish—and then a great determination should come to God’s people to challenge for the kingdom. What we see taking place in the lives of those who have been called to be a covenant-keeping people has caused some to write them off altogether. If this is done, it is not the revealed will of God. God is saying, “The day is going to come when revival and reformation are going to take place. The day is going to come when My Holy Spirit is going to be poured out on all flesh. Some, it will soften and subdue. Others, it will harden and cause them to be blown away.”

In and through it all is a call for us to have greater and more determination, as well as diligence. It is a call to see us through to the end. And this is what God revealed to Amos. This is what God revealed through the New Testament prophets; this is what God revealed through Ellen White to us today. The vision that these prophets of God had, we need to understand and apply to our own lives. If we do not, we are going to be lost.

Amos has been asleep for a long, long time, but his words live on. Others have fallen asleep also, but they have left us with words of hope and encouragement. Ellen White and our church pioneers have gone to their rest, but we have volumes of material of instruction. It is all because of God’s great mercy and longsuffering that we have these materials today. I pray that all the writings, all the paper, all the ink, have not been expended in vain. May the messages that have been penned find the right place in our hearts and help us to see ourselves as we are. May we fall upon the Rock and plead for forgiveness. May we plead for the blood of Jesus to be sprinkled upon our records so when our names come forth in the judgment time, we will be as kernels of wheat which remain in the sieve and do not fall to the ground. May God help us to be able to see beyond the things of this world to the clear picture of eternity that is presented in the writings of the prophets. By His grace, may we be determined to have a place with the redeemed of all ages who will be able to stand beneath the tree and cast their crowns at the feet of the Saviour and say, “Worthy, worthy is the Lamb who has made salvation possible for us.”

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.

True Freedom in Worship

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Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold.” According to Usher’s chronology it had been twenty-three years since the dream of this same Nebuchadnezzar as recorded in the second chapter of Daniel. As a result of the experience at that time, Daniel was made counselor, sitting in the gate of the king, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were appointed rulers in the province of Babylon. Many opportunities had presented themselves to these men of God, and they had kept the knowledge of their God before the people of Babylon. Jerusalem had in the meantime been destroyed. The Jews, as a nation, were scattered throughout the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar; their king, Jehoiachin, languished in one of the prisons of Babylon. It was a time of sorrow and mourning for the chosen people of God. Could it be that they were forgotten by Him who smote Egypt, and led the hosts across the Red Sea? As far as human eye could see, it was right to think so.

Pagan Still

Nebuchadnezzar had been humiliated when Daniel interpreted his dream, and he had then worshiped God. But as the years passed, he lost the spirit which characterized true worship, and while in the mind acknowledging the God of the Jews, in heart he was pagan still. So he made an image of gold, patterning it as closely as possible after the image revealed to him in his dream, at the same time gratifying his own pride, for the entire figure was gold. There was no trace of the other kingdoms, which were represented by the silver, the brass, the iron, and the clay in the dream. On the plain of Dura it stood, rising at least one hundred feet above the surrounding country, and visible for miles in every direction.

Then a decree was issued by Nebuchadnezzar calling to the capital the governors and rulers of provinces from all over the world. He, the ruler of kingdoms, thus showed his authority. It was a great occasion, and subject kings and governors dared not disobey the mandates of this universal king.

Heaven was watching with intense interest, for this was the occasion when the highest worldly authority was to meet the government of heaven.

Babylon was not only the greatest and most powerful government in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, but it is a symbol of earthly governments of all time, and for that reason we have the record as given in Daniel 3.

As a king, he had a perfect right to call his subjects together. As subjects, it was the duty of those who were called to obey.

Command to Worship

As that great company gathered around the image on the broad plain, the voice of the herald was heard: “At what time ye hear the sound . . . of all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image. . . . Whoso falleth not down and worshipeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.”

“God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit.” [John 4:24.] But of spiritual worship, paganism is entirely ignorant. Except there be some form, some image before which they can bow, there can be, to them, no worship. It was wholly in accordance with the religion, the education, and the government of Babylon, for the king to erect an image such as he did. It was wholly in harmony with the customs—educational, religious, and civil—for the people in general to respect a command to worship such an image.

While it was in harmony with worldly government, it was not, however, according to the principle of the heavenly government. Hence it is that again, in the person of the Babylonian king, Satan is challenging the government of God. When Lucifer and his angels refused to bow before the throne of God, the Father would not then destroy them. They should live until death should come as a result of the course they pursued. The Babylonian king, however, threatened utter destruction to all who refused to worship his golden image. The motive power in the heavenly government is love; human power when exercised becomes tyranny. All tyranny is a repetition of the Babylonian principles. We sometimes call it papal; it is likewise Babylonian. When the civil power enforces worship of any sort, be that worship true or false in itself, to obey is idolatry. The command must be backed by some form of punishment,—a fiery furnace,—and the conscience of man is no longer free. From a civil standpoint, such legislation is tyranny, and looked at from a religious point of view, it is persecution.

Can it be?

The vast throng fell prostrate before the image, but Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego remained erect. Then it was, certain Chaldeans,—teachers in the realm, jealous of the position and power of these Hebrews,—having waited for a chance to accuse them, said to the king, “There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, . . . these men have not regarded thee.”

Can it be, thought the king, that when the image is made after the pattern of the one shown me by the God of the Jews, that those men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, have failed to worship at my command? Can it be possible that when I have elevated those men, who were only slaves, to high positions in the government, that they disregard my laws? The thought rankled in the heart of the king. Self-exaltation brooks no opposition, and the men were called forthwith into the presence of Nebuchadnezzar.

Can it be possible, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, after all that has been done for you, that ye do not serve my gods nor worship the image, which I have set up? The reason for making the image was doubtless explained, and another opportunity offered them in which they might redeem the past offense. But if it was willful disregard of authority, the law of the land should be enforced. The furnace was pointed to by the king as awaiting traitors and rebels.

Test of Fidelity

What a test of the fidelity of these three companions of Daniel! They realized that they were in the presence of not only the richest monarch of earth, and that disobedience meant death, but before the assembled multitudes of the plain of Dura, and that they were a spectacle to God, to angels, and to the inhabitants of other worlds. The whole universe was watching with inexpressible interest to see what these men would do. The controversy was not between man and Satan, but between Satan and Christ, and eternal principles were at stake. Men were actors in the contest. They could stand as witnesses either for Christ or for Satan in this time of decision. Would they allow an unsanctified emotion to have possession of their lives, and compromise their faith? What could a religion be worth which admitted of compromise? What can any religion be worth if it does not teach loyalty to the God of heaven? What is there of any real value in the world,—especially when on the very borders of eternity,—unless it be God’s acknowledgement of us as his children?

These Hebrew youth had learned from the history of God’s dealings with the Israelites in times past, that disobedience brought only dishonor, disaster, and ruin; and that the fear of the Lord was not only the beginning of wisdom, but the basis of all true prosperity. They therefore calmly and respectfully told the king that they would not worship his golden image, and that they had faith that their God was able to protect them.

The king was angry. His proud spirit could not tolerate this refusal to obey his decree. He ordered that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than usual, and that the most mighty men of his army bind these three Hebrews and throw them into the fire. This was done, but God in this act began to vindicate his worthies. The furnace was so exceedingly hot that the mighty men who cast the Hebrews into the fire were themselves destroyed by the intense heat.

God suffered not envy and hatred to prevail against his children. How often have the enemies of God united their strength and wisdom to destroy the character and influence of a few humble, trusting persons! But nothing can prevail against those who are strong in the Lord. The promise is, “The wrath of man shall praise thee.”

God preserved his servants in the midst of the flames, and the attempt to force them into idolatry resulted in bringing the knowledge of the true God before the assemblage of princes and rulers of the vast kingdom of Babylon. “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” All things are possible to those who believe. “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” God may not always work deliverance in the way that we think best, but he who sees everything from the beginning knows what will bring honor and praise to his name.

Recognizing the Son of God

Suddenly the king became pale with terror. He looked intently into the midst of the fiery furnace, and turned to those near him with the words, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” They answered, “True, O king.” The king then said, “Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”

How did the king recognize the form of the Son of God? Evidently by the teachings of the Jews in the court of Babylon and in remembrance of his vision. Daniel and his companions had ever sought to bring before the king, the princes, and the wise men of Babylon, a knowledge of the true God. These Hebrews, holding high positions in the government, had been associated with the king; and as they were not ashamed of their God, they had honored and given glory to the Lord whenever opportunity afforded. The king had heard from their lips descriptions of the glorious Being whom they served; and it was from this instruction that he was able to recognize the fourth person in the fire as the Son of God. The king also understood the ministry of angels, and now believed that they had interfered in behalf of these faithful men who would yield their bodies to punishment rather than consent with their minds to serve or worship any god but their own. These men were true missionaries. They held honored positions in the government, and at the same time let the light of the gospel shine through their lives. This miracle was one of the results of their godly lives.

With bitter remorse and feelings of humility, the king approached the furnace, and exclaimed, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither.” They did so, and all the hosts of the plain of Dura were witnesses to the fact that not even the smell of fire was upon their garments, and not a hair of their heads had been singed. God had triumphed through the constancy of his faithful servants. The magnificent image was forgotten by the people in their wonder, and solemnity pervaded the assembly.

Truth Prevails

What the Jewish nation as a nation had failed to do in proclaiming the truth to the nations of the world, God accomplished under the most trying circumstances, with only three men. The story of the miraculous deliverance was told to the ends of the earth. The principles of religious liberty and freedom of conscience were made known. The history of the Jews was told from mouth to mouth as those unacquainted with the three Hebrews asked who they were and how they came into Babylon. The Sabbath was proclaimed. The story of Jewish education was made known. The glory of Babylon was for the time forgotten as the splendor of the heavenly kingdom and the principles of God’s government became the absorbing theme. Without doubt some men dated their conversation from that day, and forces were set in operation which paved the way for the return of the Jews a few years later.

Again the heathen monarch is brought to acknowledge the power of heaven’s King. When Daniel interpreted the dream, worldly wisdom and the learning of the Babylonian schools fell before the simple gospel teaching as carried out by faithful mothers in Israel. When the three Hebrews were saved from the heat of the furnace, the principles of God’s government—true Protestantism, as it would be called today,—were proclaimed before the nations of the earth.

It was only a partial appreciation of these principles which Nebuchadnezzar at first gained; nevertheless it led to the decree that throughout the whole dominion, wherever a Jew might be living, no man should speak against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. This gave freedom to every believer to worship unmolested. Satan, in attempting to destroy the Hebrews, had overstepped the bounds, and in place of the death of three, life was granted to thousands.

Test of Faith

The trial on the plains of Dura was the crowning act in the lives of the three Hebrews. We are told that they were advanced to higher positions in the province of Babylon, but we hear nothing further of them. In the testing time they did not know that the Lord would deliver them from the furnace, but they had faith to believe that he had power to do it if it were his will to do so. In such times it takes more faith to trust that God will bring about his purposes in his own way than it does to believe in our own way. It is the absence of this faith and trust in critical times which brings perplexity, distress, fear, and surmising of evil. God is ever ready to do great things for his people when they put their trust in him. “Godliness with contentment is great gain.”

Seldom are we placed in the same circumstances twice. Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Daniel, and others were sorely tried, even unto death, yet each test came in a different way. Each one today has an experience peculiar to his character and circumstances. God has a work to accomplish in the life of each individual. Every act, however small, has its place in our life experience. God is more than willing to guide us in the right way. He has not closed the windows of heaven to prayer, but his ears are ever open to the cries of his children, and his eye watches every movement of Satan to counteract his work.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were men of like passions with ourselves. Their lives are given to show what man may become even in this life, if he will make God his strength and wisely improve the opportunities within his reach. Among the captives of the king who had similar advantages, only Daniel and his three companions bent all their energies to seek wisdom and knowledge from God as revealed in his Word and works. Although they afterward held high positions of trust, they were neither proud nor self-sufficient. They had a living connection with God, loving, fearing, and obeying him. They allowed their light to shine in undimmed luster, while occupying positions of responsibility. Amid all the temptations and fascinations of the court, they stood firm as a rock in adherence to principle.

A direct compliance with Bible requirements, and a faith in God, will bring strength to both the will and the body. The fruit of the Spirit is not only love, joy, and peace, but temperance also. If these youth had compromised with the heathen officers at first, and yielded to the pressure of the occasion by eating and drinking according to the custom of the Babylonians, contrary to God’s requirements, that one wrong step would undoubtedly have led to others, until their consciences would have become seared, and they would have been turned into wrong paths. Faithfulness in this one point prepared them to withstand greater temptations, until finally they stood firm in this critical test on the plain of Dura. . . .

Future Test of Faith

All the world was called to worship the image set up in the province of Babylon; refusing, they would suffer death. In Revelation there is brought to view an image to the beast,—governments on earth which will frame laws contrary to the requirements of God. Life and power will be given to this image, and it shall both speak and decree that as many as will not worship it shall be put to death. All, small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, will be required to receive a mark in the right hand or in the forehead. Men will be disfranchised for not worshiping this image; for no one will be allowed to buy or sell who has not the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Who will be able to stand the test when this decree to worship the image to the beast is enforced? Who will choose rather to “suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season”? What children are now being trained and educated in these principles of integrity to God? From what homes will come the Daniels and the Meshachs? This will be the final test brought upon the servants of God. The scenes portrayed in the third chapter of Daniel are but a miniature representation of those trials into which the people of God are coming as the end approaches.

Story of Daniel the Prophet (1904), 28–38. Printed with permission of the publisher, TEACH Services, Inc., Brushton, New York, 1995.

What Manner of Persons

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In 11 Peter 3:11, the question is asked, “What manner of persons ought you to be?” This chapter of 11 Peter is the last letter from the apostle Peter. In the first chapter, he tells us that very soon he is going to die. He knows that, just as the Lord predicted to him, he will very soon be crucified. In the second chapter, he predicts a worldwide apostasy in Christendom after his death and describes the awful apostasy that will come into the Christian church. In the third chapter, he speaks of the times in which we are living, and he tells the people how they can be sure of obtaining eternal life. He tells them that the word of prophecy is surer than what they see or hear.

Verse 3 of 11 Peter 3 says, “This knowing first, that mockers shall come in the last days.” What is this mockery? What are these mockers going to say? Peter goes on to list other things that will happen in the last days.

Promise of His Coming

People will ask, “Where is the promise of His coming?” This is a statement of unbelief. The last days are described in the Scriptures as a time of great unbelief. Most of the world does not believe. Are we living in that time? Yes, it is recorded in our history books. Many historians refer to the period of time that we often call the Middle Ages and the Dark Ages as the age of faith. It was a very wicked time, a time when millions of Bible-believing Christians were martyred for their faith, but it was still an age of faith. Even those who were killing other people claimed they were Christians who believed in God and in the Bible. But the last days are described as a time of unbelief. Jesus described them in that manner—He said it would be like the days of Noah. (Matthew 24:37.) Were the days of Noah a time of unbelief? Well, there were only eight people in the ark! The last days are repeatedly described as a time of great unbelief.

I was reading recently that various mathematicians have tried to figure out what the population might have been at the time of the flood. Remember, people before the flood lived to be nearly 1,000 years of age, so if you consider that, a woman could probably have borne children for 300 to 400 years. How many children would a woman have during that time? One mathematician said that it would be the easiest thing in the world for the average family to have 18 to 20 children, so he used the lower number of 18 in his calculations. There are people in our time who have a dozen or more children, so 18 is not an unrealistic number. We know that people in the Old Testament had many children. In Genesis 5, we are told that Enoch lived for 365 years; his first child, Methuselah, was born when he was 65. Then it states that after that he “begat sons and daughters.” (Verses 21, 22.) He would have had at least two sons and two daughters in addition to Methuselah, so Enoch would have had a minimum of five children. It could have been six or eight or ten. This mathematician calculated that at the time of the flood, if the average family had 18 children, the population could have been between 700 and 800 million people! If the average family had been 20, the population would have been over a billion. Ellen White says that there was a vast population in the world at that time. (See Patriarchs and Prophets, 102.) It is almost certain that, at a minimum, there were hundreds of millions of people, and there could easily have been over a billion.

Out of those hundreds of millions, there were only eight people in the ark. Was that an age of unbelief? Jesus foretold that it will be like that again at the end, and Peter foretold that it would be a time of great unbelief. The people will be mocking those who are expecting the Lord to come. They will say that we expected Him to come years ago, and we cannot contradict that.

Lust, Unbelief

People will be going after their own lusts. In other words, they will be following their own human cravings.

People will be expressing unbelief. People will say, “Since the fathers fell asleep, everything continues as it has from the beginning of creation.” That is the Uniformitarian Theory that was developed in the last 200–250 years. This Theory states that if you cut into a mountain to observe the sediment and you determine that two-tenths of an inch of sediment is being laid down every year in this mountain, by cutting down so many feet, you can say that this mountain is so many million years old, because you believe that the same amount of sediment being laid down now has been laying down for centuries.

In 1979, I toured the geology building at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. I went through the entire building—looking for their evidence that things were many millions of years old. I went to every display in the whole building, and there is only one piece of evidence—the Uniformitarian Theory. The whole field of geology is built on this Theory. Almost 1,800 years before this Theory was developed, Peter said that that is what people would say in the last days. According to Bible prophecy, this Theory is proof that we are living in the last days.

Willingly Ignorant

People are willingly ignorant that this world came into existence by the Word of God. This world is not something that just developed over a long period of time. It came into existence by the Word of God. People want to be ignorant; they do not want to remember this. We have the most startling proof of this today. I have read a book about the researches of an orthodontist who went to Europe and other areas to study the skulls of people such as the Neanderthal man and the Promagnum man, who were supposed to be millions of years old. He secured permission to take x-ray pictures of some of the skulls. He began doing some measurements and calculations and found information that was so startling—and that so startlingly disproved previous theories—that his life was actually in danger.

Robert Gentry, the man who wrote Creation’s Tiny Mystery [Earth Science Associates, Knoxville, Tennessee, 1986], which describes how stones were created, challenged some organizations in court. He has written 11 different research reports of his findings on his rock research. No one has been able to fault his research. In court, when the evolutionists were asked to refute his research, they said, “That is just a tiny mystery that we cannot explain.” He has submitted his reports for publication, but the journals refuse to publish them. Do you know why they refuse to publish them? Because the Bible says that in the last days people willingly, wantonly desire to forget. It is exactly what the Bible says. They do not want to remember that the heavens and earth came into existence by the Word of God.

The world that was deluged by water during the Flood was destroyed. The Flood is one of the things of which the people are willingly ignorant. If any of you find a geology or biology textbook that teaches that there was a worldwide flood about 4,400 years ago, let me know. I have never seen one. Our textbooks never acknowledge a worldwide flood; they only tell of an ice age. Notice what Peter says: “But the heavens and the earth which now are, by the same Word, are kept treasured up for fire unto the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.” Verse 7.

Fire Coming

The Bible teaches that there is fire coming. The third angel’s message teaches that there is fire coming. I have never preached much about hell. I do not like to think about it. I do not like to preach about it. I do not like to talk about it, but it is in the Bible. We need to recognize that each one of us has a heaven to win and a hell to shun. (See Selected Messages, Book 1, 96.) We need to always have this in mind when we are speaking with other people. Perhaps it would help us overcome some of our timidity. When we are witnessing, we are trying to save them from hell and motivate them to choose heaven, if they will listen.

Peter says that fire is coming; a time of judgment for the ungodly is coming. Jude 15 talks about the same thing. Jesus spoke about it in Matthew 13.

Big Surprise

An overwhelming surprise is coming upon our world. “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief.” 11 Peter 3:10. It is going to be an overwhelming surprise. The verse continues, “. . . in which the heavens with a great rushing sound will pass away and the elements will be burned up. The earth will be destroyed and the works in it.” It is all going to be burned up—our cars, our houses, our possessions. The only possessions we have that will not be burned up, if they are saved, are our children. People can be saved; things cannot be saved. Realizing that everything is going to be burned up helps us to evaluate what is important and what is not important.

Peter’s Query

It is in this context—seeing that everything around us is going to be destroyed—that Peter asks, “What manner of persons should we be in all holy manner of life and godly conduct?” Verse 11. Is this something important to study? If everything around us is going to be destroyed, and we hope to escape the destruction, what manner of people should we be?

Peter gives us hope. He says, “New heavens and a new earth, according to His promise, we expect, in which dwells righteousness.” Verse 13. He tells of the re-creation wherein righteousness dwells. What is righteousness? It is right doing. Romans 7:12 says, “The law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.” A righteous person lives according to God’s Law. An unrighteousness person is someone who does not live according to God’s Law. (See 1 John 5:17.) “Little children, do not let anyone deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous just as He is righteous. He that sins is of the devil, for the devil sins from the beginning.” 1 John 3:7, 8.

Peter asks what manner of persons we should be. Consider these things:

Moral Excellence

Moral excellence is a holy manner of life. In 1 Peter 1:15, it says, “You be holy, because I am holy.” Holiness is God-likeness or piety. So often, in religion, we use certain words over and over again, and most of our children cannot understand them. The average child probably cannot tell you what the word holy means. Piety, sometimes translated virtue, means moral excellence.

“Wherefore, beloved, expecting these things, be diligent, spotless, and unblemished [or blameless] to be found by Him in peace.” 11 Peter 3:14. What does it mean to be spotless? Paul uses this term repeatedly. What makes the character spotted? Sin. So, if you are without spot, you are without sin. Remember that the sacrifices were to be without spot or blemish.

The Bible tells us what it is that brings the character into condemnation and what constitutes a person with a righteous or holy character. You may study this in 11 Peter 1:3–8 and Galatians 5:22, 23. The Bible actually gives us more lists of those things that bring the character into condemnation. (See Romans 1:29–32; 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10; Galatians 5:19–21). Jesus says that these are the things that defile a man (Matthew 15:17–20); and John gives three lists in the last of the Book of Revelation.

God must have known that we needed to have these things spelled out. In Revelation 21:5–8, it talks about the one that overcomes, and then it gives a list, and it says that the people with these defiling characteristics are going to be in hellfire. Revelation 21:27 includes a short list; a longer list is cited in Revelation 22. We usually quote verse 14 regarding those who keep the commandments and who will enter in through the gate, but then, if you look at verse 15, a list is given of people who will be on the outside. The Bible gives us lists so we will know which people are spotted and which people are blameless—who will be accounted pious and holy.

Notice 11 Peter 3:17: “Therefore, you beloved, knowing these things beforehand, guard yourself in order that not with the error of the unprincipled one, sometimes referred to as the wicked one, you might be led away and fall from your own steadfastness.” This is a command. Do you suppose, when the Bible gives us a command, that we should pay special attention to what we are to do?

Guard Your Association

This is a general command, but it is a command. It says, “guard yourself.” From what are we to guard ourselves? “The one who walks with wise men, also he will be wise, but a companion of fools will be destroyed.” Proverbs 13:20. According to this verse, we need to guard ourselves concerning our associations. Will there be those who will lose their faith because they associated with the wrong crowd? People think this happens only to children and young people, so we are very concerned with whom our children associate. As adults, however, we are not immune from our associations. Do you realize that every social association has an effect on us? We affect the other person, but they also affect us. This verse can make all the difference between hell and heaven for a lot of people.

The very same principle is discussed in Psalm 1. We need to guard ourselves regarding our associations. Someone may wonder, then, whether we should be social in order to save people. Yes, we should. But Ellen White says that is our only reason for being social with the ungodly—we should associate with them for one purpose only, and that is if we are trying to save them. “Let us ever bear in mind that our Saviour left the heavenly courts, and came to a world polluted by sin. By his own life he has shown his followers how they can be in the world, and yet not be of the world. He came not to partake of its delusive pleasures, to be swayed by its customs, or to follow its practices, but to seek and to save the lost. With this object, and this only, can the Christian consent to remain in the company of the ungodly.” Sketches From the Life of Paul, 299.

Yes, we have to do business with the ungodly. We could not exist in this world if we did not do business with them, but we do not need to associate with them socially, except as we are trying to win them to Christ. If we are not doing something for their salvation, we had better watch out, because we will be destroyed in the process. “The world is not to be our criterion. We are not to associate with the ungodly and partake of their spirit, for they will lead the heart away from God to the worship of false gods. . . . It is by leading the followers of Christ to associate with the ungodly and unite in their amusements that Satan is most successful in alluring them into sin.” The Adventist Home, 459, 460.

Guard What You See

“I will not put before my eyes the wicked thing.” Psalm 101:3. Peter says to guard yourselves lest you be led away with the error of the unprincipled ones and you fall from your own steadfastness. (11 Peter 3:17.) This is happening today with frightful speed among those who profess to be waiting for the coming of the Son of man, because they are not guarded. Are you guarding yourself? Are you saying, “I have a moral responsibility to God, not just for with whom I associate, but for that at which I am looking?” When you look at something, are you evaluating whether you need to know about it, whether it is going to help you to be ready for heaven, or whether it is some base, wicked thing, just for entertainment?

In my observations, I have learned that people in our society believe that they are simply being entertained by what they are looking at, but the fact of the matter is, they are being educated, and it is not the Holy Spirit who is educating them. Always remember that.

If you are a Seventh-day Adventist, you claim that you are waiting and preparing for the Second Coming of Jesus. Peter cautions to guard yourself, and David says he will not put any base thing in front of his eyes; he speaks of his hatred for such things. This is an important principle, and the Bible emphasizes it in more than one place. This is something to take to the Lord in your own devotions. Pray about it and ask the Lord to give you wisdom and willpower and self-control to look only at that that is pleasing in His eyes. Ask yourself, “Would the Lord be pleased with what I am looking at? Could the Lord sit right beside me on the sofa and could we watch this together?”

I am very fearful that many, many Seventh-day Adventists will lose their way to heaven and end up in hellfire as a result of what they are looking at on their videos and on their television sets. I am not out to point fingers; I just want people to think about what they are looking at and what they are listening to—is it helping them get ready for heaven or not?

“The sinners in Zion are terrified. Terror has seized the profane ones. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? The one who does righteousness; who speaks uprightly, who rejects the gain of oppressions, the one who will not accept a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed, and who shuts his eyes from seeing evil.” Isaiah 33:14–16. When there is terror in Zion among the profane ones, who is it that is going to dwell with the devouring fire? Remember, the Bible says, Our God is a devouring fire. (See Exodus 24:17; Isaiah 30:27.) When God comes, wherever sin is, it will be devoured.

Do you want to be one of those who shuts his ears from hearing about bloodshed and shuts his eyes from seeing evil? That is how we must be living if we are going to be ready when Christ comes. We will have to be guarding what we hear and see.

Guard What You Hear

We not only need to be guarding what we see, but we need to be guarding what we hear as well. To what are you listening? To what kinds of music are you listening? What kinds of videos are you watching and to what kinds of programs are you listening? Are the programs you look at or listen to ones you could enjoy with Jesus sitting beside you? Could you have a good conversation and enjoy the programs together? We need to be guarded.

Guard Your Appetite and Imagination

We need to guard what we taste, what we eat, and what we drink. There are many texts in the Bible regarding this, such as Isaiah 55; 1 Corinthians 10:20, 21; Daniel 1:8. The Bible teaches us that we need to be guarded concerning what we eat and drink. Paul says, “Whatsoever you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31.

We need to guard our imaginations. Very often sin begins in the imagination. After a person has been thinking about something for a long time, he begins to talk about it, and than he eventually does it. The Bible has a lot to say about the imagination. Psalm 19:14 speaks about the words of the mouth and the thoughts or imagination of the heart—that they may be acceptable to the Lord. In 11 Corinthians 10:5, we are told that every thought is to be brought into subjection to Christ. We are not ready for Jesus to come until that occurs.

Guard your imagination, “In order that you might not be led astray by the error of the unprincipled ones.” 11 Peter 3:17. What does it mean to be unprincipled? The unprincipled ones are lustful or licentious. It has reference to unbridled lust, shamelessness, outrageous conduct, unchaste handling of males or females, and lawless works. That is the way it is described in 11 Peter 2:6–10.

There are good things on which to exercise the imagination. Ellen White says that we should try to picture the home of the saved; we should spend time trying to imagine what heaven is like. (See Marana-tha, 319, 355.) It is a good exercise for the imagination. There are good uses for the imagination, but the devil tries to divert the imagination to evil causes so that it is like it was before the Flood.

Avoid These Things

Those are the five things. We need to guard our association; we need to be guarded in what we see; we need to be guarded in what we hear; we need to be guarded in what we taste; and we need to guard our imaginations.

We must avoid these things, or we will all perish. “And the Lord saw that great was the evil of man upon the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all day long.” Genesis 6:5. That is how it was before the Flood. The people’s thoughts were evil all day long. That is the reason for the Flood, and Jesus said that it will be this way again just before the Second Coming of Christ.

Grow in Grace

To the people who have guarded themselves, who are not being led away by the error of the unprincipled ones into lustful, lawless conduct, the Bible says, “But grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” 11 Peter 3:18.

Very soon after penning these words, Peter would be crucified. He knew it, because the Lord had told him that he would be crucified just as He had been. Before his death, he had wanted to write one last time to the churches. As he came to the close of his letter—the last communication that he, as a human being in this world, would have before his own crucifixion—he wanted to appeal to the Christians to not become part of the great apostasy that he saw coming (described in detail in 11 Peter 2). He was telling us how we should be guarded and prepared, without spot and blameless, and as he closed his letter, he made this final appeal: “Grow, grow in grace.”

Will there ever be a time in this world when we do not need to grow in grace? No, there will never be a time in this world when this will not be applicable. This is something that we can pray about every morning. We can say, “Lord, I am commanded in your word that I am to grow in grace, and I am surrendering my life to you today, choosing to guard myself, choosing to do my part, but Lord, only You can supply the grace.” We need to do our part—to guard ourselves—but we need to ask the Lord to bring that miracle of grace about, because only He can supply it. The promise in the Scriptures is that He has all of the grace that we need for whatever our struggles may be—appetite, passion, the desire for pleasure, impatience, losing our temper. We need grace if we are going to overcome, and God has all of the grace that we need. We only need to ask for it.

[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.

Sound an Alarm! Build an Ark!

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Friend, maybe it is said too much. Maybe you have grown weary with hearing it or reading about it, but when the Bible speaks of sounding an alarm or blowing a trumpet, there is a reason for it. We hear it from the pulpit and in Sabbath School class. We read it in our own studies, and we feel conviction from the Holy Spirit that there needs to be an awakening among God’s children.

The awakening is necessary because we have grown accustomed to the world and the things of the world, and we are somewhat asleep. That is very, very sad. It is not pleasant to be told repeatedly that we are in a sleepy state, but friend, we need to be reminded that an alarm must be sounded and preparation needs to be made. We need to be building an ark, because a flood is coming. Destruction is coming upon this earth.

As we reflect upon the Flood in Genesis, I am overwhelmed with what those people must have experienced, and what they must have witnessed. We have not seen anything like what they saw. If it is this message that applies to God’s last day people, then we need to be sounding an alarm as never before, and we need to be building an ark.

There may be an alarm being sounded to a certain degree, but I wonder if there are any arks being built. We can sound the alarm all we want, but unless we are building an ark—an ark of safety, an ark of faith, an ark of refuge—we are not going to be preserved. How many of us are building that kind of ark? Noah could have preached his 120 years and not have built the ark. What good would all that preaching have done him? It did very little good anyway. Today, we need to be preparing.

Ark of Safety

Contemplate some important facts in Genesis 7 to see whether or not you are building an ark in your life. You are either building an ark or you are destroying the one that was made to preserve you. This is the ark of safety. In Genesis 7:1, it says, “And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.” How sad that was, in the sense that, as God looked over the face of the whole world, He looked at Noah and said, “In thee I see the righteousness.” Of all that He had done and all that He had provided for His children, He could not find any righteous.

I guarantee you, friend, that there were many that were professing. I guarantee that there were many that were saying, “We are Christians. Yes, we are prepared. We are a part of the family of God, and we understand things are going to happen.” I hear all the time, “I am doing the very best I can do.” The best you can do on your own is to be totally lost! The very best that you can do is as filthy rags. (See Isaiah 64:6.)

You and Your House, Come

I like what the Lord said to Noah before destruction came. As He looked at Noah, He said, “I want you and all your house to come.” That would be wonderful to hear today! Oh, friend, if God said to you, “You and your entire house, come,” do you realize what a blessing that would be?

At the time of the Flood, I do not believe God took any into the ark that were not ready, were not willing, or did not believe. He did not take unbelievers into the ark. The people who were in the ark wanted to be there. They believed what dad was preaching! Today, children often do not believe what their parents are teaching or what they stand for in the home. They have their own thoughts and their own ways. But it was a real blessing for Noah’s family to have believed their dad. As Noah preached, they did not grow weary; they stayed right in there with him.

So God told Noah, “Come on, all your house, come on into the ark.” Verse 13 says, “In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark.”

No Youth

Did you notice that there were no children, no youth, and no teenagers who went into the ark? There were only adults. Of all the people on the face of the earth, there were no young people who went into the ark.

I do not claim to have an answer for this, but I was astounded as I thought of it. Was it possible that the parents had not instilled within the youth reverence and respect for God? Were others too young to make the choice on their own to go into the ark? Did mom and dad, through their witnesses, influence what the children did or did not do? Can you possibly think of all those babies—the little ones in the arms of the moms and the grandmas and grandpas? Were the parents asleep, or dead in trespasses and sins, losing all sense of their accountability to God?

Oh, friend, where were the young people? Were they out partying and having a “good time”? Something was going on, because they did not show up. But then, Scripture tells us that they lived in a time of partying. The young always wanted to be active—interacting with people of their own age, having fun, going places and doing things. None of them were ready to go into the ark. After all, that was a dismal, old place. Who wanted to go on an old boat where there was only one, little window? Who was going in some stinky ark with all those smelly animals? They would rather be with their friends.

You can weigh that however you want to today, but we need to look at it closely. It is very difficult to blame the children, because training and accountability start in the home with mom and dad. Ellen White wrote, referring to the sins of Eli’s sons (1 Samuel 3:11–14): “Such is the fearful reaping of the harvest sown when parents neglect their God-given responsibilities,—when they allow Satan to pre-occupy the field which they themselves should carefully have sown with precious seed of virtue, truth, and righteousness. If but one parent is neglectful of duty, the result will be seen in the character of the children; if both fail, how great will be their accountability before God! How can they escape the doom of those who destroy their children’s souls?” Review and Herald, August 30, 1881.

Yes, children may stray, go their own way and make their own decisions as they become older, but “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6. He or she may stray, but if you have fulfilled your responsibility as a parent, praise God! Your child has that truth. “Our first work is to bring our families to understand their accountability to God.” The Signs of the Times, December 3, 1885.

Prison or a Haven?

Noah and his family entered the ark that same day, and when it began to rain, the waters rose “fifteen cubits upward,” above the highest mountain peaks on the earth at that time. (Genesis 7:20.) Verse 24 says, “And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.” That does not mean that the experience was over. Genesis 8:13 tells us that “it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first [month], the first [day] of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth,” and verse 14 says, “in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.” From this we can calculate that Noah was shut in the ark 365 days, for he entered the ark the seventeenth day of the second month, in the six hundredth year of his life. (Genesis 7:11, 13.) A year! For a year Noah and his family were in the ark. Who would want to be in there for that long?

Who wants to go through what you are going through today? If you are preparing for heaven, you are going to have to go through some things. It will be very uncomfortable at times and, may I say, stinky at times.

It may have seemed they were imprisoned, because they had not shut the door, and they could not open it. The unbelievers looking at it from the outside probably considered it somewhat of a prison, but the believers inside looked at it as a haven. They were thanking God the door was shut, because they believed it was going to rain, and if the door was open, the ark would flood and they would drown. “And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.” Genesis 7:18.

Do you realize that after it began to rain, it was too late to have started building a shelter? Many tried to build their own little boat while there was a deluge coming down; it did not work. Many tried to beat and bang and saw and hack their way into the ark; their efforts were in vain. I can only imagine the screams and the pleadings for help, as the water was rising. The bodies of little ones began to float on the water, as their parents lost their grasps on them and they drowned. The people began to climb up the highest peaks in an attempt to save themselves.

Ellen White wrote: “Some clung to the ark until they were borne away by the surging waters, or their hold was broken by collision with rocks and trees. . . .

“The beasts, exposed to the tempest, rushed toward man, as though expecting help from him. Some of the people bound their children and themselves upon powerful animals, knowing that these were tenacious of life, and would climb to the highest points
to escape the rising waters. Some fastened themselves to lofty trees on the summit of hills or mountains; but the trees were uprooted, and with their burden of living beings were hurled into the seething billows. One spot after another that promised safety was abandoned. As the waters rose higher and higher, the people fled for refuge to the loftiest mountains. Often man and beast would struggle together for a foothold, until both were swept away.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 100.

Oh, friend, we do not realize the magnitude of what went on at that time. The earth was literally torn apart. Many of the people wanted to find salvation, but they were searching for it with a wrong motive. How are your motives today? Why do you serve Jesus? Are you looking for Him today?

Genesis 8:4 says, “And the ark rested.” That is wonderful to know. Inspiration and the Bible tell us that that boat was beaten violently in the wind and the rain. “The massive ark trembled in every fiber as it was beaten by the merciless winds and flung from billow to billow. The cries of the beasts within expressed their fear and pain. But amid the warring elements it continued to ride safely. Angels that excel in strength were commissioned to preserve it.” Ibid.

Test of Faith

God preserved that ark, but for five months, day in and day out, 24 hours a day, it was twisting, rocking, and creaking. You know there had to have been creaks! How would those creaks have affected you? Would some doubt have started creeping into your mind? Would you have begun to wonder if it was going to sink, if something was going to give way, if it was really made the way God wanted it to be made? Or would you have said, “I know it is going to hold up. This ark was built exactly the way God said to build it. We did the very best we knew how to do, and God will do the rest.” I wonder; where would our faith be?

Five months! We have a problem if we experience rough waters in our lives for an hour or two, but five months! God’s watchful eye and hand were on that ark. “As the waters began to subside, the Lord caused the ark to drift into a spot protected by a group of mountains that had been preserved by His power. These mountains were but a little distance apart, and the ark moved about in this quiet haven, and was no longer driven upon the boundless ocean. This gave great relief to the weary, tempest-tossed voyagers.” Ibid., 105.

When the drying up period began, God called up the wind to blow on the face of the earth. “[God] caused a powerful wind to pass over the earth for the purpose of drying up the waters, which moved them with great force—in some instances carrying away the tops of the mountains like mighty avalanches, forming huge hills and high mountains where there were none to be seen before, and burying the dead bodies with trees, stones, and earth. These mountains and hills increased in size and became more irregular in shape by collections of stones, ledges, trees, and earth, which were driven upon and around them.” The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 1, 80, 81. I cannot even imagine such a forceful wind. How frightening that would have been, but Noah and his family were safe in the ark, resting in the protected area God had provided for them. Do you think God does not care?

The Animals

Have you ever thought about all those animals that came into the ark? We generally consider it to be a children’s story, but it is awesome. God sent out angels to collect the animals and gather them into the ark. The people who were around the ark heard and saw the animals. They thought that it was the strangest thing they had ever seen, and they knew something miraculous was taking place. The animals came in such an orderly fashion—by twos and by sevens. They appeared in pairs, a male and a female of every species.

During the time before the Flood, there was an occurrence called amalgamation that we find in the world today. Of all the animals in the ark, not one of them was “man-made.” God was preserving His own creations. Inspiration tells us that “Every species of animals which God had created was preserved in the ark. The confused species which God did not create, which were the result of amalgamation, were destroyed by the Flood. Since the Flood, there has been amalgamation of man and beast, as may be seen in the almost endless varieties of species of animals, and in certain races of men.” Ibid., 78. The angels were not sent for the “confused species,” because such were not of God.

As the people saw this miraculous loading of the animals for seven days, they could not understand it, but it did not change their minds. “Philosophers were called upon to account for the singular occurrence, but in vain. It was a mystery which they could not fathom. But men had become so hardened by their persistent rejection of light that even this scene produced but a momentary impression.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 98. Can you comprehend how many animals were loading for seven days into a boat that was three stories high? But still the people did not believe.

Seven days before the rain began, the people witnessed the glory of the angel closing the door of the ark. They saw that massive door being closed and locked and still they tried to reason it away. They did not want to believe. Then it was too late.

Patience a Virtue

“And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made.” “But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters [were] on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.” Genesis 8:6, 9. After seven days, Noah sent out the dove again. That time she returned with an olive leaf. No one in the ark knew that the waters were abated off of the earth.

Imagine not being able to look out and see what was going on. What faith that must have taken.
I would have wanted to peek! I would have wanted to get out of that place! But God had told Noah when to go into the ark, and Noah was going to wait on God to tell him when to go out of the ark. What a lesson for us today!

Compare the experience of these eight individuals to your own Christian experience. What we sometimes think is brutal and a curse, friend, can actually be a haven. They considered the ark to be a haven, a protection. They understood what was going on out in the elements. It was awful out there, and they were afraid to be out there. They wanted to be under the care of the Lord.

Waiting on the Lord

What joy for the ark occupants to know that the water was abated, but verse 12 says that they stayed yet another seven days. I would have been ready to get out as soon as I saw the olive leaf, but they patiently waited seven more days. “And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first [month], the first [day] of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.” Verse 13.

I would say, “Come on, let’s go,” but not Noah. He waited almost the entire next month (verse 14)—almost two months after he saw the ground—before he left the ark. Do you realize how long those two months must have seemed?

What was Noah doing? In Genesis 7:1, we read, “And the Lord said unto Noah, come into the ark.” In Genesis 8:15, 16, we read, “And God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth of the ark . . . .” Noah was waiting on God’s instruction and direction. When God says to you, “Go and do,” do not do anything different until God tells you to do something different—not even if you see the ground and it looks dry. Noah never questioned God nor, evidently, did any of his family.

Thank You

“And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord . . . .” Verse 20. The Bible continues that the burnt offering was a sweet smell, a welcome fragrance, as it were, in the nostrils of God. There is something exceedingly beautiful and interesting to know that the first act of this devout patriarch was to return thanks for the signal instance of mercy and goodness, which he and his family had experienced. He was grateful to the Lord for preserving their lives.

Friend, how many of us, when we have come through a terribly difficult situation, first give God praise and honor and glory? Many times we do not. How many times has God shown mercy to you over the years? If it were not for His mercy, none of us would be here. The devil is beating at us with a tempest that we could not endure if it was not for God’s hand over us. The psalmist tells us to “give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy [endureth] for ever.” Psalm 136:2. Mrs. White wrote: “Every manifestation of His mercy and love toward us should be gratefully acknowledged, both by acts of devotion and by gifts to His cause.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 106.

Devotion is prayer time, piety in our hearts. Loyalty is what it really means or, in other words, deep affection. We want to give God deep affection, and we want to give Him our hearts and our minds. We want to spend more time with Him. Every blessing that we receive means we need to spend time on our knees, thanking God.

Then Mrs. White said we need to do one more thing. We need to deny self and show that we are really grateful by giving a gift to His cause. Friend, if we did that every day, the coffers would be full. For every act of His love, His graciousness, and His goodness, these two things—devotion and a gift—are to be given. One will not suffice.

God daily preserves our lives in His ark of safety. There is still opportunity for others to enter into this ark. The door is still open, but soon it will shut forever. That day is just upon us. “The picture which Inspiration has given of the antediluvian world represents too truly the condition to which modern society is fast hastening.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 102. The world has become so vile and so violent. It is worse than it was at the time before the Flood. We need to daily show our devotion to God and acknowledge His goodness by giving a gift to His cause.

We have all passed through violent storms—loss of health, of material goods, of businesses, of dear friends and loved ones—but we still have numerous blessings to count. God still loves us and cares for us, and He has prepared a haven for us. We need only to follow His instruction, to wait upon His direction and obey it.

Pastor Kenny Shelton is speaker for the television ministry of Behold the Lamb in Herrin, Illinois. He may be contacted by e-mail at BTLM@GTE.net or by telephone at 1-800-238-2856.

Are You Connected?

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In the book, Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, 79, Ellen White writes that the attitude and philosophy of the Pharisees is the attitude of human nature.

“The principles cherished by the Pharisees are such as are characteristic of humanity in all ages. The spirit of Pharisaism is the spirit of human nature.”

Universal Problem

Pharisaism is something that is almost universal in the religious world, so please do not think that we are trying to point a finger at this church or that church. It exists throughout historic Adventism. It exists throughout conference Adventism. It exists throughout the Catholic Church, the Methodist Church, and the Baptist Church. It exists all over the world.

Even though it is almost universal, God has decided to remove this Pharisaism from the church. He removed it when He first came to this earth, and when He was finished, Ellen White states that there were only 11 men and a few women left in the church. (See Testimonies, vol. 5, 130.) So this is an alarming topic to study.

I have offered many prayers that our church would not be engulfed, swamped, flooded, taken over, and controlled by the spirit of Pharisaism. I consider this to be one of our greatest dangers. I would rather be in a church of 6 people empty of Pharisaism than a church of 600 people full of Pharisaism. It is dangerous, because it is so subtle. It is much subtler than Sadduceeism. It is one of the reasons for the splits that we see, both in conference churches and in historic Adventist churches, all over the world. It is rife in historic Adventism, as it was in the day of Christ. People can see that something is wrong, but they cannot figure out what it is, because it is so subtle that their minds cannot grasp it.

No Righteousness

Jesus, speaking in the Sermon on the Mount, made the following statement that left the people in a state of shock: “For I say to you, That except your righteousness shall exceed [the righteousness] of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:20.

Are there going to be any Pharisees in heaven? No! I want you to understand how serious this subject is. No Pharisees will be allowed into the kingdom of heaven. Not one! God will not allow it! Why? Because they do not have enough righteousness.

The people could not understand this. The Pharisees were the most righteous people in the church. If they could not go to heaven, who could?

Many home churches have been established as protest against Sadduceeism. Many historic Adventist leaders have spent the last few decades protesting Sadduceeism in Adventism. We have no argument with these people. But remember, friends, in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy, the Holy Spirit spends at least ten times more time dealing with Pharisaism than with Sadduceeism.

We have no argument with those Seventh-day Adventist leaders who are writing books, publishing magazines, and sending tapes all over the world, protesting Sadduceeism in the church. But friends, if we concentrate on that and miss the big point, we are in trouble! The big point is not Sadduceeism. That is a huge problem, but it is not the biggest problem.

The Problem

The really big problem is that Pharisaism is endemic in the home church movement, in the denomination, in other Protestant churches, and in the Catholic Church—it is all over Christendom.

At times, when I hear some of the sermons and tapes and read the books against Sadduceeism, I recall that, in Jesus’ day, the Pharisees were against the Sadducees, too. But you know, you can spend your whole life proving that the Sadducees are wrong, and still be lost. Thousands of people did it in Jesus’ day. Jesus and the apostles identified where the really big problem was—and it was not with the Sadducees! The big problem was with the Pharisees.

We read, in Matthew 5:20, why the Pharisees were not going to the kingdom of heaven—because their righteousness was not enough! How could that be? They were the most particular people. Because, friend, they did not understand righteousness by faith. They had no conception of it. Paul spoke of it. He said that they go about to establish their own righteousness. (Romans 10:3.)

Nicodemus was a Pharisee. Remember that? And when Jesus told him that he would have to be born again if he was going to be saved, he was in a state of shock. In fact, he was so upset that he became sarcastic with Jesus about it. (See John 3:4.) Jesus did not back down. He just said the same thing again, only stronger. (See verse 5.) Why was Nicodemus in such a state of shock when Jesus told him that he must be born again? To understand why Nicodemus was in such a state of shock, we need to understand what the Pharisees believed.

Connection with Israel

“The Jews based their hope of salvation on the fact of their connection with Israel.” The Desire of Ages, 675. This is a major point in connection with Pharisaism, and is actually one of the few beliefs shared by the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Although they both believed it, the Pharisees enforced it.

Nicodemus, we are told in John 3, was a leader of the Jews. In their church organization, He was the equivalent of a leader in the General Conference. Was Nicodemus connected with Israel? He was not only connected with Israel, but he was one of their leaders. If anyone was going to be saved, it should be he.

Pharisaism Today

Did you know that that principle teaching of Pharisaism is still in existence today? In my own observations—and these are just my own observations—the two churches which are more steeped in this Pharisaic teaching than any other churches in the world are the Roman Catholic Church and the Seventh-day Adventist Church. I am not saying that there are no others, but these two denominations are more steeped in this Pharisaism than any others I have seen.

The Roman Catholic Church is steeped in Pharisaical teaching. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, the pope stated in a papal bull that, to guarantee salvation, it was necessary to believe that you must belong to the Roman Church. They have never retracted this edict. I am not speaking inadvisably, friends. I have a 1994 Roman Catholic Catechism in my office with the signature of Pope John Paul 11 on it.

The other church that is steeped in this teaching is the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Let me read the quote again: “The Jews based their hope of salvation on the fact of their connection with Israel.” If you believe that you are going to be saved because of your connection with Israel, what is going to happen to you if you lose the connection? You will be lost.

That is why, during the Dark Ages, the Roman Catholic Church could put a city under what they called interdict. They would say, “We have the power of the keys. We have cut you off from the kingdom of heaven.” When a city was under interdict, they would not even perform a marriage inside the church, and they did not recognize the marriages performed outside the church as valid. If you wanted to get married lawfully, you had to go to a city that was not under interdict.

Not only that, but when people died, their funerals could not be conducted in the church; they said that no one was going to heaven because only the church had the keys. They could not even bury the dead in the churchyard. People became terrified. We would not believe anything like that, would we?

I remember when I was disfellowshipped from the Seventh-day Adventist Church for ordaining people. The church told me that I could not ordain people without going through it. That is what the Pharisees believed. They said that your salvation is based on your connection with Israel, and we are Israel, and everything the Lord is going to do in the world is going to come through us. The church said that I was ordaining people without going through them and baptizing people without going through them and organizing churches without going through them and preaching that they are in apostasy, so they disfellowshipped me. And I said, “Yes, all those things are true,” and I still stand on those things.

Do you believe that people should not be able to go to church unless they secure permission? And do you believe that people should not be able to be ordained or baptized unless they secure permission? “The Jews based their hope of salvation on the fact of their connection with Israel.”

One of the main problems with Pharisaism is that it is almost the truth. That is why it is so deceptive. It is almost the truth. In fact, it could be the truth, if you understand it in the right context.

Sectarianism

How is a person saved? Are you saved because you say that you believe these doctrines, so now you are going to be baptized, and thereby you are connected with the church? Is that what makes you saved? The fact that you are baptized does not guarantee that you will be in the kingdom of heaven, because a church cannot save you. You see, that is sectarianism. And the two churches I know of that are the most sectarian today are the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the Roman Catholic Church.

This spirit of Pharisaism was so rife in Jesus’ day that it permeated all of the disciples. That was their major problem, as you will find in reading the Gospels. The whole time Jesus was here they were permeated with Pharisaism and did not know what was going on. The Pharisees were sectarian, so the disciples were sectarian, too.

We read, in Mark 9:38–40: “John gave answer to him, and said, Teacher, we saw a certain person casting out demons in your name, and we forbid him, because he did not follow us. And Jesus said, Do not forbid him, for there is no one who does a miracle—or a work—in my name, and then is able soon to speak evil of me. For whosoever is not against us is on our part.”

Do you comprehend what Jesus is saying here? Let us think this through. Was this church apostolic? If there ever was an apostolic church, this was it! This church was composed of Jesus Christ and the 12 apostles. John was a member of the apostolic church; he was one of the apostles, and he saw someone performing miracles but not fol-lowing or being a part of the church organization of the 12 apostles. So he brought a curse on him and told him to stop, because he was not doing it through the apostolic church. That was sectarianism. Did Jesus agree with them? No, Jesus rebuked them for their sectarianism. He said, “Whoever is not against Me is for Me. He is doing it in My name, do not forbid him.”

Sectarianism has been a curse of the church in all ages. It is one of the first and principal identifying marks of Pharisaism.

Pharisaism Brings Division

The apostolic church had this problem. The first three chapters of 1 Corinthians disclose the fact that they were having divisions in the church. Pharisaism always brings divisions in the church. It brings church splits and all kinds of problems.

Within the Corinthian church, there were some people who said they believed the gospel the way Paul taught it. There were other people who said they believed it the way Apollos taught it. And there were other people saying they believed it the way Peter taught it. They had three splits in the church!

Paul talks about this. One person says, I am of Paul; one says, I am of Apollos, and one says, I am of Cephas, that is, Peter. (1 Corin-thians 1:12.) Since Paul is writing, would you not expect him to set everyone straight and show him or her that he is the one who is right? He rebuked them. He asked, “Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you?” Verse 13. He told them that when they were acting this way and had all of this strife among them, it proved they were not converted. They were still carnal. (1 Corinthians 3:4.)

Jesus rebuked sectarianism to His disciples. The apostle Paul rebuked sectarianism to the Corinthian church. Sectarianism is always a result of Pharisaism. Wherever you see people thinking in a sectarian way, you can be absolutely sure that there is Pharisaism at work, because it is one of the identifying marks.

How Saved

What did Jesus teach concerning this? How is a person saved? The Jews said that they “based their hope of salvation on the fact of their connection with Israel,” and if you were cut off from Israel, you were lost. That is why, when the Jews came to the parents of the blind man whom Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, and asked, “Is this your son who was born blind? How does he now see?” they said, “This is our son, and we know that he was born blind, but how he sees now, we do not know, and who healed him and gave him sight, we do not know.” (John 9:19–21.) That was an absolute falsehood. That was not a white lie. That was a black lie. That was breaking the Ten Commandments.

They were willing to break the Ten Commandments in order to not be disfellowshipped from the church! Why were they willing to break the Ten Commandments to stay in the church? Because they had been taught that if someone was cut off from the church, they would lose eternal life. But the fact of the matter was that they were going to lose eternal life for breaking the Law of God. That is what Pharisaism does.

When you believe Pharisaic theology, the very thing that you believe is going to ensure your salvation actually ensures your damnation. Is that not demonic? So what did Jesus teach concerning this?

Jesus Taught

Now the Jews taught that their hope of salvation was based on the fact of their connection with Israel. Isaiah said that Israel is a vine that the Lord planted, and one must be connected with this vine to be saved. (See Isaiah 5.) So Jesus decided, the night He was betrayed, to correct His disciples’ thinking on this point. They had believed and had been taught by the Pharisees their whole lives, that Israel was the vine. Now notice what Jesus says about this. “I myself am the true vine.” John 15:1. (See also The Desire of Ages, 675.)

I have often wondered if those few words did not hit them, as we would say, like a ton of bricks. It was totally contrary to what they had been taught their whole lives. The prophet had taught that Israel was the vine, but Israel was only the vine if it was connected. We are only part of the vine, if we are connected. So, if Jesus is the true vine, to what do we need to be sure we are connected?

The Pharisees taught that if you were connected to the church, you were saved. That is what the Catholics teach. That is what the Seventh-day Adventists teach. If you are connected to the church, you are going to be saved. If you are not connected to the church, you are going to be lost.

What did Jesus say? “I myself am the true vine.” So, if the church is likened to a vineyard, how does one become connected to the vine?

Fatal Flaw

The Pharisees will say that you have to profess faith in the doctrines, become baptized, and then your name is written down on the church books. They vote you into membership, and then you are connected. Remember, the problem with Pharisaic theology is that it is almost right, but there is always a fatal flaw in it.

The following statement from the Spirit of Prophecy will show you what the fatal flaw is. “There are two kinds of connection between the branches and the vine stock.” The Signs of the Times, July 27, 1888. How many kinds of connection are there between the branches and the vine stock? There are two kinds.

“One is visible, but superficial.” Ibid. You can see it. When you declare that you believe the doctrines, you become baptized, and the church votes you into fellowship, you then have a visible connection with the vine stock. That is an outward connection. It is a visible connection, but that connection, by itself, will not get you into the kingdom of heaven.

“One is visible, but superficial. The other is invisible and vital.” Ibid. If you have ever raised grapes, you know there is an inward connection, and an outward connection and if the inward connection is not complete, the branch dies. Then, when you prune the plant, you cut off that dead branch. That is what Jesus talks about in John 15:6. Eventually, the branches that have only the outward connection are going to get pruned. You cannot see it, but inside there is a vital connection, and the sap from the vine runs into the branch, clear to the outermost twig. That is the really important connection.

Notice how Ellen White explains this: “There is an apparent union, a membership with the church, and a profession of religion, which, though in itself good, is too often unaccompanied by saving faith in Jesus or living obedience to the commandments of God. The branches that are connected with Christ, the living vine, will make it manifest by bearing much fruit in good works to the glory of God. But the branches which have nothing but an apparent union, will be fruitless. As the branch cannot possibly bring forth fruit without a vital connection with the parent stock, so the Christian can be fruitful in good works only as union with Christ is made and preserved. The ruin of those who are not connected with Christ, is as complete as though they had no name to live; for they are dead. Christ compares them to lifeless branches that are gathered and burned in the fire.” Ibid. “Every branch in me that bears not fruit he takes it away: and every branch that bears fruit, he purges [prunes] it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” John 15:2.

Who to Believe

Jesus said, “I am the Vine.” The Pharisees said, “Israel is the vine.” Do you want to have eternal life? If so, you have to be connected to Jesus. We are not criticizing Israel. We just want to recognize who the vine really is. If you want to have eternal life, Jesus said, you have to be connected to Me. Another time, He said, ”No one”—how many is no one?—“comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6.) Do you want to be saved? Do you want to go to heaven? Do you want to have eternal life? There is only one way. You are only saved because you are connected to the true Vine, Jesus Christ.

There were people in the apostolic church who ended up losing eternal life. Yes, there were, because the New Testament mentions several by name. You can read through the New Testament and find the names of several people who had been members of the apostolic church, but they still lost eternal life even though the human leaders of their church were the 12 apostles. You see, being connected with the church will not save you—you must be connected with Jesus.

I am so glad that Peter finally figured that out, because when he got it figured out, he shared it. Peter did not teach the people that they were going to be saved because they became members of the apostolic church. He did not teach that, and neither did the other apostles. The people who were being saved joined the church, but notice what Peter said in Acts 4:12: “Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which it is necessary for us to be saved.”

Ephesians 1:22, 23 and Colossians 1:18 identify Christ as the head of the church. The church is likened, in the New Testament, not only to a vine, but also to the body of Christ. (See 1 Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 4:12.) Now, if Jesus is the Head of the church, it just follows that if you are going to be part of the church, you have to be connected to Him. Does that make sense? And if you are not really connected to Jesus, you are not really part of the church.

Profession or Reality

When we began preaching these things about 12 years ago, the Pharisees in the church went ballistic. The Pharisees in the church cannot figure out the difference between profession and reality. The Spirit of Prophecy teaches very clearly that there is a difference between the professed church and the true church. Ellen White draws a line so clear that I cannot comprehend how anyone can miss it. But if you are a Pharisee, you can miss it, because Pharisees have a different idea in regard to the church. They believe that if you are connected with the church, you are going to be saved, and if you lose that connection, you are going to be lost.

In 1993, a person wrote to me expressing great sorrow for my disfellowshipping—since I was not part of the church anymore. And I said, “What? I am not part of the church anymore? When did I decide not to keep the commandments of God? Ellen White says that the church is the people who love God and keep the commandments. When did I decide to turn my back on the Lord?” I am a sinner, but friends, I have not turned my back on the Lord. I am still part of His church.

If Jesus is the Head of the church, then to be part of the church, really—not just by profession—you have to be connected with Him. Ephesians 5:30–32 says, “Because we [the church members] are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones, on account of this, a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave [stick] to his wife, and they shall be the two unto one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I am speaking about Christ and the church.” You see, if you are really going to be part of the church, you have to be a member of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.

The Pharisees said that they were connected with God. We cannot contradict them; they had the outward connection. But, having an outward connection with the church will not save your soul. If you do not have the inward connection with Jesus—if you are not part of His body, if you are not bone of His bone, flesh of His flesh, if you are not really connected with Christ—you are not really part of Him. You only have the outward connection, and the Lord says that you will be cut away.

I am not concerned that I have been told by certain groups of people that I could no longer be part of their church and that I would be disfellowshipped and defrocked. I am not concerned about that. But I do not want the Lord to come and say to me that because I have only the outward connection, I am not truly connected, so I must be severed from Jesus. This is something about which I pray. It can happen to preachers; it can happen to deacons; it can happen to anybody; and when it happens, you are no better than is any other Pharisee in the world. You are still connected outwardly, but the inward connection is gone.

Do you want to be vitally connected to Jesus Christ? Do you want your life to be connected with Jesus Christ so that you are bone of His bones, flesh of His flesh, a member of His body? Do you want the inward connection? Ask the Lord in prayer for that vital, inward connection. He will give it to you.

[Bible texts quoted are literal translation.]