Christian Life

The Christian Experience

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In apostolic times the early church was a force to be reckoned with. The new converts were full of grace and the Holy Spirit. The word of God was preached with the fullness of the Spirit and people were added to the church daily. The message that Jesus was the Messiah was “preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47). The men and women that Christ drew to Himself were not well educated, were corrupted by sin, and their minds were fixed on temporal things. They were just the kind of people that Jesus had come to save.

“For the carrying on of His work, Christ did not choose the learning or eloquence of the Jewish Sanhedrin or the power of Rome. Passing by the self-righteous Jewish teachers, the Master Worker chose humble, unlearned men to proclaim the truths that were to move the world. These men He purposed to train and educate as the leaders of His church. They in turn were to educate others and send them out with the gospel message. That they might have success in their work they were to be given the power of the Holy Spirit. Not by human might or human wisdom was the gospel to be proclaimed, but by the power of God.” The Acts of the Apostles, 17.

Through their association with Jesus, they came to see the beauty of His character and desired to follow Him. Like most people, it took time for them to fully grasp His mission and the great need of a change to be made in their lives. Jesus is a patient teacher, willing to go the extra mile to shape the minds of His people so they can understand more fully the difference between His character and the character of Satan. In the beginning, the disciples did not fully understand the depths of sin. They were blinded by their own ideas of the world and how they should be saved. It took forty days of instruction after the resurrection of Jesus for them to understand the scriptures of the prophets. Preconceived ideas and worldly politics were set aside. Their only focus was on the kingdom of heaven.

“The disciples were to go forth as Christ’s witnesses, to declare to the world what they had seen and heard of Him. Their office was the most important to which human beings had ever been called, second only to that of Christ Himself. They were to be workers together with God for the saving of men. As in the Old Testament the twelve patriarchs stood as representatives of Israel, so the twelve apostles stand as representatives of the gospel church.” Ibid., 19.

At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples and they went forth preaching repentance to all men. Peter proclaimed, “This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.” “Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’ ” (Acts 2:32, 38). In a few years, the message of the crucified and resurrected Messiah was given to the world. People perceived the truth and embraced it. Love for one another in Christ was their theme and the fruit of their labor. “So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved” (verses 46, 47).

This is the Christian experience that Jesus came to bring to all people who would forsake the world and follow Him. He had laid out before the disciples the keys to the kingdom of God—righteousness, goodness, and longsuffering. He gave as an example a life of toil and struggle and a deep love for others. He said to His disciples, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” and “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 14:15; 15:12). As it was for the early disciples, so it is for us today. We must also have this experience in love and faith in Jesus.

“The apostle prayed that love might abound more and more. There must be a living faith, before there can be a living experience. There are many who have a certain formal knowledge of Christ, and an indefinite faith that does not have an active influence upon the life and character. This faith is not a saving faith. Our love for Jesus must commence here, if we expect to love Him through the ages of eternity. All who love Christ will talk of Him. How shall the world know of the blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of your Lord and Saviour, unless you make it the theme of your thought and conversation? If our hearts are rejoicing in the hope of beholding our coming Saviour, shall we not speak of it to others? ‘Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh’ (Matthew 12:34). We shall have the Spirit of Christ, if we are in union with Him; and with the same untiring love and patience, we shall seek that which is lost. One soul is worth the world. It is the purchase of the blood of Christ, and those who really love Christ will feel the value of the souls for whom He shed His precious blood.” The Signs of the Times, July 27, 1888.

These early disciples did not have a life of leisure, but of hardship. They were hated for Christ’s sake and persecuted, but they continued to deliver the message that He gave them to proclaim. “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19), Peter said to a dying sinful world that needed to be justified through the blood of Jesus so they might stand before the Lord of Hosts. Many died to self and took on the yoke of Christ. They loved not their lives unto death but freely gave themselves for His cause. With joy in their hearts and words of forgiveness on their lips, they held nothing against any man. Instead, they reached out in love to those who were marred by sin, to uplift them from the mire of the world.

“When Christ sent forth the disciples with the gospel message, faith in God and His word had well-nigh departed from the world. Among the Jewish people, who professed to have a knowledge of Jehovah, His word had been set aside for tradition and human speculation. Selfish ambition, love of ostentation, greed of gain, absorbed men’s thoughts. As reverence for God departed, so also departed compassion toward men. Selfishness was the ruling principle, and Satan worked his will in the misery and degradation of mankind.” The Ministry of Healing, 142.

“Under the fiercest persecution these witnesses for Jesus kept their faith unsullied. Though deprived of every comfort, shut away from the light of the sun, making their home in the dark but friendly bosom of the earth, they uttered no complaint. With words of faith, patience, and hope they encouraged one another to endure privation and distress. The loss of every earthly blessing could not force them to renounce their belief in Christ. Trials and persecution were but steps bringing them nearer their rest and their reward.” The Great Controversy, 41.

What a sharp contrast to the Christian experience of today. Many believe that if they attend church once a week and profess to love God, they have a place in heaven. They believe there is nothing else required of them to be saved. Yet, Jesus gives us a much different view of what it means to be saved. When Mary Magdalene anointed the Savior’s feet with her tears, she found forgiveness in His voice, “Then He said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’ Then He said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you. Go in peace’ ” (Luke 7:48–50). And when the poor woman who had been bleeding for 12 years reached out to touch the hem of His garment, He said, “Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace” (Luke 8:48). What did each of these women have in common that Jesus found worthy of salvation? Faith!

“True faith lays hold of and claims the promised blessing before it is realized and felt.” Early Writings, 72. “Faith is trusting in God—believing that He loves us, and knows what is for our best good. Thus, instead of our own way, it leads us to choose His way. In place of our ignorance, it accepts His wisdom; in place of our weakness, His strength; in place of our sinfulness, His righteousness. Our lives, ourselves, are already His; faith acknowledges His ownership, and accepts its blessings. Truth, uprightness, purity, are pointed out as secrets of life’s success. It is faith that puts us in possession of these. Every good impulse or aspiration is the gift of God; faith receives from God the life that alone can produce true growth and efficiency.” Gospel Workers, 259.

To have the experience of the early church, we must claim the promises of God. It is imperative that we relinquish our will to His will to create the change from sinful selfishness to perfect righteousness. Self must be sacrificed on the altar of God so that the purity of the Holy Spirit will have a fit temple to dwell in. Faith in every word that proceeds from the mouth of God is essential to receive His blessings and prepare for the great work ahead. Jesus said that the last days would be as in the times of Noah and Lot, with great evil at every corner. Temptations and trials will be against God’s people, but the most deceptive test will come from within the church itself.

“Satan therefore laid his plans to war more successfully against the government of God by planting his banner in the Christian church. If the followers of Christ could be deceived and led to displease God, then their strength, fortitude, and firmness would fail, and they would fall an easy prey.” The Great Controversy, 42.

Satan knew that persecution was not having the desired results, so he changed his tactics and started weaving in false doctrines. He insinuated that God’s people could not overcome sin, therefore, they must just keep their sins confessed. Once he established this false doctrine, it was then easy for him to sow strife, jealousy, and evil speaking amongst the good church members. Fault finding became commonplace, unforgiveness grew out of fault finding, and the result was a prideful fallen church.

“The great adversary now endeavored to gain by artifice what he had failed to secure by force. Persecution ceased, and in its stead were substituted the dangerous allurements of temporal prosperity and worldly honor. Idolaters were led to receive a part of the Christian faith, while they rejected other essential truths. They professed to accept Jesus as the Son of God and to believe in His death and resurrection, but they had no conviction of sin and felt no need of repentance or of a change of heart. With some concessions on their part they proposed that Christians should make concessions, that all might unite on the platform of belief in Christ.” Ibid.

Professed Christians will proclaim that they are keeping all God’s laws and that they believe in the resurrection of the dead in Christ, yet there will be something missing. Outwardly, they will be formally keeping His Sabbath, attending church regularly, but the inward change has not been wrought. Selfishness, self-will, pride, and the love of this world will still be hidden in the heart. The unsanctified among God’s people will take leadership roles just as they did in the early church and drive the Holy Spirit away. Complacency will begin to appear, the work will stop, and the love of Christ will wane. We are seeing the result of these very conditions in the church today.

Jesus foresaw this happening in the early church and warns us that it will happen in the last church. “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.” “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see” (Revelation 2:5; 3:18).

Christ is gathering His angels for the last battle, but He is wondering if there will be any faith left on earth when He comes. He is looking for a people to stand up like the early apostolic church and proclaim His love for the world, to warn them of the impending doom that is about to fall upon it. “And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth” (Luke 18:7, 8)?

“What is the condition in the world today? Is not faith in the Bible as effectually destroyed by the higher criticism and speculation of today as it was by tradition and rabbinism in the days of Christ? Have not greed and ambition and love of pleasure as strong a hold on men’s hearts now as they had then? In the professedly Christian world, even in the professed churches of Christ, how few are governed by Christian principles. In business, social, domestic, even religious circles, how few make the teachings of Christ the rule of daily living. Is it not true that ‘justice standeth afar off: … equity cannot enter. … And he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey’ (Isaiah 59:14, 15)”? The Ministry of Healing, 142.

As we look at the experience of God’s early church, we must ask ourselves: What is our experience today? Are we tirelessly working for the souls of others? Do we have the fervent love for our brothers and sisters in the church? Are we fulfilling the great commission that Jesus gave us to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19, 20)? Time is shorter now than in 1844 when Jesus started His ministry to cleanse the sanctuary of the sins of God’s people. He is waiting for a people who will stand up and be counted, with a pure doctrine of righteousness and a mouth that speaks saving truth to this fallen world. Jesus is at the door now, knocking on each heart to see if we will open the door so that He can make His home with us. Soon our time will be finished, and we will give an answer for what we have accomplished in His name. Let each one of us pray that we will be found ready at the great Day of Jesus.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Mike Wells lives in Wichita, Kansas, and is director of Anointing Oil Ministries.

Do Not Be Afraid

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The time is coming when all the inhabitants of the earth will have decided whom they will follow. Some will be inside the holy city looking out, while others are on the outside looking in. Some, perhaps many of the latter group may desire to be inside, but realize that it is too late.

Many of us have loved ones who have little interest in spiritual things and our hearts ache for them. The sadness you see manifested at the funeral of a loved one will in no way compare with the loss and eternal separation from loved ones that will occur at the end of time. So, cry out and ask the Lord, How can I witness to my family? What can I say and do so they can find out about the love of Jesus?

The sin problem began when Lucifer came to doubt the love of God. Today, there is much resistance to the gospel. People are becoming hard hearted because they don’t understand the love of God. Sometimes, when we have tried to show people the prophecies and end time events which almost scare them to death, we realize that nothing is going to make sense to them if they don’t understand the love of God. In fact, what is the point of having eternal life if you don’t have a love relationship with the Creator of all things?

We find in the New Testament both the reason why people get scared when they are in trouble as well as the remedy. It is a fact that troublous times are coming before Jesus returns. The devil would like to get us so terrified that we give up. But we can be just the opposite and experience perfect peace in the midst of everything that goes on.

The Bible speaks of a time when the apostles became really terrified.

“He [Jesus] said to them [His disciples], ‘Let us cross over to the other side.’ Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, ‘Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?’ Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace, be still!’ And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, ‘Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?’ And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, ‘Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him’ ” (Mark 4:35–41)!

The ship was full of water and about to sink. Jesus awoke, not as the Master of sea and sky and nature, but as a man. However, He ever trusted in His Father’s might and knew that His Father had control of it. He knew that the devil had sent the storm in an attempt to drown Him and His disciples.

It is the devil who sends a lot of storms into our lives. He is a troublemaker, and as long as he is around there will be trouble. Jesus had peace. He knew that it was not the time for them to die. His work was not yet complete, nor was that of the disciples who would take the gospel to all the world.

One time, Ellen White was on a boat in a terrible storm and many people were terrified and screaming. Someone turned to her and asked, “ ‘Are you not terrified? I suppose it is a fact that we may never reach land.’ I told her I had made Christ my refuge … if my work was not done, all the waters of the ocean could not drown me.” Spiritual Gifts, vol. 2, 85, 86. The devil cannot kill you if God still has a work for you to do in the world.

Luke describes the scene this way: “It happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples. And He said to them, ‘Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.’ And they launched out. But as they sailed He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy. And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, ‘Master, Master, we are perishing!’ Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. But He said to them, ‘Where is your faith?’ And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, ‘Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him’ ” (Luke 8:22–25)! According to the words of Jesus, the disciples were afraid because they didn’t have faith.

The opposite of being terrified is to be at perfect peace. In every situation, Jesus had the peace of heaven. Paul had that same peace, which enabled him to stand unflappable amid the constant opposition of the Jews. Some wonder why the Lord allowed there to be so many millions of martyrs. By witnessing the peace that their faith gave them, many people were won to the Gospel that may not have been otherwise.

John Calvin, a devout Roman Catholic, was one who watched the martyrdom of a Protestant. Looking at the martyr’s face, he saw no fear, for he had perfect peace. It was the practice of the church to martyr people in public to induce fear in the spectators. However, the Lord gave them peace and those spectacles had the opposite effect. John Calvin saw in the martyr a peace that he didn’t have. He went back and studied his Bible and became a Protestant believer.

Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “And having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:15). Let your mind take this in. If you have peace in your heart, it will show on your face; if you have terror in your heart, those emotions are reflected on your face.

Paul lists the fruits of the Spirit in his book to the Galatians. He says that among the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, and peace. If these fruits are not manifested as we witness, the gospel will fall on deaf ears. (See Galatians 5:22, 23.)

Those who have faith have peace, but you cannot have faith until you know that you are a child of God.  Paul wrote, “And you … who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others” (Ephesians 2:1–3). This describes a person who has not experienced the gospel. They are by nature the children of wrath under the control of the devil.

John 9 tells of a blind man that Jesus healed. The Pharisees began to investigate the healing. Beginning in verse 24 they ask Jesus again about it saying, “So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, ‘Give God the glory! We know that this Man [Jesus] is a sinner.’ ” Then “He answered and said, ‘Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.’ Then they said to him again, ‘What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?’ He answered them, ‘I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?’ Then they reviled Him and said, ‘You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from.’ The man answered and said to them, ‘Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears Him’ ” (verses 25–31).

Notice, the blind man understood theology better than the Pharisees. He said, if a man is a sinner he can’t go to God; he can’t exercise faith in God. God is not going to listen to him, but if a man fears Him and does His will, then He can have faith in Him. A person living in sin, does not experience the gospel and by nature is the child of the devil. It is impossible for that person to have faith in God, because he or she is not His child and does not have the privileges of a child. In order to have faith in God, you need to experience the gospel so that you can be adopted and experience what Paul calls the “adoption of sons” (Galatians 4:5, last part).

There are two kinds of children in the world. In Genesis 3:15 God said to the devil, “I will put enmity [hatred] between you and the woman, and between your seed [descendants] and her Seed [descendants].” Some people are the seed of the woman; some people are the seed of the devil. The seed of the woman are the ones who have experienced the gospel and have experienced the adoption of sons. You cannot have faith until you know that you are a child of God. Those who have not experienced that are by nature the children of wrath and the children of the devil.

The gospel, simply explained, needs to be preached over and over again. There are Christians who have attended church for years who do not have a clear understanding of the gospel and do not have peace. Many people are terrified about a possible economic collapse or impending war and all sorts of things. Somehow, we have to explain to them what the gospel is, because only by experiencing it will you have internal peace, no matter how much trouble there is in the world.

Jesus said, “Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer [courage], I have overcome the world” (John 16:32, 33). In other words, there is going to be trouble on the outside, but in Him you will have peace on the inside. When that happens, it will be visible and show on your face.

How does a person experience the gospel and have peace in our troubled world?

First, a sinner needs to understand that he needs help, which is contrary to the modern teachings of many psychologists and sociologists. Maybe you’ve heard of books like “I’m Ok—You’re Ok.” By the way, that is a lie. In fact, I’m not okay and you’re not okay either. This is not a criticism, but a fact. A sinner must first recognize that he is lost and that he needs someone to save him or he will never get out from the problem he is in. He needs to realize that he is in a pit and he cannot get out without help. Without this realization the gospel can do nothing for him.

One of the biggest problems evangelists in the United States face today is that people believe they are rich, increased with goods and in need of nothing and are therefore satisfied. In that case, there is nothing a preacher, teacher, or Christian can do to help them. But when a person is susceptible to the influence of the Holy Spirit, they begin to realize that one ray of light from the throne of God makes painfully distinct the destitution and sinfulness of their soul.

Jeremiah said, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil” (Jeremiah 13:23). He also said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). Desperately wicked in the original Hebrew means literally incurable. The heart is deceitful above all things and it is incurable. It is just as incurable as any physical disease and leads to eternal death without divine help.

There are moralists who have been trying to “help” themselves for years. They study psychology and take educational courses to learn how to be better people or how to train people to help themselves. For example, consider the problem many face with overeating. National surveys reveal that it is harder to overcome overeating than to overcome either smoking or tobacco. The reason is that with smoking and tobacco you can just plain quit, but you have to eat to live. Therefore, eating must be controlled and that is a lot harder than just quitting something. You must recognize your need of help to receive help from the Lord.

When you recognize your need and come to the cross, you will experience what the Bible calls repentance. Many Christians, failing to recognize their need of help in overcoming, have a whole array of darling sins, the sins that they are in love with. Darling sins are really hard to overcome because you love doing them. 1 Corinthians 15:3 says that “Christ died for your sins,” and John wrote that “Sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4 KJV).

Know that Jesus died the awful death on the cross because of each one of our darling sins. Think about it – how can partaking in my darling sin be enjoyable when it caused so much suffering to Jesus? That is what the Bible calls repentance. Repentance means the sin is no longer darling to me anymore, but heinous. I am sorry I ever did it and I don’t want to do it again.

“Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance” (Romans 2:4)?

The basic meaning of the Greek word that is translated repentance means to change your mind. The sin that you once loved you now hate. You now see how much Jesus, whom you once hated loves you, and you want to change. When you begin to love Jesus, you will hate your sins. That is repentance. It involves not only being sorry for your sins but turning away from them.

The Bible says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear” (Psalm 66:18). Think seriously about those darling little sins that never seemed that bad. Repentance increases and deepens as we go through the Christian life (see Christ’s Object Lessons, 160). It is not just something you experience once before you are baptized; it is something you continue to experience throughout your life.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13). If my sin involves something that I did that injured somebody else, in addition to telling the Lord I’m sorry, I must go and tell that person that I am sorry.

Some people, because of death, will even have to make confessions in heaven. David will have to confess to Uriah the Hittite in heaven. The apostle Paul will need to have a conversation with Stephen about the part he played in his martyrdom as well as all the other deaths he was responsible for before his conversion. Repentance is not only making our peace with God; it is making peace with the one we have injured. That includes making restitution if there is something we can restore. If we kill somebody, we can’t make restitution, but if we’ve stolen goods, we can make restitution. Confession involves confessing to God and making restitution if it’s possible and determining not to do it again. This is our work before the close of probation.

Sin must be confessed whatever the consequences. There are people who have to decide whether they want to confess what they have done and even go to jail and be clear before God, or whether they want to cover it up and then answer to the Lord when He comes. The Christian religion involves making things right as soon as you realize the wrong.

Jeremiah says, “You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). After the resurrection Jesus asked Peter one question, repeating it three times. The question was, “Do you love Me?” (See John 21:15—17.) Do you really love Me? Have you made a commitment? That’s what faith is all about; in fact, in Greek the word that is translated to have faith or to believe means to believe something enough to make a commitment. For example, John 2:24, 25 says, “Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.” The word translated in this passage as commit is translated faith or belief elsewhere. Faith means to acknowledge Jesus as your Lord and Savior and make a full commitment to God.

Commitment is one of the most important things in life. One of the greatest tragedies of our modern-day society is that we have lost the ability to commit. When people get married, they verbally make a commitment, yet a big percentage of those relationships end in divorce. Many more, refusing to commit to marriage, simply live together, making it easier to make their escape when the relationship sours. With no commitment there is no security; there is no peace or joy or trusting happiness, for you never know if your partner is going to walk out on you when something better shows up.

Marriage is an illustration of the relationship that God’s people have with the Lord (Ephesians 5, Revelation 19, Song of Solomon, Ezekiel 23, Hosea). In Jeremiah 3:14, the Lord says, “I am married to you.” You cannot marry someone if they don’t commit, and you cannot be a child of God until you are ready to commit to Him. Confession and repentance must be followed up with a commitment if you are to be adopted into the family of God. Jesus said, “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say” (Luke 6:46)?

The thief on the cross got it. Addressing Jesus, he said, “ ‘Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom’ ” (Luke 23:42). He knew he was a sinner and needed salvation. When he addressed Jesus as his Lord and Savior, Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you today, you will be with Me in Paradise” (verse 43). The gospel is not complicated. He made a commitment and was saved. Won’t you do the same and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (John 3) and experience the peace that passes understanding?

The Roman Catholic Church states that “The reason for the uncertainty of the state of grace lies in this: that without a special revelation nobody can with certainty of faith know whether or not he has fulfilled all the conditions that are necessary for achieving justification.” Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, ©1974, 262. Under that system there is no peace, but a continual trying to do more in order to fulfill the conditions, never sure whether you have done enough. That was the problem Martin Luther faced. He climbed the Holy Stairs of the Lateran Palace on his knees, working and working and wondering if what he did was ever enough. Paul said salvation is only available by faith alone.

“We conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds [works] of the law” (Romans 3:28).

“Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt [obligation]. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness” (Romans 4:4, 5).

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). When your sins have been forgiven and you have made the commitment, you are a child of God, not because of what you have done, but because of what Jesus has done and is doing.

As we approach the end of the world, we have been warned that there will be trouble such as there has never been before Jesus returns. Seek to experience the gospel as never before so your faith will be strengthened. Know that Jesus is in charge even if it doesn’t look like it right now. The devil can’t do anything to you without the Lord allowing it and whatever He allows is for your good and often for somebody else’s good as well.

Remember, “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

Whatever is going on in your life, you may be tempted to be terrified, but tell the Lord you want faith to not be afraid and to experience the gospel and receive the Holy Spirit and experience perfect peace.

The peace you experience will be noticed and desired by others, opening the door for you to witness. Jesus said that the harvest is ripe. People are looking for answers to this world’s problems and we can be used to help them find the Saviour. We can be reflectors of His image. When they see that we have the joy of the Lord and have perfect peace amongst turmoil that even the devil cannot take away, they will desire Him too.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

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

Wanted: An Easy Religion

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The Gospel of Jesus has never been popular. The gospels reveal that Jesus “came to His own, and His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11).

Thus Jesus tells us to “enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13, 14).

Although there has always been a mass of professors of religion, there have been but few who have been willing to be truly converted thereby, willing to be broken on the Rock and to crucify self.

Religion has never lacked popularity. Throughout history, most people had “religion” and have even been proud of it. But “The religion that is fashionable, that is popular in the world, is not the religion of the meek and lowly Jesus.” The Review and Herald, June 14, 1892. “The religion of Christ permits no compromise, no yielding to the influences of the world.” Ibid. One of Satan’s goals in our church is to make religion fashionable; to lower the standards of truth so that our church may be filled with those who are professors of religion, but not truly converted.

“It has been the continual endeavor of the enemy to introduce into the church persons who assent to much that is truth, but who are not converted. Professed Christians who are false to their trust are channels through whom Satan works. He can use unconverted church members to advance his own ideas and retard the work of God. Their influence is always on the side of wrong.” Notebook Leaflets from the Elmshaven Library, vol. 1, 21.

The book of Revelation reveals that Satan has succeeded in diluting this church with professors of religion who are not converted. In prophecy, this church is pictured: “So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot … and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:16, 17). But because of their profession, Laodiceans viewed themselves as being rich and having need of nothing.

No more fearful delusion can take a people captive, and no more accurate description could depict our church today. We are more intent on maintaining a good name than on living a godly life. We want to feel good about ourselves while maintaining our worldly lifestyle.

We want to be popular as are the churches of the world. Typical is our turning to non-Adventist church-growth experts to teach us how we can become popular and grow like the other churches. In the process, the offense of the cross has ceased. No longer is there persecution from without, only that which comes from within when someone raises his voice calling for reform.

And yet for all the endeavors at popularity, we are not growing, at least not in the Western countries. Why should this be? In all our efforts to learn the secrets of growth employed by the churches from which we as Seventh-day Adventists were called out, is it possible that we have missed something? We have become Laodicean relatively slowly—adopting the ways of the churches which compose mystical Babylon by default rather than by intent.

As Elijah said, “How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him” (1 Kings 18:21, KJV). Let us therefore choose to have either pleasing, popular religion, or accept the offense of the cross. And for those who want a pleasing and popular religion, not by default but by intent, here are three ways to have a pleasing religion like the world:

Preach Jesus, Without Requiring Perfect Obedience

Everyone has some besetting sin. From birth, Satan has been cultivating certain sins within each one of us.

I remember in a baptismal class, as we were reading from the Bible about jewelry, one young woman spoke up and said: “If I have to take off my wedding ring to go to heaven, I can’t go.” She had been married just six months and had a new diamond wedding ring. When I visited with her in her home two days later, she had two non-Adventist ministers there helping her to see that a little jewelry was not wrong.

She came to the baptism with all her jewelry on. She asked me to explain again the reasons why wearing it was wrong. We then went into the study and spent the next hour and a half reading again all the texts and discussing their meaning. Finally, with tears, she said, “I surrender!” From that moment on the Lord used her, and within a relatively short period of time she had brought several other people into the church.

But first, she had had to overcome her besetting sin, which probably an evil angel had worked to develop this love in her from the time she was a little girl. Presents of jewelry had probably been given to her. Prideful comments had undoubtedly been made about wearing jewelry, and how good it made one look. Jewelry had become associated with femininity, sex appeal, marriage, wealth, success, and attractiveness.

How easy it would have been to have brought her into the church without counseling her about jewelry! And although she eventually made the decision to take it off, how many do not!

I remember another young woman who had three hundred pairs of earrings, several hundred pairs of shoes, and three mink coats. She was a personal acquaintance of some well-known movie stars. She came to every meeting and accepted every truth—but one. That again, was wearing jewelry. Consequently, she found a church that would accept her with her one besetting sin.

Some are lost when standards are held high. Jesus lost the rich young ruler. How much credit he could have been to the fledgling church. He had money, influence, and leadership. Moreover, he kept all the commandments, and even accepted Jesus in broad daylight and knelt down before Him—more so than Nicodemus.

Judas’ keen perceptions immediately grasped what it would mean to their little group to have this respected leader in their company. If the young man needed any reforms, he felt these could come later.

“When Jesus presented to the rich young ruler the condition of discipleship, Judas was displeased. He thought that a mistake had been made. If such men as this ruler could be connected with the believers, they would help sustain Christ’s cause. If Judas were only received as a counselor, he thought, he could suggest many plans for the advantage of the little church.” The Desire of Ages, 719.

If Jesus had listened to Judas, the small group of disciples would not have lost the rich young ruler, nor the crowd of 5,000 when “many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more” (John 6:66). Jesus seemed to lose more disciples than He kept. Somehow, He had never been taught the secrets of church growth. His standards were too high, in Judas’ estimation.

Numerically, Jesus could have had much more success, and we can, too, if we will just be content to preach more of “Jesus” and not concern ourselves with obedience. As long as a person will accept Jesus as his Saviour and accept “most” of the standards of the church, surely the other points of godly living will come along as he sits in church Sabbath after Sabbath.

The only trouble is that as long as there is even one point not fully surrendered to the Lord, Satan has control of the life. Because conversion “requires an entire transformation, a renewing of our whole nature, we must yield ourselves wholly to Him.” Steps to Christ, 43.

“We are not God’s children unless we are such entirely.” Ibid., 44. The more areas of godly living displayed in the life, while one sin is being cherished, the more deceptive is the Christian experience. As long as one point is unsurrendered, all the preaching in the world will not avail. Judas was not converted by his association with Jesus.

“Even one wrong trait of character, one sinful desire, persistently cherished, will eventually neutralize all the power of the gospel. Every sinful indulgence strengthens the soul’s aversion to God.” Ibid., 34.

Sin is like a cancer. Either it is completely eradicated, or it completely eradicates Christ. There are only two roads we can travel: one is the road of total victory, the other is the road of total defeat. All we have to do is take one step down, and the next one becomes easier. “After every advance step in the downward road, Satan has some special temptation to lead them [professed Christians] still further on the wrong track.” Testimonies, vol. 2, 287.

But here is the problem: We do not know when we have been totally defeated. “When sin has deadened the moral perceptions, the wrongdoer does not discern the defects of his character.” Steps to Christ, 40. Sin blinds the perceptions. The Jewish leaders in Jesus’ day came under Satan’s complete control, but thought they were the guardians of the faith.

All Satan needs is for us to reject one standard. “The removal of one safeguard from the conscience, the failure to do the very thing that the Lord has marked out, one step in the path of wrong principle, often leads to an entire change of the life and action.” Mind, Character, and Personality, vol. 1, 320.

And so, if we want to be popular like the other churches, just preach “Jesus.” Call it “Christ our righteousness.” Make the people active, happy Christians but allow them to retain their one cherished sin.

Tell People to Wait for Jesus to Overcome Their Sins for Them

If the lie that perfect obedience is unnecessary doesn’t work and Satan cannot deceive us into thinking we can be saved while still cherishing sin, then he has another scheme that is just as effective. Preach Jesus, preach perfect obedience and sanctification, but tell them that Jesus will do the perfecting for them. Teach them to read the Bible and pray, and Jesus will do the rest.

This is a most deceptive, alluring philosophy. I remember talking with a leader in the church who was addicted to a certain caffeinated drink. She drank it all day long. She said she knew it was wrong, but could not quit. I asked her why she bought it and she said she was waiting for God to take the sin away from her. She even suggested that it would be wrong for her to quit unless God took it away.

It is true that we have no power to overcome sin in our own strength. But God has called us, with His power, to put sin out of our lives. Jesus gives the power, but we must do the overcoming.

“In the work of redemption there is no compulsion. No external force is employed. Under the influence of the Spirit of God, man is left free to choose whom he will serve. In the change that takes place when the soul surrenders to Christ, there is the highest sense of freedom. The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself. True, we have no power to free ourselves from Satan’s control; but when we desire to be set free from sin, and in our great need cry out for a power out of and above ourselves, the powers of the soul are imbued with the divine energy of the Holy Spirit, and they obey the dictates of the will in fulfilling the will of God.” The Desire of Ages, 466.

When Judas came to Jesus, he thought that if he just associated with Him, that all his sinful traits would be washed away. How wrong he was!

“He [Judas] felt in his own person the evidence of Christ’s power. … He loved the Great Teacher, and desired to be with Him. He felt a desire to be changed in character and life, and he hoped to experience this through connecting himself with Jesus. … [Christ] endowed him with power to heal the sick and to cast out devils. But Judas did not come to the point of surrendering himself fully to Christ. He did not give up his worldly ambition or his love of money.” Ibid., 717.

Judas wanted to be changed. He thought that by associating with Jesus he would be changed. He heard the words of Jesus day after day and talked with Him face to face. But because he himself did not give up his sins, his life was not changed as he hoped it would be. How many are going through a Judas experience today because of the Judas philosophy? They have accepted the idea of just spending time with Jesus and letting Him change the life apart from their own endeavors.

“Everything depends on the right action of the will. The power of choice God has given to men; it is theirs to exercise. … Desires for goodness and holiness are right as far as they go; but if you stop here, they will avail nothing. Many will be lost while hoping and desiring to be Christians. They do not come to the point of yielding the will to God. They do not now choose to be Christians.” Steps to Christ, 47, 48.

There is a work for man to do in overcoming sin that God will not do for him. God gave Samson superhuman strength, but he had to exercise every ounce of energy; he had to lift those gates off the city wall. He had no power to do it himself. But neither could he merely kneel beside those gates and wait for them to move. He had to exercise the power that God had given him.  Likewise, we must exert effort in the expulsion of sin from the soul.

“There must be an earnest effort to conquer through the grace freely given of God.” The Review and Herald, January 24, 1893.

“The pleasing fable that all there is to do is to believe, has destroyed thousands and tens of thousands, because many have called that faith which is not faith, but simply a dogma. Man is an intelligent, accountable being; he is not to be carried as a passive burden by the Lord, but is to work in harmony with Christ. Man is to take up his appointed work in striving for glory, honor, and immortality. God calls upon men for the use of every talent He has lent them, the exercise of every power He has given; for man can never be saved in disobedience and indolence.” Ibid., April 1, 1890.

“Divine help is to be combined with human effort, aspiration, and energy. But we cannot reach the battlements of Heaven without climbing for ourselves. … Not even divine power can lift one soul to Heaven that is unwilling to put forth efforts in his own behalf.” The Signs of the Times, August 14, 1884.

“God will work for His children, but not without their co-operation. They must have indomitable energy.” The Review and Herald, April 8, 1890.

“God will never deliver those who will not strive to free themselves [from temptation].” The Signs of the Times, October 8, 1885.

The counsel is clear. We must overcome as Jesus did, first by uniting our weakness to His strength, our human frailties to His divine omnipotence, our nature to His, and then, thus empowered, we must overcome sin by refusing to do evil and choosing to do right.

“If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13).

But this work requires the crucifixion of self, not pleasing to the natural heart. It will not make for a large, popular church. If we want to have a pleasing doctrine that will gain more adherents, preach victory through Jesus, call it “righteousness by faith,” but teach that Jesus will do the overcoming for us.

Lead People to Worship the System

In all ages, worshiping the system has worked effectively. Get people to transfer their allegiance from the Creator to the created. In ages past, men worshiped the works of creation in the sun, moon, and stars, all in the name of religion.

However, in the New Testament era, Satan has found something new—the church. Throughout the Dark Ages, the idol and opiate of mankind was the church. People looked to the church to interpret the Scriptures, to set guidelines for their daily lives, and to fulfill the vacuum existing in the heart of every man and woman. They worked and sacrificed for the church. God was their Father, but the church became their mother, and their final allegiance was to their mother.

Do we have the same danger? In Laodicea, Jesus is pictured as standing outside the door, while the church within continues to function as though it needs nothing. The church has replaced Jesus.

We need the church, just as we need the sun, moon, and stars. But the church must never take the place of God. There must never be a creed to take the place of the Bible. There must never be a system to take the place of personal obedience. There must never be an official interpretation to take the place of personal conviction. This concern was one of Ellen White’s great burdens for the church, especially following 1888.

“The Jewish nation were not brought suddenly into their condition of thought and practice. From generation to generation they were working on false theories, carrying out principles opposed to the truth, and combining with their religion thoughts and plans that were the product of human minds. Human inventions were made supreme. …

“Let no plans or methods be adopted in any of our institutions that will bind mind or talent under the control of human judgment. …

“The high-handed power that has been developed, as though position has made men gods, makes me afraid, and ought to cause fear. It is a curse wherever and by whomsoever it is exercised. …

“We are not to bargain away our stewardship.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 359–362.

Ellen White’s great fear following 1888 was that we would do as did the Jewish nation in putting the system where God should be. She therefore warned: “Battle Creek is not to be the center of God’s work. God alone can fill this place. When our people in the different places have their special convocations, teach them, for Christ’s sake and for their own soul’s sake, not to make flesh their arm. … To place men where God should be placed does not honor or glorify God. Is the president of the General Conference to be the God of the people? … When the Lord shall work upon human hearts and human intellects, principles and practices different from this will be set before the people. ‘Cease ye from man’ (Isaiah 2:22).

“The Lord has a controversy with His people over this matter. …

“Just as soon as man is placed where God should be, he loses his purity, his vigor, his confidence in God’s power.” Ibid., 375, 376.

Ellen White counseled us to teach our people, in all their important convocations, not to put confidence in human leaders, but in God. “Our churches are weak because the members are educated to look to and depend upon human resources.” Ibid., 380.

“For many years an education has been given to the people which places God second, and man first. The people have been taught that everything must be brought before the council of a few men in Battle Creek.” Ibid., 325.

“Men have assumed authority, but the people should not depend upon poor, finite, erring men. … The Lord alone is to be exalted.” Ibid., 319.

But it is easy to turn our power of thought over to a committee and it is easy to work for something more tangible than God. Moreover, it seems so much more rewarding to work for man than for God. We can climb the system of human organization, but we cannot climb into prominence in God’s vineyard. He said, “Whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:27, 28).

Organizational worship and service is easier, more pleasing, and more rewarding to the carnal heart than doing all for the Master. It is particularly deceptive because God has ordained organization. God is not leading discordant elements into the kingdom, but a well-disciplined army. But when we give allegiance to the army instead of to the King, then organization becomes a curse instead of a blessing. Because of this problem, organization in the New Testament was kept very simple and unassuming. There was enough organization to propel the church into all the world, united by the cords of love for God and humbleness of service to mankind. All were servants of the One who had given His life for them. All were students of the Word. All were looked upon as brethren. As Jesus said, “all ye are brethren” (Matthew 23:8 KJV).

Thus, though this list does not claim to be exhaustive, there are three leading ways, all equally successful, of making the church popular and Laodicean:

    • Preach Jesus, but do not require perfect obedience.
    • Tell people to wait for Jesus to overcome their sins for them.
    • Lead people to worship the system.

How is it with you?

All Bible texts NKJV, unless otherwise noted.

Pastor Marshall Grosboll, with his wife Lillian, founded Steps to Life. In July 1991, Pastor Marshall and his family met with tragedy as they were returning home from a camp meeting in Washington state, when the airplane he was piloting went down, killing all on board.

Pretentious Foliage

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The word pretentious means attempting to impress by affecting greater importance than is actually possessed or in other words: a fake. An example is the mineral like iron pyrite that has a superficial resemblance to gold and affectionately called “fool’s gold.”

We may ask ourselves the question: Are we Christ’s followers or just pretenders?

Jesus said, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another” (Galatians 5:22–26).

In John 15:1–11, we read the lesson Christ taught about the vital importance of being connected to the vine. He said, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples. As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you: continue ye in My love. If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love. These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.”

Jesus makes it very plain when He says that unless we are connected to the TRUE VINE, we will not bear fruit. Why? Just think of the branches on the tree. If the branch is disconnected from the tree, its source of life, it is fit for nothing but to be burned. So, it is a fact that if we are not connected to Christ, we are useless, yes friends, useless for Christ. Without that connection we cannot bear the fruits of the Spirit – longsuffering, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance and the list goes on. We may pretend to be Christ’s, but in reality, we are none of His and in the final analysis, how terrifying it will be to hear the words, “I never knew you” (Matthew 7:23).

The fig tree is native to the Middle East and northwestern Asia. It was brought to North America by Spanish missionaries in the early sixteenth century. Figs are one of the oldest fruits known to mankind and are members of the moraceae family, which includes the Mulberry and breadfruit. The shade provided by a mature tree is definitely appreciated in the summer and in the right conditions some species will produce two crops in a year. The first, called a “breba” crop, ripens in late May or June, and a second will be ready in late September to early November.

One day Jesus was walking to the temple. “On the way He passed a fig orchard. He was hungry, ‘and seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, He came, if haply He might find anything thereon: and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet’ (Mark 11:13).

“It was not the season for ripe figs. … But in the orchard to which Jesus came, one tree appeared to be in advance of all the others. It was already covered with leaves. It is the nature of the fig tree that before the leaves open, the growing fruit appears. Therefore this tree in full leaf gave promise of well-developed fruit. But its appearance was deceptive. Upon searching its branches, from the lowest bough to the topmost twig, Jesus found ‘nothing but leaves.’ It was a mass of pretentious foliage, nothing more.

“Christ uttered against it a withering curse. ‘No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever’ (verse 14), He said. The next morning, as the Saviour and His disciples were again on their way to the city, the blasted branches and drooping leaves attracted their attention. ‘Master,’ said Peter, ‘behold, the fig tree which Thou cursedst is withered away’ (verse 21).

“Christ’s act in cursing the fig tree had astonished the disciples. It seemed to them unlike His ways and works. Often they had heard Him declare that He came not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. They remembered His words, ‘The Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them’ (Luke 9:56). His wonderful works had been done to restore, never to destroy. The disciples had known Him only as the Restorer, the Healer. This act stood alone. What was its purpose? they questioned. …

“The cursing of the fig tree was an acted parable. That barren tree, flaunting its pretentious foliage in the very face of Christ, was a symbol of the Jewish nation. The Saviour desired to make plain to His disciples the cause and the certainty of Israel’s doom. For this purpose He invested the tree with moral qualities, and made it the expositor of divine truth. The Jews stood forth distinct from all other nations, professing allegiance to God. They had been specially favored by Him, and they laid claim to righteousness above every other people. But they were corrupted by the love of the world and the greed of gain. They boasted of their knowledge, but they were ignorant of the requirements of God, and were full of hypocrisy. Like the barren tree, they spread their pretentious branches aloft, luxuriant in appearance, and beautiful to the eye, but they yielded ‘nothing but leaves.’ The Jewish religion, with its magnificent temple, its sacred altars, its mitered priests and impressive ceremonies, was indeed fair in outward appearance, but humility, love, and benevolence were lacking.

“All the trees in the fig orchard were destitute of fruit; but the leafless trees raised no expectation, and caused no disappointment. By these trees the Gentiles were represented. They were as destitute as were the Jews of godliness; but they had not professed to serve God. They made no boastful pretensions to goodness. They were blind to the works and ways of God. With them the time of figs was not yet. They were still waiting for a day which would bring them light and hope. The Jews, who had received greater blessings from God, were held accountable for their abuse of these gifts. The privileges of which they boasted only increased their guilt.

“Jesus had come to the fig tree hungry, to find food. So He had come to Israel, hungering to find in them the fruits of righteousness. He had lavished on them His gifts, that they might bear fruit for the blessing of the world. Every opportunity and privilege had been granted them, and in return He sought their sympathy and co-operation in His work of grace. He longed to see in them self-sacrifice and compassion, zeal for God, and a deep yearning of soul for the salvation of their fellow men. Had they kept the law of God, they would have done the same unselfish work that Christ did. But love to God and man was eclipsed by pride and self-sufficiency. They brought ruin upon themselves by refusing to minister to others. The treasures of truth which God had committed to them, they did not give to the world. In the barren tree they might read both their sin and its punishment. Withered beneath the Saviour’s curse, standing forth sere and blasted, dried up by the roots, the fig tree showed what the Jewish people would be when the grace of God was removed from them. Refusing to impart blessing, they would no longer receive it. ‘Oh Israel,’ the Lord says, ‘thou hast destroyed thyself’ (Hosea 13:9).

“The warning is for all time. Christ’s act in cursing the tree which His own power had created stands as a warning to all churches and to all Christians. No one can live the law of God without ministering to others.” The Desire of Ages, 581–584.

As we take the time to read this article, I would like to state that I stand condemned, for if I am truly honest, I do not want to be pruned. Pruning is a painful process, but if we desire to spend eternity with Jesus, we must allow God to take control of our lives, we must surrender and allow Him to make us more productive.

Pray that God will help us to be connected to the True Vine and daily remain connected to Him. Remember there is nothing good in us unless we receive the power that flows from the Vine.

May the Lord help us daily and give us His grace, His strength and His Love to share Jesus.

Revella Knight is a registered nurse and writes from her home in Arkansas.

Many Voices

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In the book Faith and Works, page 55, it says,

“The voice of God is speaking to us through His word, and there are many voices that we will hear; but Christ has said we should beware.”

Already people are hearing many voices, but as time goes on there will be many more. Ellen White has warned to beware. To beware means to watch out!

She writes, “After the truth has been proclaimed as a witness to all nations, every conceivable power of evil will be set in operation, and minds will be confused by many voices crying, ‘Lo, here is Christ, Lo, He is there. This is the truth. I have the message from God, He has sent me with great light.’ ” Maranatha, 189. Will you listen to them at the peril of your soul?

It is imperative to be able to distinguish the voices. John 10:1–6 says, “ ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.’ Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.” This is still true today.

John 18:37 says, “Pilate therefore said to Him, ‘Are You a king then?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.’ ”

Speaking to Thomas, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Here is the question: Do you recognize the shepherd’s voice well enough to distinguish His voice from all the other voices? We all hear other voices and must be sure that we are receiving communication from the right Spirit.

If we are receiving communications from the right spirit, certain things will happen in our lives. “A stubborn, willful spirit is not of Christ, but of Satan; hence, it will not be cherished by him who has the mind of Christ. All impurity of thought will be overcome, and the mind will be trained to pure and holy thoughts. Backbiting and evil speaking will be put away. Jealousy and selfishness will be overcome, for they are Satanic, and not Christlike. Bitter are the fruits of self-indulgence, of unsanctified traits of character.” The Signs of the Times, October 12, 1891. Notice what will be overcome: all impurity of thought, backbiting, jealousy and selfishness, for these traits are Satanic.

Psalm 15:3 describes the character of those who are going to be in heaven. It is the person who doesn’t take up a reproach against his neighbor, even in his bedroom at home. It is the person you can trust; they speak no evil behind another’s back.

The condition of church members may give some idea why the Holy Spirit isn’t yet poured out so that God’s work can be finished. In his letter to the Ephesian church, Paul wrote, “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:29–32).

Notice the context of the scripture when describing how the Holy Spirit is grieved—the way we speak. The word blasphemy simply means evil speech. The worst kind of evil speech is against God, but all evil speech is blasphemy. The Holy Spirit can never be poured out upon people who are backbiting and evil surmising and speaking evil of each other.

It is during this lifetime that we are to learn godly habits, which include pure speech. Jesus spoke directly to the Pharisees and the Sadducees with any rebuke that was necessary. He talked to them right to their faces and never behind their backs.

If the Holy Spirit is working on the mind, the words will be right. “If we cherish His [Jesus’] Spirit, if we manifest His love to others, if we guard one another’s interests, if we are kind, patient, forbearing, the world will have an evidence by the fruits we bear that we are the children of God.” That I May Know Him, 153.

Christianity today seems so powerless to make an impact on the world and the reason is that though we claim to be Christians, we don’t act like Jesus and talk like Jesus. If the world is going to see Jesus, they are going to have to see Him revealed in somebody that claims God as their Father and Jesus as their Brother.

It was not the early church in Antioch that called themselves Christian, rather it was those to whom they had witnessed who affixed that name to them. The disciples of Jesus were first called Christians in Antioch (Acts 11:26) because they continually spoke about Jesus, what He taught and did, and they were just like Him.

If you were the only Christian amongst the non-believers in your area, would others say, by watching you and listening to you speak, “That person is like Jesus Christ”?

Everyone is tempted in the area of speech. No one is excluded. The devil will see to it that evil surmising and bad reports about you will be widely spread. When you hear of it, the temptation is to absolutely destroy every argument by presenting the facts, but most of the time, if you give all the facts, it would often damage somebody else’s reputation. Never think that pastors aren’t tempted to damage someone’s reputation by giving people the facts when rumors about them start spreading. Rumors were spread about Jesus, about the apostle Paul, about Martin Luther. Rumors were spread about Ellen White. Be aware that it will happen to you if you are a Christian. If you are living right and following the Lord, all manner of evil reports will be spread about you. In fact, I’ve sometimes thought that if there are no evil reports circulating about you, you ought to get scared and wonder if you are really a Christian.

Jesus said, “Woe to you when all men speak well of you” (Luke 6:26).

Some may spread gossip, claiming that they are just telling their closest friend, but why speak evil to a friend that will do nothing more than to pollute and poison their mind? Before the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost the disciples had to meet together in that upper room for ten days and talk over things, because they had been jostling with one another over who was going to be first, who was going to have the highest place. They had to confess their sins and talk things over.

Think this through: After the death of Judas, the 11 disciples were in the upper room with about 110 other people who had gathered there to make things right. And they did have a lot to discuss and make right because they had been talking a lot of evil against each other. They had a lot of praying to do and confession of sin. Suppose one of those people got so upset when he found out how much evil had actually been spoken against him and said, “This is too much,” and walked out. They would have had every right to leave. Jesus never stopped anyone from leaving, but they would not have received the Holy Spirit when it was poured out. It is time to work things out with our brethren. It is time to make things right while there is still time.  Think through how serious this is, for the Holy Spirit will be given only to those who are wearing Christ’s yoke—who are reflecting His character—and He said, “I am gentle and humble in heart.”

Would you recognize the Holy Spirit if it were poured out? In Acts chapter 2, we read that the Jews did not recognize when the Holy Spirit was poured out. There were a number of reasons for that. If they had recognized that it was the Holy Spirit, they would have had to recognize who Jesus was and they refused to do that. When the Holy Spirit is poured out in its fullness, many won’t recognize it again.

Jesus said, “And when He [that is, the Holy Spirit] has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (John 16:8). Notice, Jesus teaches that when the Holy Spirit comes, He comes to reprove. Many people would like to receive the Holy Spirit, but they do not want to be reproved of their sins. Unfortunately for them, that is not how the Holy Spirit works.

Before Pentecost, the Holy Spirit had been working on the minds of the disciples and convicting them of their sins. As a result, they were ready to make things right between themselves. They desired their carnal natures to be subdued and made whole. The Spirit had already worked on their hearts and on the Day of Pentecost, they were ready to receive the early rain.

The result of this conversion and unity was that the Lord added to the church every single day. At that time, they did not need long series of evangelistic meetings to raise up churches. People recognized Jesus in those early believers and the churches increased daily. That will happen again before Jesus returns. However, it is never going to happen unless the Holy Spirit is poured out and that isn’t going to happen until the church members talk with each other to make things right and get things straightened out.

What an experience it would have been to be in that upper room when the Holy Spirit was poured out. Would you have stayed and faced your mistakes or fled with your pride and stubbornness? There were plenty of places to go, for there were many other Sabbath keeping churches around the area that were strictly orthodox in their belief, practice and teaching. But those churches didn’t receive the Holy Spirit because they hadn’t made things right. They were still talking about Jesus and saying that He was an imposter.

“Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide [continue, stay] in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free’ ” (John 8:31, 32). Those who received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost were people who had stayed with the word of God and kept studying it even when they couldn’t understand what was going on. When Jesus was crucified, they didn’t understand what was going on. They were perplexed and confused but still refused to give up their faith. They continued to search for truth and humbled themselves before the Lord and He revealed the truth to them.

Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit would come, He would “guide you into all truth” (John 16:13). From this text, we get the idea that receiving the Holy Spirit is closely connected with receiving the truth and following that truth as it is in Jesus. The Holy Spirit always guides into truth—never error. The devil’s counterfeit is what we call sophistry. Webster’s dictionary definition of sophistry is reasoning that is sound in appearance but actually it is false.

The devil’s sophistry puts people in a position so that they will not receive the Holy Spirit. “The cause of God is in great peril because the physicians in whose minds sophistry has prevailed against truth, are bracing themselves against the impressions of the Holy Spirit, and are placing themselves where the Lord can not use them as leaders of His people.” Spalding and Magan Collection, 364, 365. This was written at the time that we call the alpha of apostasy. These leading Adventist physicians had become convinced that the devil’s sophistry was the truth and as a result they were braced against receiving the real truth. Such is the case of many sincere people calling themselves Christians throughout the world today. By believing some erroneous doctrine, they reject truth. The word of God is true, and the Lord has given it as a measuring stick to measure things, whether they are of the truth or not.

Jesus prayed to His Father, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth” (John 17:17). It is impossible to be sanctified through error. To be sanctified by the truth is to practice it, live it.

Hebrews 6:18 says, “It is impossible for God to lie.” But the whole world has, at various times, decided that God didn’t know what He was talking about. It happened in Noah’s day (Genesis 6 and 7). The people decided they knew better. After all, how could there be a flood when there had never been rain? The Jews mocked Jesus’ virgin birth and called Him a bastard. They told Him that they hadn’t been born of fornication to indicate their belief that He had been. Jesus said that He didn’t come for Himself, but that His Father had sent Him. The ascension of Christ proves that He was telling the truth. God does not want you to be deceived by the sophistry of the devil.

“God desires scientific sophistry to be purged from every heart. He desires us to rebuke every evil devising, every evil work. If we allow such devising to go unrebuked, we shall have to suffer the consequences.” The Review and Herald, June 29, 1905. To rebuke evil devising is not fun for any preacher to do and certainly doesn’t gain any popularity. However, Jesus said, “The Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35). “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away” (Matthew 24:35 NASB).

We are commanded that if we allow evil devising and evil work to be unrebuked, we will have to suffer the consequences. We are living in a time when there is more evil surmising, more evil devising, more scientific sophistry than has ever been in Adventism and it is a snare that only God can deal with.

So how do you figure out what is true and what is not? When Eve spoke to the serpent in the Garden of Eden, she did not know who in reality she was talking to. (See Genesis 3:1–5.) Eve was deceived by someone anonymous. Think this through because this same thing is happening all around us today.

The devil works anonymously. He did not introduce himself to Eve and say that he was going to speak through a snake and deceive her. That would never have worked.

Around the time of the alpha of apostasy some young, very good-looking men began to hang around Battle Creek Sanitarium and go for walks and talk with John Harvey Kellogg. The trouble was John Kellogg did not know who these young men were. Ellen White revealed to him a scene that she had witnessed while in Oakland. “Angels clothed with beautiful garments, like angels of light, were escorting Dr. Kellogg from place to place, and inspiring him to speak words … that were offensive to God.” Ellen G. White, vol. 5, The Early Elmshaven Years, 304. Watch out, friend, for anonymous information. If they can’t give you a name, a date, a place, a phone number, and an address, watch out. You are going to be misled by something you do not understand or even recognize as spiritually dangerous.

Jesus said, “They will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers” (John 10:5). As we draw closer to the end of time, we are going to hear more and more voices. Make no decision based on that anonymous information, not any. Ellen White wrote, “We are not to accept these suppositions and pass them along as truth.” Ellen G. White, vol. 5, The Early Elmshaven Years, 428. Weigh the evidence for what you believe or what you don’t believe. “There is no excuse for doubt or skepticism. God has made ample provision to establish the faith of all men if they will decide from the weight of evidence.” Mind, Character, and Personality, vol. 1, 311. As we approach the final crisis, what are you going to do?

“Present the affirmative of truth. Stand on the platform of eternal truth. But do not accuse. Say nothing to arouse enmity and strife. …

“The signs of the end are fast fulfilling. The time of trouble is very near us now. We are to be brought into strait places [that is, narrow places] in a way in which we have not been brought heretofore. The time of trouble is near, and we are to awake to a realization of this. We are to be sure that our feet are in the narrow path. We need an experience that we have not yet had, that we may have the assurance that the God of all grace is a very present help in time of need. The time of trouble—trouble such as was not since there was a nation—is right upon us, and we are like the sleeping virgins. We are to awake and ask the Lord Jesus to place underneath us His everlasting arms, and carry us through the time of trial before us. …

“How little we know of what is going on in heaven! What fearful indifference those on this earth show to eternal realities. Souls are unprepared for what is about to take place in our world; the warning must be given. The end of all things is at hand. …

“Preach the Word. The last message of mercy is to be given to prepare a people to stand in these last days. Everything is to be shaken that can be shaken, that those things that cannot be shaken may remain.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 21, 436–438.

Study Psalm 15 to know how not to be shaken in the last days.

“This is what has been presented to me—that we are asleep, and do not know the time of our visitation. But if we humble ourselves before God, and seek Him with the whole heart, He will be found of us.” Ibid., 438.

Oh friends, the Lord says you are asleep and that it is time to wake up! Jesus told a parable of ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Because he was delayed, they all fell asleep. At midnight they heard the cry, “Behold the bridegroom is coming” (Matthew 25:6) and they awoke; some were ready to meet him, but sadly, some were not. Those not ready had failed to make the necessary preparation and were not allowed into the marriage feast. (See Matthew 25:1–13.) Learn from this parable. Determine today to seek the Lord with your whole heart. Enjoy a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and get to know His voice so you will not be found a victim of the sophistry of the devil. True joy and happiness are found only in the presence of the Lord.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

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

A Little Heaven…What Home should be…

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“A Little Heaven to Go to Heaven In”

“Society is composed of families and is what the heads of families make it. Out of the heart are ‘the issues of life’; and the heart of the community, of the church, and of the nation is the household. The well-being of society, the success of the church, the prosperity of the nation, depend upon home influences.” The Adventist Home, 15

The members of the home, through their speech and interactions with each other, will prove to be a blessing or a curse. Thus, much is at stake in the home. Now, more than ever, Satan is attempting to sabotage this critical establishment of society that God Himself instituted in Eden. The goal of any home should be to provide “a little heaven to go to heaven in.” The Review and Herald, April 21, 1891.

“The family on earth should be a type of the family in heaven. The home that is beautified by love, sympathy, and tenderness is a place that angels love to visit, and where God is glorified. The influence of a carefully guarded Christian home in the years of childhood and youth is the surest safeguard against the corruptions of the world. In the atmosphere of such a home, the children will learn to love both their earthly parents and their heavenly Father.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 10, 206.

“The home in which the members are polite, courteous Christians exerts a far-reaching influence for good. Other families will mark the results attained by such a home, and will follow the example set, in their turn guarding the home against Satanic influences. The angels of God will often visit the home in which the will of God bears sway. Under the power of divine grace such a home becomes a place of refreshing to worn, weary pilgrims. By watchful guarding, self is kept from asserting itself. Correct habits are formed. There is a careful recognition of the rights of others. The faith that works by love and purifies the soul stands at the helm, presiding over the whole household. Under the hallowed influence of such a home, the principle of brotherhood laid down in the word of God is more widely recognized and obeyed.” The Adventist Home, 31.

The devil does not want you to have such a home. He is determined to destroy the happiness in your home. One of the principal ways he does this is by influencing the members of the family, including the husband and the wife, to speak in an unsanctified way to each other. Here is an inspired description of this transgression. Notice that Satan’s ultimate goal is to destroy the church by destroying the family.

 “Well does Satan know what heaven is, and what the influence of the angels is. His work is to bring into every family the cruel elements of self-will, harshness, selfishness. Thus he seeks to destroy the happiness of the family. He knows that the spirit governing in the home will be brought into the church.” The Upward Look, 163.

Another method Satan uses to attempt to destroy the happiness of the home is by leading the husband into a misunderstanding between what it means to be the head of the house and what it means to be God. God has absolute authority. When God told Abraham to kill his son, Abraham was under moral obligation to obey. But no human being, whether husband or wife or employer or ruler, has absolute authority. All human authority is to be subservient to God’s authority and under the rule of His government. The following statements clarify this subject that is widely misunderstood.

“If the husband is tyrannical, exacting, critical of the actions of his wife, he cannot hold her respect and affection, and the marriage relation will become odious to her. She will not love her husband, because he does not try to make himself loveable. The Lord Jesus has not been correctly represented in His relation to the church by many husbands in their relation to their wives, for they do not keep the way of the Lord. They declare that their wives must be subject to them in everything.

“But it was not the design of God that the husband should have control, as head of the house, when he himself does not submit to Christ. He must be under the rule of Christ that he may represent the relation of Christ to the church. If he is a coarse, rough, boisterous, egotistical, harsh, and overbearing man, let him never utter the word that the husband is the head of the wife, and that she must submit to him in everything; for he is not the Lord; he is not the husband in the true significance of the term.

“If the wife should have the same mold of character as her husband, woe be to the children; the whole family would be a blot upon the earth. Instead of being a house-band, to bind the family together into the unity that is symbolized by the unity of Christ and the church, he will break every tie of affection, and the members of the family will be scattered, filled with bitterness and hatred one toward another.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 21, 215, 216.

Not only does the husband bear a critical responsibility to represent the character of Christ in his family relationships, every member of the family is to bear a degree of responsibility as well.

“Unless we control our words and temper, we are slaves to Satan. We are in subjection to him. He leads us captive. All jangling and unpleasant, impatient, fretful words are an offering presented to his Satanic majesty. And it is a costly offering, more costly than any sacrifice we can make for God, for it destroys the peace and happiness of whole families, destroys health, and is eventually the cause of forfeiting an eternal life of happiness.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 310.

We need to remember always that the words that we speak will be one of the major factors that determines our eternal destiny.

If our speech is to be reformed and changed, it must happen in this world before the coming of the Lord. This cannot be done in an instant and is why Ellen White told some people that they did not have a moment to lose. She cautioned that if they did not live long enough so that their speech could be reformed, they would be excluded from heaven. This idea is very unpopular today. Most people, including probably the vast majority of clergymen, believe and teach in effect that you can live like the devil without overcoming your character defects, but if the moment before you die you say, “Lord save me,” you will be saved. Wherever this idea originated it is not in the Bible and it is not true. The story of the thief on the cross does not substantiate this theory—see the description of that person who was saved at the 11th hour in The Desire of Ages, pages 749–751.

Notice how clearly the Spirit of Prophecy warns against the error of delay in self-reformation.

“Few have that genuine faith which works by love and purifies the soul. But all who are accounted worthy of everlasting life must obtain a moral fitness for the same. ‘Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure’ (1 John 3:2, 3). This is the work before you, and you have none too much time if you engage in the work with all your soul.

“You must experience a death to self, and must live unto God. ‘If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God’ (Colossians, 3:1). Self is not to be consulted. Pride, self-love, selfishness, avarice, covetousness, love of the world, hatred, suspicion, jealousy, evil surmisings, must all be subdued and sacrificed forever. When Christ shall appear, it will not be to correct these evils and then give a moral fitness for His coming. This preparation must all be made before He comes. It should be a subject of thought, of study, and earnest inquiry, What shall we do to be saved? What shall be our conduct that we may show ourselves approved unto God?

“When tempted to murmur, censure, and indulge in fretfulness, wounding those around you, and in so doing wounding your own soul, oh! let the deep, earnest, anxious inquiry come from your soul, Shall I stand without fault before the throne of God? Only the faultless will be there. None will be translated to heaven while their hearts are filled with the rubbish of earth. Every defect in the moral character must first be remedied, every stain removed by the cleansing blood of Christ, and all the unlovely, unlovable traits of character overcome.

“How long a time are you designing to take to prepare to be introduced into the society of heavenly angels in glory? In the state which you and your family are in at present, all heaven would be marred should you be introduced therein. The work for you must be done here. This earth is the fitting-up place. You have not one moment to lose. All is harmony, peace, and love in heaven. No discord, no strife, no censuring, no unloving words, no clouded brows, no jars there; and no one will be introduced there who possesses any of these elements so destructive to peace and happiness. Study to be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up for yourselves a good foundation against the time to come, that you may lay hold on everlasting life.

“Forever cease your murmurings in regard to this poor life, but let your soul’s burden be, how to secure the better life than this, a title to the mansions prepared for those who are true and faithful to the end. If you make a mistake here, everything is lost. If you devote your lifetime to securing earthly treasures, and lose the heavenly, you will find that you have made a terrible mistake. You cannot have both worlds. ‘What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul’ (Mark 8:36, 37)? Says the inspired Paul: ‘For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal’ (2 Corinthians 4:17, 18).” Testimonies, vol. 1, 705, 706.

In this world we are actually in an all or nothing warfare of which there is no escape. It is a war in which we either win everything or lose everything. Our speech in our families, to stress a point already made, will be one of the most decisive factors as to where our eternal destiny is going to be.

There is an excellent testimony written to “Brother M” in volume 2 of the Testimonies, pages 84–88, in which strong counsel is given that details many of the errors made within the family that prevent the home from becoming “a little heaven to go to heaven in.”

The concluding paragraph of this testimony provides food for thought that all who have a deep yearning for heaven—not just a heaven-like atmosphere in their homes, but an eternal abode—should give deep thought and make a matter of earnest prayer:

“If you lose heaven, you lose everything; if you gain heaven, you gain everything. Do not make a mistake in this matter, I implore you. Eternal interests are here involved. Be thorough. May the God of all grace so enlighten your understanding that you may discern eternal things, that by the light of truth your own errors, which are many, may be discovered to you just as they are, that you may make the necessary effort to put them away, and in the place of this evil, bitter fruit may bring forth fruit which is precious unto eternal life.” Testimonies, vol. 2, 88.

We may not carry all of the errors that Inspiration pointed out to Brother M in this testimony, but it is true for everyone that “if you lose heaven, you lose everything.” May God, in His providence, guide us as we seek to make our homes “a little heaven to go to heaven in.”

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

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

Heaven on Earth

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While the children of Israel were camped at Mount Sinai, Moses was called up to the mount. God said to him, “Let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8). A sanctuary is God’s house, a place where He longs to be. He desires that each home be a sanctuary, for He longs to be part of each one’s life and be present in every house.

In the book, Education, 258, we read this inspired comment: “It was in the mount with God that Moses beheld the pattern of that wonderful building which was to be the abiding place of His glory. It is in the mount with God—in the secret place of communion—that we are to contemplate His glorious ideal for humanity. Thus we shall be enabled so to fashion our character building that to us may be fulfilled His promise, ‘I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people’ ” (2 Corinthians 6:16).

We are called up into the mount, as Moses was, to behold the heavenly, because we also have something to build on earth that is like the heavenly pattern – the home, God’s masterpiece as far as an earthly temple is concerned. In the sanctuary of the home God wants to reveal His purpose to dwell with men.

In this mount with God, we are to contemplate His glorious ideal for humanity, but what is humanity made up of? “Society is composed of families.” The Adventist Home, 15. Often we think of the world as a whole, but it is divided up among nations. Most governments have their territory broken down into different divisions. We have the states, the counties, the smaller divisions, but as God looks at society, He thinks of it as grouped in families and those families are what the heads of families make them. “ ‘Out of the heart are the issues of life’  (Proverbs 4:23); and the heart of the community, of the church, and of the nation is the household.” Ibid. When we are dealing with the family, we are dealing with something very important and very precious to God.

When Moses was called up to the mount, he saw the temple of God and was told to make a copy of it here in this world. He accomplished that task. God recognized it and dwelt with His people during their wilderness wanderings and His presence was made manifest in that earthly copy of the heavenly sanctuary.

“Home should be made all that the word implies. It should be a little heaven upon earth.” Ibid.

Unfortunately that is not always the case and frequently, too many homes are a hell on earth. Then there are multitudes of homes that in a sense are neither heaven nor hell. The parents are ill-equipped and don’t know the best way to raise their children. Many of these homes are far from hell, but they are a long way from heaven.

We are told it is possible to experience a little heaven on earth; so why not take hold of it. After all, it has been bought and paid for by the death of Jesus. He rose and went back to heaven and is pleading for us in the heavenly sanctuary. Someday those who are faithful are going to heaven, but it will be enjoyed only by those who have already enjoyed heavenly principles on this earth. God offers us a little sample of it here if we would just taste and see whether we like it or not. If we do like it, He lets us have some more. His grace can provide an endless supply of heavenly principles. No fictitious manifestation from Hollywood or anything that money can buy can help us get there, for no eye has seen what the Lord has prepared for His people.

Though Moses spent many years in Egypt being educated the world’s way, it took another 40 years for God to prepare him to lead the children of Israel out of bondage. Pray that God will make us capable of and willing to cast much of what we have learned into the garbage can where it belongs and have that mountain top experience with Jesus and listen while He speaks and points out the right way. Our pattern is in heaven; that is the pattern of the Christian home. “Home should be made all that the word implies.”

“Every family in the home life should be a church, a beautiful symbol of the church of God in heaven.” Child Guidance, 480.

Fathers and mothers and children alike are to experience in each home a church life like the church of God in heaven. “All His [God’s] biddings are enablings.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 333. This experience doesn’t come naturally. It takes effort. To make our home like the pattern, we must behold it and then build just as Moses did. First he beheld and then went to work and built.

God said, “Let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8). Since “God is love” (1 John 4:8), if God dwells in the sanctuary, love abides there.

“Every home should be a place of love, a place where the angels of God abide.” The Adventist Home, 18.

On the veil at the entrance of the sanctuary that Moses built, as well as on the veil between the holy and the most holy, were embroidered angels. Angels were represented throughout the sanctuary. Your home also is to be a place where the angels of God abide. The more you sense the presence of the angel watchers, the more you will love what they love and hate what they hate.

God’s great purpose in our reproducing the heavenly plan here on earth is to enable us to know Him better. “And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent” (John 17:3). To know God is to have life eternal. We get to know Him through His word, the Bible; we know Him through the life of Jesus, and we know Him through His creation.

There is yet another way to know Him. One of the sweetest statements in Inspiration is in Steps to Christ, page 10: “Through … the deepest and tenderest earthly ties that human hearts can know, He [God] has sought to reveal Himself to us.” Think of the different human relationships we have. The relationship between parents and children is one of the best. If you had a wonderful mother and father, you would have many good memories. If somehow that pattern was marred through human frailty, remember God’s ideal still stands and can be revealed to you. The close relationship between parents and children is designed to reveal God.

“His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, The everlasting Father” (Isaiah 9:6). God is our Father. God gave the relationship between a father and his child for two reasons. The first is so the child growing up could learn to love his father and thus learn to know God. The second reason is so the father, in loving and training the little child, could learn to know how God feels.

Remember there was a man in the Bible who was especially set forth in that connection. The Bible says that Enoch walked with God 300 years after he begat Methuselah. It is not only the children who learn to know God through being in the home; it is also the parents, both the father and the mother, who learn to know God by being parents. All of us, whether we are men or women, as we think back to our childhood, can appreciate this verse in Isaiah 66:13: “As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you.” That verse sparks memories of my own mother who so lovingly attended to my hurts with salve and a kiss.

God says, “As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you.” He uses that picture to reveal Himself to us, using father love and mother love, not just the receiving of it on the part of the children, but the giving of it on the part of the father and mother. Dear parents, every time your heart goes out to your children, every time you are concerned about their behavior, every time you seek to comfort them in sorrow or to guide them in counsel, remember, you are not only to reveal God to that child; in that experience a revelation of God is to come to you. That is the great purpose of families.

This same purpose is true also with other relationships. Take the relationships between brothers and sisters. There are so many precious things in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy about the relation of brother and brother and sister and sister and brother and sister and sister and brother – precious relationships. “There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24). Jesus is set forth as our elder brother and those who know the joy of sharing in loving fellowship as brothers and sisters have a revelation of the character of God.

However, there is one relationship that is more intimate than any other—the relationship between husband and wife. Basic to the whole pattern of human life, the core and center of every successful family is the relationship between husband and wife. The relationship between parents and children is not the primary relationship. Neither is the sibling relationship. Primary to all other relationships is that between a husband and wife. It was the first relationship that God established on this planet between two individuals, Adam and Eve, who were joined in wedlock by the Creator Himself. The purpose of marriage was, “… to reveal Himself to us through the deepest and tenderest earthly ties that human hearts can know.”

Dear husbands, have you thought it through that the purpose of the marriage relation is to reveal God to you? Do you know that the purpose of the marriage relation is to reveal God to your wife through you? The purpose of marriage is that the husband and the wife shall know God as they could know Him in no other way. There are views of the character of God that you can get as a married man, a married woman, that cannot be understood in any other way. No matter how far up the ladder of achievement in successful married life you are, there is something glorious beyond. I tell you this from experience. I know that this is true.

As I think of my own experience and enter into the experience of any other people in the 40 years I have been in the ministry, this statement sums it up so wonderfully. “To gain a proper understanding of the marriage relation is the work of a lifetime. Those who marry enter a school from which they are never in this life to be graduated.” The Adventist Home, 105. You can never graduate from this course while you are alive. We are dealing with infinite riches with tremendous possibilities.

This relationship is not mere sentimentalism as is often expressed in many poems and love songs where most are dealing with people who have not made a serious commitment to each other. Today, many people are unable to weather the storms and trials that may arrive and are on their second, third or even fourth marriage. We surely need the guidance of the Lord in choosing our spouse. We need to come up into the mount with God and look at the pattern. After all, how could a carpenter put up a stable building if he never looked at the blueprint?

A healthy marriage takes work and prayer. Both partners must climb the mount and study for themselves what the Lord requires, then go together. Take time down on your knees to behold and then arise and build according to the pattern and you can experience heaven on earth.

Inspiration tells us, “There is not one marriage in one hundred that results happily, that bears the sanction of God, and places the parties in a position better to glorify Him.” Testimonies, vol. 4, 504.

Reading this can be discouraging, especially when the devil then whispers, Well that’s the trouble, you got the wrong mate. But friends, there is good news. There are glorious possibilities with the companion you have. Do not listen to the devil, for he is a liar.

Inspiration writes about a young woman beloved of God who was held in bondage to a godless youth. Her nervous system was shattered. “Her marriage was a deception of the devil. Yet now she should make the best of it.” The Adventist Home, 351. Here was a woman who had the word of the living God that her marriage was a deception of the devil, yet now she is to make the best of it. If she could do this, don’t you think you can make the best of your situation?

Many people become infatuated and are thus allured into marriage. Very soon they find out that they are incompatible, not realizing that almost everybody who has ever been married since Adam and Eve came out of Eden has been incompatible. One of the great purposes of marriage is to help people learn how to be compatible.

“Though difficulties, perplexities, and discouragements may arise, let neither husband nor wife harbor the thought that their union is a mistake or a disappointment.” Ibid., 106.

Martin Luther used to say, “You can’t keep birds from flying over your head but you can prevent them from making nests in your hair.” The devil may say that your problem is that you married the wrong person, but never harbor that thought. Don’t let it in even if it hollers around outside. Don’t open the door and argue with it or pay it any attention. Here is what to do instead.

“Determine to be all that it is possible to be to each other.” Ibid. What we learn in marriage is the science of love. Love is not selfishness, but is unselfishness. In marriage we are not to dwell on what I wish my companion would do for me, but how I can be all that is possible to be to my companion. The greater the incompatibility, the more need there is to get down to business and work at this job. This is how to make the best of it.

We are living in an age where it is easy to just throw up things to our partner and complain, but that is from the devil. Make the best of it. This best is not some second-rate thing, but the best. No matter how big a mess you have made of things, or what a miserable failure you or your companion are, the two of you together can have heaven on earth. God guarantees it. “Determine to be all that it is possible to be to each other. Continue the early attentions. … Study to advance the happiness of each other. … Then marriage, instead of being the end of love, will be as it were the very beginning of love. The warmth of true friendship, the love that binds heart to heart, is a foretaste of the joys of heaven.” Ibid.

“Remember, my dear brother and sister, that God is love and that by His grace you can succeed in making each other happy, as in your marriage pledge you promised to do.” Ibid., 112. God guarantees that you can succeed in making each other happy, but it will take the two of you together.

Men and women can reach God’s ideal for them if they will take Christ as their helper. “Higher than the highest human thought can reach is God’s ideal for His children.” Education, 18. “What human wisdom cannot do, His grace will accomplish for those who give themselves to Him in loving trust. His providence can unite hearts in bonds that are of heavenly origin. … Heart will be bound to heart in the golden bonds of a love that is enduring.” The Adventist Home, 112, 113.

Even for those couples who have experienced heaven on earth from the day they were married to the present hour, there is still something more wonderful ahead. Remember, no one graduates from this school of marriage. It is the work of a lifetime.

“Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour” (Ephesians 5:1, 2). Again this is the language of the sanctuary—the fragrant incense. “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it” (verse 25). When husbands love their wives, the wives will know better how to fit in to the part they are to play in the relationship. Christ’s love to each other is to be manifest in the home.

“So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.  For no man ever hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.

“For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is the great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband” (verses 28–33). These verses are clearly referring to Christ and His church and husbands and wives.

“In early Christian usage, the term ‘mystery’ did not mean something that could not be understood, as it does today, but something that could be understood only by those who were initiated; that is, those who had the right to know.” A Commentary on Daniel and Revelation from The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 740.

“For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery” (Ephesians 5:31, 32, first part).

Only married people can understand this mystery, but just being married does not automatically initiate you and reveal this mystery to you. The successful marriage is one in a hundred, so 99 out of 100 couples that get married still do not know the mystery. Many get caught up with the fluff and bubble of the ceremony and then become disappointed, not realizing that the mystery is only unlocked by having a heart connection.

The challenge is, just as there is something more to the union with Christ than baptism, although it includes baptism, there is something more to the union of marriage than the physical experience of man and woman joined together. Certainly, it includes that, but if all people know is the physical side of marriage then they will miss the greatest blessing.

Jesus said, “Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 18:19). If any two people on earth have the right to claim this wonderful promise, it is the husband and wife.

Alone with God and each other get down on your knees and take this verse. Read it to each other and say, What is it that we want? What is it that we desire? Pick out your hardest problem and your greatest need, pick out your deepest longing and agree together to ask God for a miracle. For it is a miracle when two people can live together in happiness and love and that is what it takes to have heaven on earth. No matter how much you have already been blessed, why not reach up to get the richer gift and the larger blessing that is being offered and know what it means to be fully, completely blended. For each of us there are heights above that we have never yet reached.

Dear Lord, teach us the science of love, teach us the art of love. We need it for we are naturally selfish but teach us this wonderful experience, not just so we can get along together but so that we can know You, so that we can understand God, so that we can reveal God to our children and to others. Amen.

Elder W.D. Frazee studied the Medical Missionary Course at the College of Medical Evangelists in Loma Linda, California. He was called to Utah as a gospel medical evangelist. During the Great Depression, when the church could not afford to hire any assistants, Elder Frazee began inviting professionals to join him as volunteers. Thus began a faith ministry that would become the foundation for the establishment of the Wildwood Medical Missionary Institute in 1942. He believed that each person is unique, specially designed by the Lord, of infinite value, and has a special place and mission in this world which only he can fill. His life followed this principle and he encouraged others to do the same.

Christian Contemporary Music

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Is it Christian and is it contemporary? In reality it is neither.

In Ezekiel 28:13 we find a description of Lucifer, who later became Satan. It reads: “Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.”

From this verse we see that Lucifer had built-in percussion in his voice. Tabrets were a kind of drum used in ancient times during secular dance music—never in the temple. Pipes signify the ability to sing multiple parts at the same time. He was the master musician of heaven and well knew how to use his abilities. Of course, he also is well capable of perverting his abilities. So, we can see that a lot of so called Christian contemporary music is neither Christian nor contemporary since it was created by the prince of darkness long before this world began.

Unfortunately, if someone today is going to present a talk or paper on any given subject, that individual must prove that he/she has the qualifications to speak on that subject. Since I am going to speak to the subject of Christian Contemporary Music, I must present my credentials for doing so.

My mother had a degree in music from a prestigious music college and began teaching piano to me at age five. After taking lessons from her for more than ten years, she recognized that I needed more advanced teaching and arranged that I study under the concert pianist for the Tacoma, Washington, symphony orchestra. I also had lessons in pipe organ and trumpet and voice lessons which enabled me to sing in three different a Capella choirs. Over the years I collected an extensive library on the subject of music, its structure, and its usage in Scripture, and have been very interested in what the Spirit of Prophecy has to say about it. Throughout the Scriptures, there are 505 texts that deal with music in one manner or another.

Where I lived in northeast Ohio for 30 years is significant as well as the fact that I have been to Haiti on two different occasions. During those 30 years in northeast Ohio I was a pediatric anesthesiologist in a large pediatric hospital. Almost no one knows more about consciousness or unconsciousness, including altered states of consciousness, than an anesthesiologist for it is important to understand what happens in the brain during these times.

Christian contemporary music acquires its rhythms from music that has a “rock” beat. A “rock” beat places the emphasis on the second and fourth beat of the measure instead of the usual emphasis on the first and third beat of the measure. These rhythms were brought to this country from the Voodoo of West Africa by the slaves that were brought to this country from the 1600s through the 1800s. The majority of these slaves came in through the port of New Orleans. New Orleans was a “bawdy’’ city with many brothels and night clubs of unsavory reputation. Each business attempted to attract clients. Many had their own bands which had picked up on these African rhythms. This is not only my reasoning.

The National Geographic, April 2007 edition, in a 4-page spread-out clearly shows the evolution of “rock” and “rap” music. I also have in my possession a photograph of a chart produced by Mick Jagger and his “Rolling Stones” showing the exact same thing.

As the African rhythms evolved, we find the birth of Jazz.  This may be crude, but it is unfortunately the necessary truth and can be checked out on Wikipedia. Since so much perverted sex has been involved in these rhythms you would only expect “Jazz” to come from the same venue also. The word Jazz is derived from the slang word for the male ejaculation called Gizz pronounced like “Jazz” with the sound of a short “i” as in the word “it”.

As these African rhythms evolved, they developed into what is called “rhythm and blues.” All these various rhythms had the same strong emphasis on the second and fourth beats of each measure. The emphasis was always by the overpowering beat of a drum.

By the time we get to the late ‘40s and early ‘50s, such performers as Elvis Presley, Bill Haley and the Comets, and others, became popular. This is where northeast Ohio comes in. The following information was acquired right out of the Akron public library. There was a disc jockey by the name of Alan Freed, who around 1948–1950 became very popular playing ONLY rhythm and blues music. About that time, Alan received a job offer from station WGAR in Cleveland, a 50,000-watt clear channel station that covered 38 states and half of Canada.

In Cleveland, Ohio, there is a street by the name of East Prospect Avenue. In the ‘50s from East Ninth to East Thirtieth there was nothing but little beer joints, sleazy night clubs, and places for prostitution. Alan Freed frequented these places so much so that he knew most of the “ladies of the evening” on a first name basis. Every profession has its own colloquialisms that are unique to that profession and prostitution in Cleveland at that time was no different. There were TWO words that were used by the prostitutes … and they were NOT used together as they are today in “Rock and Roll.”

To “rock” meant to jump into bed with the prostitute and perform the illegitimate sex act. To “roll” was derived from the old expression, “to ‘roll’ a drunk.” To roll a drunk was derived from when someone would notice some drunk lying in a doorway with an empty bottle of booze next to him while he was oblivious to everything. The inebriated person would be turned over and his pockets would be searched to steal whatever he might have left. It would then be said that the drunk had been rolled. The prostitutes of East Prospect Avenue in Cleveland had picked up this term and applied it to the “John” (the prostitute’s client) by taking his money from him for services rendered.

Alan Freed also picked up on these terms. In early 1953 he got the idea to have a jam session composed of half a dozen of these new bands that had taken to playing the relatively new kind of music known as “rhythm and blues.”  As the session began to take shape it was scheduled to be held in the Aragon Ballroom in Cleveland which is still there today.  Alan had decided to hold the session on March 21, 1953. Notice the date – the spring equinox. People involved in this kind of music are frequently involved in the occult as well. The spring equinox is of particular significance to people who dabble in astrology and spring fertility rites, such as the Druids.

About a month before this grand, first-time jam session was to take place Alan was about to go live one evening for his disc jockey program. As the microphone went live, Alan yelled into the “mic” … “Ladies and gentlemen, we are going to ‘rock’ and we are going to ‘roll’ all night long,’’ and the term “Rock and Roll” was coined. This is why the Rock and Roll hall of fame is in Cleveland, Ohio, and not in New York or Hollywood.

The term “Rock and Roll” came right out of illicit sex and prostitution and whatever else goes along with that lifestyle. So, the next time some young man decides to say to another about some good-looking young lady, “wow, she rocks,” it would be wise to consider just what he is saying. No self-respecting young lady would want that to be said about her.

Now to Haiti. My wife and I went there in 1983 and 1984 with an interdenominational medical team of about 25. About the third night after we arrived, we heard the drums start up and they went on incessantly for hours into the night. A couple of days later we learned that there had been a Voodoo ritual up on the mountainside, and that a young man had been gruesomely sacrificed. This of course was illegal, and when the secret police hunted down the perpetrators they were dealt with just as viciously.

The book, Dark Sunrise, printed by The Review and Herald in 1957 was written by a lady and her husband who had been missionary teachers in Haiti for nine years. In it are three chapters containing much information about Voodoo and its music. I will at this time quote some from this book, as it is the best source from someone who lived there for many years.

“Ceremonial drums are constructed in accordance with a ritual born many generations ago in the heart of Africa. Upon completion they are dressed for baptism in white net and lace and are baptized in the name of the loa (Voodoo god) to whom they are thus dedicated. From then on, they are considered not simply the mysterious agents that call down spirits and keep them earth-bound; they are actually worshiped as gods. It is believed that the drum has a will of its own, and that if for some reason it disapproves of the drummer’s attitude or tactics, it will refuse to respond to him. As for the gods, food offerings are placed for the drums, to strengthen them for the performance of duty. They are put to sleep at night with much tender regard, and nearby are placed magic charms to protect them from harm. When the spirits come, they often pay elaborate homage to the drums, for without them they would be seriously handicapped in making their earthly visits. Externally they enter on water and fire, but they are led to the inner consciousness of men on a drumbeat.

“Each of the three drums had a definite and particular beat, different from the other two, yet all beats integrated to form a whole rhythm pattern, a rhythm that suffused the atmosphere with mysticism and a quality of seductive subtlety that seeped into the consciousness of the dancers until it became part of their being, and they in turn became part of a larger, fuller rhythm pattern—the heartbeat of Haiti. It was a steady rhythm, maintained without interruption that eventually took on a substantial character, a sort of magnet that drew all motion around itself like an enveloping cloak. Other activity came and went—the chants, the prostrating, the greetings to the gods—but the drumming went on relentlessly, its tone and intensity rising and falling, but always above and beyond all else, unifying sound and movement into a continuous whole.” Dark Sunrise, p. 238, 239.

I have personally seen the site of one of these Voodoo rituals. Describing it once to an audience, a little black lady from Haiti stood up and confirmed what I had said as the absolute truth. Different spirits are called up on the beat of a drum. The Voodoo priest has spent years learning his trade and he knows which particular beat or rhythm to use in order to call up a particular spirit demon. When this kind of devil music is brought into one of our churches, the people do not have the slightest idea which spirit demon they might be calling up to possess them.

On our second visit to Haiti, we went to the Adventist church on the campus of our school and college near Port-au-Prince. The music was beautiful.  A couple sang a Mozart aria. Of course, it was in the official language of Haiti, which is French. At the end of the service a 50-voice choir sang some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard.  Later that afternoon as my wife and I were walking across the campus we saw the young man who sang in the duet coming towards us. As he came near, I stopped him and asked why the people in Haiti sing such beautiful music in their churches while in the United States the churches are bringing in this “rock style music” and just adding some “Jesus” words to it. His answer was, “Very simple … we know where it came from!”

As an anesthesiologist I know that human brains function with different wave patterns. There are Alpha and Beta and Delta and Theta waves. Each shows what level of activity is going on in the person’s brain. Alpha waves are relatively slow … in the range of 2-7 waveforms per second. This activity is found during deep sleep and also during the altered state found during a trance, such as during hypnosis. This waveform is also induced in a matter of seconds when music containing an overpowering “rock’’ beat is incorporated.

In making this presentation, I am accused of just not liking this style of music. However, “like” has nothing to do with it. There are many things in my carnal nature that I like which I no longer choose to do. If “like” was the criterion for everything that we do we would certainly be in a sad state, for it is written in Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it’’? It is not safe to trust in one’s own feelings, likes, or dislikes.  One must base all choices on a “thus saith the Lord.”

The time has come for the watchmen on the wall to stand up and give the trumpet a certain sound. It is time that we stand up and walk out of any place where the music of the devil is being performed. Heaven help us.

 Gene Swanson was an Adventist pediatric anesthesiologist in a large pediatric hospital. He retired in Montrose, Colorado, before he passed away.

The Appearance of Defeat

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Many believers around the world are struggling to know how to relate to the apparent shrinking numbers of faithful Seventh-day Adventists. This is a difficult question, but to discover the answers we can look at the example that Christ left for us. For, there was a time in Christ’s ministry, when, to almost everyone, it looked like His work was a failure.

Ellen White speaks of how Christ’s work appeared just three days before the crucifixion.

“At this time Christ’s work bore the appearance of cruel defeat. He had been victor in the controversy with the priests and Pharisees, but it was evident that they would never receive Him as the Messiah. The final separation had come. To His disciples the case seemed hopeless.” The Desire of Ages, 621.

Have you ever been in a situation that seemed hopeless? The last week of Jesus’ life, His cause seemed hopeless. At that time, Christ’s followers, His church, consisted of just eleven men and a few women. It appeared as though the movement Christ had begun was about to fall apart. Yet, at this very time, the work of God was just hours away from its greatest victory. Christ was approaching the consummation of His work. The great event, which concerned not only the Jewish nation but also the whole world, was about to take place.

Why did God allow His work to sink to such a low ebb, especially when the hour of victory was so near at hand? When thinking about this, we may rightly wonder how defeated God’s work may appear before His second coming. Will we, if we are faithful, have to go through a time when to all outward appearances the case seems hopeless?

To answer this we need to go back to the Wednesday before the crucifixion. Christ had faithfully borne the final and last rebuke to Israel’s leaders. He had exposed them in front of the multitude. The disciples, with keen discernment, saw that their last opportunity to make peace with the church leaders was forever gone. All looked hopeless!

Jesus knew that in a few hours His disciples would see Him in a position they had never before dreamed of. They had trusted that no matter how disheartening things might look, Jesus would eventually proclaim Himself king. But to be placed on a cross instead? Would it be more than they could bear?

Jesus had carefully told them, in the kindest way, what was to happen to Him, but they would not listen. Consequently their minds never comprehended it. They never dreamed they would see Jesus hanging on a cross, for they believed Him to be the Messiah.

This Man who came to earth was actually the King of the universe. He looked like a man among men, but He was infinitely more than that. He was God, clothed in the garb of humanity. Yet He came here, and walked among men, living the life of the ones He had created.

When sin first entered the world, Christ made a pledge with His Father that He would redeem man at all costs to Himself. And before He came to this earth, while He was still on the throne in heaven, He watched the events of this world. As He looked at the course of sin for four thousand years, in counsel with His Father, He planned how He was to come into this world and how He was to act while He was here.

Why then, with all the carefully laid plans, were things looking so unpromising? The disciples wondered if He had made a mistake. Why was this Man, who they knew to be altogether lovely, being rejected by the leaders and the people? It did not make any sense to them. To human thinking it is incomprehensible. The God of the universe, looking into the hearts of men, chose to redeem us in a way that is beyond our comprehension. He, who owned everything, chose to come here, not in wealth, but in poverty. Instead of being born into the palace of a king, He was born into the home of a common laborer. Instead of studying the great wisdom of the world, the God of heaven chose for Him to be taught by His own mother out of the Scriptures.

The Jews were looking for a Messiah to come with great outward show, with the pomp of a king, the wisdom of Solomon and the strength of Samson. They were looking for one who, with all power, would change the current of men’s thoughts and force men everywhere to believe in Him. (See The Desire of Ages, 700.) This idea was so implanted in their minds that it seemed that the way Jesus planned to come was predestined to fail. And so it seemed to the disciples on that eventful day, the Wednesday before the crucifixion, when things were at their lowest ebb. It looked like there was no hope because they knew how it had to be—and it was not turning out that way.

No Beauty That We Should Desire Him

Had Jesus been willing to establish a temporal dominion He would have gladly been received by all. (See The Desire of Ages, 509.) Why did He not do it? Isaiah 53 tells us how He chose to come. This prophecy, given hundreds of years before Christ came, described how He must come. It says, in verse two, “When we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.”

When Jesus was baptized, John the Baptist said to the crowd, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29. The crowd looked all around to see who John was talking about, but they did not see anyone who looked different than themselves. They did not see a man of great stature that was far more beautiful and noble than all the rest. Every face that they searched in the crowd appeared to them as just a common man.

He came like you and me. It was planned to be this way. In Luke 17, Jesus spoke straight to this topic because the Pharisees had such a preconceived idea of how He would come. “And when He (Jesus) was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, He answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with outward show.” Luke 17:20.

The kingdom of God was in their midst but they did not discern it. It was powerful and they saw the power, but it was not the power they wanted. They had their minds fixed on how they thought it had to be and so they came to Jesus and demanded of Him when the kingdom of God would come—not realizing that the way to the kingdom of God was in front of them. Jesus said, trying to correct their faulty thinking, “The kingdom of God comes not with outward show.”

The kingdom of God never comes with outward show. Oh, yes, it will be something great when Jesus comes in the clouds of heaven. We will be able to see it, but the only ones who will be rejoicing are those who have been changed inside. As Jesus said, “Neither shall they say, Lo here! Or, lo there! For, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 17:21. The kingdom of God always starts on the inside.

The Cardinal and the Sparrow

How quick we are to look at the outward appearance, as the disciples did. I recently had an experience that brought this lesson home to me in a tangible way. On our back porch we have a bird feeder and we enjoy watching the birds come and go. We have had little juncos, sparrows, cardinals, finches, blue birds, a blue jay and a mocking bird that came to visit our feeder. Early last spring, when it was still cool, there were three kinds of birds that came quite frequently; juncos, sparrows and cardinals. The cardinals came even when it snowed. The white snow made the red of their coats seem iridescent. The red was accented with the sharp black around their beak and the white snow. It was beautiful. I noticed that when the cardinals came, every one stopped to look. People tiptoed around the window because they did not want to frighten them away. Sometimes my children ran back in the bedroom and whispered, “Mother, the cardinals are here.” And everyone stopped for a few moments to enjoy the loveliness of the scene.

I noticed, though, that when the sparrows came, they did not get quite the same attention. People did not run to the window. No one stopped what they were doing; everything went on as usual. We enjoyed the sparrows but it was not the same as the cardinals. What made the difference? We are drawn to the beautiful. Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart. (See 1 Samuel 16:7.)

Typically we judge the heart by the appearance. Jesus knew this, and that is why He did not come in the garb of the cardinal, beautiful above other birds. He came like the sparrow. He chose to come with the appearance of the common man. He knew that if He came with the pomp of royalty, that His beauty would stun men, and He did not want that.

Inside His heart He had something that was far more beautiful, powerful, wise, and worth more> than anything this world could give. It was the beauty of His character. He did not want us to be attracted by outward beauty, so He chose not to come that way. Rather He came with the glory, beauty and the wealth of heaven in His heart. He came with love. He came with kindness for all and salvation to the poorest of humanity as well as to the rich. No one was excluded.

Someday we will see His great beauty when He comes in the clouds of heaven, but by that time everyone will have made a decision one way or the other. When He comes in the glory of His Father and the angels, there will be many that will say, “If only You had come with the pomp of the world, we would have accepted You.”

A System Based on Outward Show

In the last two thousand years, God has let a system develop that is built on outward show, to help us see what the result of Christ’s mission would have been had He come that way. And the results, that following this type of system always bring, can be seen in the history of the Papal system. Following a system based on outward show always leads to breaking God’s Law.

This will be seen most clearly in the final days of this earth’s history. At that time, Paul prophesied that Satan, through his agents, would work “with all power, signs and lying wonders.” 2 Thessalonians 2:9.

Men have the desire for something outward that they can look at and fasten their faith on without changing what is on the inside. Men say today, as the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Show us a sign.” And that is why this method will be so deceptive in the last days. Revelation says about this same power: “And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast;” Revelation 13:13, 14. “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” 2 Thessalonians 2:10.

If you base your religious decisions on appearance, you will be fooled when this happens. We must learn to be led, not by outward signs, but by the inward guidance of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit working upon our hearts. That is our only safety against deception.

Sometimes we are struck with the outward appearance of men of greatness, men that know how to carry themselves with great poise and nobility. Jesus talked about people like that. He said: “And ye receive Me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?” John 5:43, 44.

If you long for the honor of men and the show of this world, then you will be attracted to people who also have that goal and they will deceive you. The only way to be kept from deception is by having a change of heart. That is why Paul said, “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” 2 Thessalonians 2:10, 11.

If you have not received the love of the truth in your heart, you are looking for show, and you will find it. The whole world will be deceived by it. Satan has set up his counterfeit knowing that human beings are looking for show. They are looking for something great that they can see. He knows how the human heart works, and he has planned a deception that is a perfect fit.

You might say, “Oh, the Sunday law would never trick me.” But a man who is seeking glory for himself might trick you. The only ones who will withstand his deceptions are those who have had a change of heart, who are not seeking for great things for themselves, those who live for one purpose —the glory of God.

The Victorious Ones

This great power of evil organized in Babylon will be overcome and exposed. “And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father’s name written in their foreheads.” Revelation 14:1.

The 144,000 will overcome the power of the Papacy. And they do it by following the Lamb. They have learned that their Leader is so powerful that when everything around them has the appearance of defeat, they can trust in Him for victory.

There is a report of a vision Ellen White was given on the train platform in Loma Linda. She never wrote it down, but she related it to those who were there and they wrote it for our benefit.

In this vision, Sister White saw the world. She said that as she looked over the world she could not see any Seventh-day Adventists. The angel standing by her side said, “Look again” and one by one God’s true and faithful stood up and their lights were burning. They chose leaders among themselves and they carried forward the work of the Loud Cry that was given to this world.

Is your faith strong enough so when you cannot see any true and faithful, and everywhere you look you see the inroads of sin, you can stand up against it? Often before God does His most signal work for human beings, He allows things to appear hopeless that our faith and vision may be directed to Him.

Pharisaism—The Common Problem of Mankind

There is another problem with men’s attraction to appearance that we have not considered yet. Jesus talked about it in Matthew 23, when he rebuked the Pharisees. He said: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter that the outside of them may be clean also.” Matthew 23:25, 26.

It is not a big problem to clean up the outside, the big challenge is to clean up the inside and Jesus said, “Do that first.” Before we can be delivered from Satan’s power on the outside, we must first be delivered from his power on the inside. (See Christ’s Object Lessons, 174.) Then Jesus said, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so, ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.” Matthew 23:27, 28.

I earnestly plead with you, ask the Lord to clean the inside of your heart. That is your only hope. Only He has the power to do it. However righteous you appear to men is of no account. It will not make any difference in the Day of Judgment the front you have worn. What makes the difference is what is on the inside of the heart.

Men are so awestruck with strength and riches, and because God knew our tendencies, He left us this warning. “Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.” Jeremiah 9:23, 24.

What are you looking for? What are you glorying in? Jesus said in John 7:24, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” When Jesus said that, how His heart must have been breaking. Here was the One that was altogether lovely. Who the angels of heaven recognized as beautiful beyond any other being in the universe. He is the fairest of ten thousand and He came to this world and all He brought was blessings, but He was rejected. That is why Jesus said and He says to us now, “Do not judge by the outward appearance. I have come among you. I am not beautiful above anyone else, but if you could see what I have brought, you would know that I have the pearl of great price. I have the hidden riches that I can give you. They are infinitely more than anything you have ever had before. Just come to Me that you might have life.”

Christ Our Helper

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As we study about future events, we should have our eyes wide open in regard to the troubles that face the world and the church. However, we should not spend the largest portion of our time thinking and studying about the trouble. If we do that, we will become discouraged. We need to turn our eyes above, to the God of light and power, and focus on Him, the source of our help, if we are going to get through the troublous times before us.

The Bible pictures Jesus as a person that is our help in times of trouble, trial, difficulty and distress. Sister White wrote: “Remember that in every time of trouble Jesus is near you, seeking to impress His image upon you. He is trying to help you to carry the cross . . . He is always ready to clasp the hand stretched out for aid.” Review and Herald, June 20, 1907.

Jesus will always be near His people. He will not leave them during the fiercest persecutions of the last days or during the times of deepest distress. Even when probation has closed, and Christ is no longer a mediator in heaven, He will be near His people. During the time of Jacob’s trouble, when the devil will try to make them believe that their cases are hopeless, Christ will be with them to comfort, sustain and strengthen.

In The Great Controversy, Ellen White describes the time before the carrying out of the death decree when some will try to anticipate the decree and come and kill the saints before the set time. But God will send mighty angels to encamp around the saints, and the wicked will not be able to get through their ranks to harm God’s faithful company.

How are you going to get through a time when, even if it does not happen, it is going to look like you are facing torture or death in the next few hours or the next few minutes? None of us will make it unless we have developed a strong faith in Jesus as our Helper.

A Psalm of Deliverance

We need to study what the Bible says about this. We will begin in Psalm 46. This is the chapter that the 144,000 will quote and sing during the time of trouble. (See The Great Controversy, 638.) Look carefully at what they will be saying: “God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.” Psalm 46:1. When you are in trouble, God is a help that is right with you. No evil man or group of men can ever take you to any place where Jesus will not go with you and help you. “Therefore we will not fear, Even though the earth be removed. And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea” Psalm 46:2. This verse will be fulfilled literally when the seventh plague is poured out upon the earth. (See Revelation 16.)

When I was a boy, I lived in Longmont, Colorado. In a fifteen-minute drive, we could be in the Rocky Mountains. Adventist people who live in that part of the country imagine that when the time of trouble comes, they will flee to the Rocky Mountains. And it is only natural for people to look to the mountains for security, because, in all ages, the mountains have provided security to people that have been persecuted and oppressed. It was so for David when he fled from Saul, and for the Waldenses fleeing the destroying vengeance of the Papal power. However, during the seventh plague, “the mountains were not found.” Revelation 16:20. Instead, there will be gigantic caverns where the mountains will be torn from their foundations. (See Early Writings, 290.)

If you are confidently thinking that when the time of trouble comes you will just flee to the mountains, what will you do when the mountains are torn from their foundations? Your trust must not be in finding a cave or a secluded mountain spot where no one can find you. Your trust must not be in making a physical preparation. (I am not saying that we should not prepare all we can. We should do what the Spirit of Prophecy says we are to do to prepare for the crisis.) But your trust must be in the Lord because the time will come when the mountains will not provide security, and all of our carefully laid plans could fail.

“Though its waters (of the sea) roar and be troubled, Though the mountains shake with its swelling.” Psalm 46:3. There will be a great earthquake such as never was since there was a nation. The waters will roar and be troubled. The storms will be so severe, that Ellen White says the seaports, that have become like Sodom and Gomorrah for wickedness, will be swallowed up by the angry waters of the sea. (See The Great Controversy, 636.)

“There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn. The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge.” Psalm 46: 4–7.

During the last scenes of this earth’s history, there will be wars raging throughout the earth. Ellen White saw the horrible picture in vision: “I was shown the inhabitants of the earth in the utmost confusion. War, bloodshed, privation, want, famine, and pestilence were abroad in the land.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 268. But did you notice what it said in verse 7? “The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge.” We will not need to fear amid the horrors that are going on if we have faith in God.

How is Faith Developed?

How is this perfect faith and trust in the Lord developed? How do you get ready for the time of trouble such as was not since there was a nation? We are prepared to face the final test by experiencing smaller tests in our daily lives. Just think of the marathon runner who wins a great marathon or the professional swimmer who crosses the English channel. The runner doesn’t run the marathon the first time he puts on running shoes. Neither does the swimmer cross the channel on his first swim. It takes weeks, months and sometimes years of preparation in order to be ready for the big test. So there is a reason that you are going through all of the troubles and tests you are facing. The Lord is trying to help you get ready for the big trouble that is coming for God’s people. The only way He can get you ready is to allow you to experience some trouble now so that you will develop faith. Through these troubles you can learn to trust Him when everything else fails.

We must have an experience in which we know and we trust that God will help us no matter what appearances are. If it looks like we are not going to have any food to eat or any water to drink, or if it looks like we are going to be killed at midnight, we must still trust the Lord. I do not know whether I will die a martyr or live to see Jesus come. I have to leave that with the Lord. But I must know, in my soul, that Christ is my helper and deliverer. If the devil can take away my faith or your faith that God will help us, he has us and we will fall.

“Come, behold the works of the Lord, Who has made desolations in the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two. He burns the chariot in the fire. Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” Psalm 46:8–10. God’s work will be finished very soon. But it will be finished in a way that will exalt the Lord and bring praise and honor to Him. I believe that we need to use all the technology God has put into our hands. We need to use the printed page, radio, television and all the methods of communication. However, Ellen White says that we will be surprised at the simple methods that God will use to finish His work. God is not dependent on our methods, our plans, or our numbers. Gideon was outnumbered almost four to one, but the Lord said to him: “If I give you the victory with all these people, you will think that you did it yourself. I will get the numbers down low enough that you will know that I am the One giving you the victory. It is not your power and might that win the battle.”

The work will be finished in a way that people will say, “It is impossible that could ever work.” But it will work because God is in control. We all have to learn to be still, trust in the Lord, and know that He will help us. He is a very present help in trouble. We must be able to say, “The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge.” Psalm 46:11.

Our Divine Helper

In 1906, Ellen White wrote an article for The Signs of the Times entitled “Christ Our Helper.” It has been a wonderful encouragement to me. I would like to share some of its most inspiring passages with you. The first paragraph begins like this: “The only begotten Son of God came to this world to redeem the fallen race. He has given us evidence of His great power. He will enable those who receive Him to build up characters free from all the tendencies that Satan reveals. We can resist the enemy and all his forces. The battle will be won, the victory gained by him who chooses Christ as his leader, determined to do right because it is right. Our divine Lord is equal to any emergency.” Signs of the Times, January 3, 1906. [Emphasis supplied.]

“Our divine Lord is equal to any emergency.” Can you understand that? I have piles of scare literature in my office. I have a stack of literature on the Y2K problem. I have a stack of literature on the threat of terrorism to large cities of the United States. The average person in the United States has no idea how much we owe to the mercy of God. If the Lord should ever lift His hand, we have no idea what would happen in the cities in the United States. We could have hundreds of millions of people dying within hours. Ellen White says, in The Great Controversy,614, that in the time of trouble the whole world will be involved in ruin more terrible than that which came on Jerusalem of old.

What will you do when you are faced with these scenes? Unless you learn that Jesus is equal to any emergency, as we near the end, you become very terrified. And if the devil can terrorize you so that you lose your faith, you will not endure till the end. I do not know what is going to happen in the future, but I pray day by day, “Lord, help me to develop a perfect faith and trust in You.” I know when I ask Him that, I am asking for all kinds of trouble, because it is the way He will get me ready. He will prepare me for the big test of faith by giving me troubles here to help my faith to grow and be strong. My job is to learn to trust the Lord and be able to say, “The Lord will help me and I will trust Him, I know He ‘is equal to any emergency. With Him nothing is impossible.’ ” Ibid.

Nothing is impossible with the Lord! It is one thing to say it and it is another thing altogether to believe it when you are in the midst of troubles and difficulties. But that is what you and I must do, and that is why all the people in God’s true church are facing an avalanche of difficulties in these last days. They do not come one at a time anymore. Sometimes it seems that there are two or three big difficulties the same day. And the worst is yet to come. Soon the laws of the land and the other churches will be opposed to us. Even our former brethren will become our worst enemies. Some people we thought were our best friends will betray us.

Then there will be trouble from closer to home, such as trouble from the family. Jesus said, “A man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” Matthew 10:36. And that is the most difficult kind of persecution to endure. But then, as if that were not bad enough, there is the trouble that is really within. The trouble within our own heart is the carnal nature that constantly strives for the mastery and we must fight and subdue it by the grace of God.

I do not list these difficulties and troubles to overwhelm you. I list them so that you can see what a wonderful God we serve, because He has promised that He is equal to every emergency. “There is no difficulty within or without that cannot be surmounted in His strength . . . There is no nature so rebellious that Christ cannot subdue it, no temper so stormy that He cannot quell it, if the heart is surrendered to His keeping. He who commits his soul to Jesus need not despond. We have an all-powerful Savior . . . In the future life we shall understand things that here greatly perplexed us. We shall realize how strong a Helper we had and how angels of God were commissioned to guard us as we followed the counsel of the Word of God.” Ibid. What a wonderful promise! And it cannot fail because it is backed up by infinite power.

When Martin Luther faced opposition, and he had to stand alone against the most powerful men in the world, Ellen White says that he was not afraid because he knew that he had One with him Who was mightier than them all. I want to know how strong a Helper I have. I want to have a faith that is anchored in a Helper so powerful that I do not need to worry about what I see going on outside or about the battle that I have to fight on the inside. “To all who receive Him, Christ will give power to become the sons of God. He is a present help in every time of need. Let us be ashamed of our wavering faith. Those who are overcome have only themselves to blame for their failure to resist the enemy. All who choose can come to Christ and find the help they need.” Ibid.

Is that good news? Are you going to find all the help you need? You can. If you are the weakest, you are not in a disadvantaged position, there is help for you. Ellen White says that the “the weaker and more helpless you know yourself to be, the stronger will you become in His strength.” The Desire of Ages, 329. That is an encouragement to me. Even if I am the weakest person, if I trust in the Lord, He will give me enough divine power so that I can become like the strongest.

Help Thou Mine Unbelief

In the gospel of Mark there is a story that contains a very important lesson for us about how we can receive Christ’s gifts. It warrants a careful study.

This story took place as Jesus was coming down from the Mount of Transfiguration with three of His disciples. “And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them . . . And He asked the scribes, ‘What are you discussing with them?’ Then one of the crowd answered and said, ‘Teacher, I brought you my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples that they should cast it out, but they could not.’ He answered him and said, ‘O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.’ Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. So He asked his father, ‘How long has this been happening to him?’ And he said, ‘From childhood. And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.’ Jesus said to him, ‘If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.’” Mark 9:14–23.

The father came to Jesus and said, “If you can do anything,” and Jesus turned right around and said, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes.” The problem was not whether or not Christ could heal the young man. The problem was whether or not the father had faith. Christ’s words sank deep and the man realized that his son could not be healed unless he had faith. And he was in trouble because he was a victim of unbelief, and so he turned to Jesus. His heartfelt response was, ” ‘Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!’ ” Mark 9:24.

I have been intrigued with the comment that Ellen White made about this text. She said: “He who healed the sick and cast out demons when He walked among men is the same mighty Redeemer today. Faith comes by the Word of God. Then grasp His promise, ‘Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.’ John 6:37. Cast yourself at His feet with the cry, ‘Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief.’ You can never perish while you do this—never.” The Desire of Ages, 429.

If you come to the Lord and say, “Lord, I realize that I am a victim of unbelief, but I am choosing to believe with all the faith I have, help my unbelief,” you will never perish because you have a divine Helper who will take compassion on you.

Certain Victory

Sister White closed her article with these words: “Let us have more confidence in our Redeemer. Turn not from the waters of Lebanon to seek refreshment at broken cisterns, which can hold no water. Have faith in God. Trustful dependence on Jesus makes victory not only possible but certain.” Ibid.

If Christ is your leader, if you have surrendered everything to Him, not only is victory possible, but it is certain, because we serve a Master that does not know anything about defeat. He has never been defeated. When we put our trust in Him and say, “Lord, whatever You want, You make the decisions, You are the director and I am just Your humble servant,” He will not only show you what to do; He will give you the strength to do it. Then victory is not only possible, it is certain!

We serve a God who is infinite in power. All of the resources of heaven are placed at the disposal of the weakest person who puts his complete trust in Jesus. At the end of the great controversy between good and evil, the devil will discover that he was powerless to destroy those who put their trust in Jesus.

As we draw closer and closer to the end, it becomes more and more necessary for us to keep our eyes constantly on Him, for if we look at what is going on in the world, we will be driven to darkness. We have to look to Him, keep our eyes on Him, keep talking to Him and He will see us through and give us all the help that we need. We must never forget that our Redeemer, with infinite power, has promised to be our Helper.