Church

Birth of the King Jesus

by

From Wichita, Kansas to Kongsberg, Norway, and around the world, the colorful sights and delightful sounds of Christmas once again pervade the earth. Many Christians observe Christmas as a commemoration of the birth of Jesus in lowly Bethlehem. Though in all probability it is not His birthday, let us use this time of Christian awareness to review the events surrounding that glorious occasion.

“When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son” for whom it was proclaimed that, “of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.” He was to sit “upon the throne of David, and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever.” “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder.” Galatians 4:4; Isaiah 9:7, 6.

Thus, according to Scripture, when Jesus was “born,” He was to sit upon the “throne of David” and to establish the kingdom in justice and peace. Though the chosen nation should suffer economic chaos, theological apostasy and political corruption, its members were sure it would ultimately recover, for the Messiah would once again bring justice and peace, prosperity and dominion to God’s people.

Was not “the government” to be “upon His shoulder”? And does the government not refer to the leaders and authorities of the nation? Thus the people confidently looked to their leaders to proclaim the Messiah King.

While the world of Israel thus looked expectantly toward Jerusalem for the birth announcement of their Saviour and King, a newborn babe lay sleeping on the beaten-down straw, under strips of linen, in a Bethlehem barn. He was a normal-looking infant, born of peasant stock. He was the Messiah, the Creator of the universe. The future of Israel’s prosperity and existence lay huddled beside Him.

Telling the News

Angels, bursting with eagerness to tell the good news, flew from house to house, synagogue to synagogue, throughout the length and breadth of Judea, searching for receptive hearts, to announce the birth of this newborn Son. They searched. Where were the 7,000 faithful of Elijah’s day? Though Elijah had not known their whereabouts, these angels had known every name and address. But now they searched in vain! Yet the people of Israel were zealous Sabbathkeepers. They sent their children to the rabbinical schools and daily studied the Scriptures. And most of all, they were of the lineage of Abraham, loyal Jews, as demonstrated by their loyalty to their human leaders.

In one classroom an angel lingers as a scholar lectures his students. “It is nearly time for the Messiah to come,” he says. The angel starts forward with breathtaking joy—has he found a worthy group? He readies to lighten the room and share the good news, but the teacher continues:

“Be aware, however, that the historic beliefs, based upon simple Bible statements, must today be balanced with modern scholasticism. Rabbi Benikel, for example, in his recent dissertation of the linguistic origins of Daniel, which has received the endorsement of Rabbi Honohan, points out several exegetical problems with the theory of the Babylonian origin of Daniel. He asserts that portions of Daniel were written during the early Maccabean period and that the Messiah prophecy was an attempt to strengthen the support of Judas Maccabeus in his resistance to the Antiochan occupation of Judea. The Sanhedrin Council has yet to decide on this theory, but Rabbi Benikel, understandably, has not wanted to submit it to their jurisprudence until he has more support in the council.”

The angel folds his wings and turns to leave. The professor drones on—Rabbi El-Sevens has also shown problems with the year-day theory. This theory, he says, developed as a result of Israel’s disappointment when the Messiah did not come when expected shortly after Cyrus’ decree . . . But the angel has gone. The rejection of the Messiah had already begun.

Thus it was that “angels came . . . unseen to Jerusalem, to the appointed expositors of the Sacred Oracles, and the ministers of God’s house . . . Yet Jerusalem was not preparing to welcome her Redeemer. With amazement the heavenly messengers beheld the indifference of the people whom God had called to communicate to the world the light of sacred truth . . . They rehearsed their meaningless prayers, and performed the rites of worship to be seen by men, but in their strife for riches and worldly honor they were not prepared for the revelation of the Messiah.” The Desire of Ages, 43, 44.

Searching in Vain?

The angel returns from his search to the hayloft headquarters of Bethlehem: “I’ve searched the classrooms of Judea,” he reports. “The teachers are expounding the Scriptures, but they are very proud and degree-oriented. ‘They love . . . to be called . . . Rabbi.’ (Matthew 23:6–7) The students’ minds are ‘crowded with material that . . . [is] worthless’ and they are so busy with their biblical studies that they have no time for ‘quiet hours to spend with God.’ Thus they do ‘not hear His voice speaking to the heart.’ The Desire of Ages, 69. They have elevated human philosophy above simple faith and have ‘set human teaching above God’s word.’ Christ’s Object Lessons, 304. They pray before every class, but there is no real desire for divine enlightenment. I am sad to report that I have not been able to find a single classroom of Judea within which I could give the glad tidings of Jesus’ birth. Even if I had told them, unless it was endorsed by the Sanhedrin and came through the official channels, they would not have believed it.”

“That’s the kind of reports we’re getting from all over,” was the answer from the coordinating angel. “It is pretty bleak. If we could even find some in individual dwellings with whom we could share the good news, but the angels visiting the homes report that the people have ‘respected the priests and rabbis for their intelligence and apparent piety’ for so long, that ‘in all religious matters they [have] yielded implicit obedience to their authority.’ ” The Desire of Ages, 611. They have almost made their human leaders infallible.

“We have found two persons, however, named Simeon and Anna, who are ‘just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel’ and filled with the Holy Spirit. See Luke 2:29, 36. Of course, they are so old that few will listen. What’s more, Anna is a prophetess, and you know how the testimony of the Spirit has been received of late. Completely made of none effect by many, I fear.

“Another detachment of angels have found some philosophers in Persia who are sincere seekers for truth. They have the writings of Balaam. Possibly we can reach them through their belief in astrology. Balaam said, ‘A Star shall come out of Jacob’ (Numbers 24:17); now, if we make a visible star arise over Bethlehem . . .”

Shepherds or Theologians

But the commander was interrupted by the entrance of another angel who appears radiant with joy—”I’ve found some who believe!” he announces. “There are some shepherds herding their sheep right outside this very city,” he says, “who are praying and meditating on the Scripture and are expecting the Christ to come!”

“But who will listen to shepherds?” asks one of the angels standing nearby. “They have no degrees, no preaching license, no literary or oratorical skills, no friends in the synagogue, no influence at all—if they preach this gospel it will turn many away!”

“But God is no respecter of persons” responds the angel. “They are worthy and I must tell them.”

“We’re all coming,” responds the commander. “You are the only one who has had success tonight—we’re joining you!”

That night the lowly shepherds became the best and only true theologians of Israel. They did not know four or five variant possibilities of prophetic interpretations; they could not quote rabbinical sources; they did not even know the dictionary definition of exegesis, but they knew the truth. True theology is the process of humbly arriving at truth, not the process of proudly elucidating human speculation.

Those who do not understand or believe in God’s holy Sabbath are not theologians. They may be sincere, but they are not theologians. The most common and illiterate person who understands and keeps the Sabbath is a greater theologian then the wisest scholar who is ignorant of such a basic, plain truth of the Bible. Those who do not understand the closing events of earth’s history as delineated in Daniel, the Revelation, and The Great Controversy, are not theologians. Those who do not understand the power of Christ to deliver from sin, of the plain and simple gospel story of who Jesus was—”the seed of David according to the flesh” (Romans 1:3)—are not theologians. Those who have known and rejected God’s voice through the Spirit of Prophecy may be applauded for their great speculative skills, but their wisdom is no greater than was that of the scribes and Pharisees in Jesus’ day—they are not theologians. And if the church, or individuals, permit themselves to be educated by these broken cisterns, they will be deceived and rejected by God as were the Jews in Jesus’ day.

As in Jesus’ day, “There are men among us in responsible positions who hold that the opinions of a few conceited philosophers, so called, are more to be trusted than the truths of the Bible, or the testimonies of the Holy Spirit. Such a faith as that of Paul, Peter, or John is considered old-fashioned and insufferable at the present day . . . God has shown me that these men are . . . to prove a scourge to our people. They are wise above what is written. This unbelief of the very truths of God’s Word because human judgment cannot comprehend the mysteries of His work is found . . . in most of our schools and comes into the lessons of the nurseries.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 79.

Who Can We Trust?

Few so-called scholars are true theologians, and few theologians are recognized scholars. Jesus said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.” Matthew 11:25.

As with ancient Israel at Christ’s first coming, so with modern Israel “in the last solemn work” before His Second Coming—”few great men will be engaged.” They “have trusted to intellect, genius, or talent . . . [and] did not keep pace with the light . . . God will work a work in our day that but few anticipate. He will raise up and exalt among us those [like the shepherds] who are taught rather by the unction of His Spirit than by the outward training of scientific institutions . . . God will manifest that He is not dependent on learned, self-important mortals.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 80, 82.

In Jesus’ day the people had been led to believe that God’s work depended upon the priests and rabbis, as “we have been inclined to think that where there are no faithful ministers there can be no true Christian, but this is not the case. God has promised that where the shepherds are not true He will take charge of the flock Himself. God has never made the flock wholly dependent upon human instrumentalities.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 80.

The Jewish people could not fathom the Lord ever forsaking them. Their leaders had emphasized the texts that spoke of their eternal heritage to the exclusion of texts that spoke of the conditions of prosperity. This led to a false sense of security in the system. They forgot that God has not made Himself dependent upon any man, nation or church. Anyone, such as John the Baptist, who said, “God can raise up children to Himself from these stones,” was thought of as a schismatic and separationist. The question they asked both John and Jesus was, “By what authority do you do these things?”—What rabbi, priest, or synagogue has endorsed you?

The Path to Rejection

The rejection of Jesus and the destruction of a nation followed a very simple path: 1) The leaders became political with only an outward appearance of piety in order to retain the people’s confidence and support. 2) The educational system elevated the human above the divine. 3) The people were taught that all questions of administration or policy must be submitted to ecclesiastical authority and that only those under such authority could preach, write or teach. 4) The people were taught that the chosen nation would continue to be blessed regardless of what it did. 5) The people were led to believe that the work of the Lord consisted totally of the political system then in control of the nation. God was not recognized as the Head of His church as stated in Ephesians 1:22–23. The Lord Himself was obliged to go through the “proper channels” of the church. No one could ever hope to be the Messiah without the Sanhedrin’s recognition.

Following the anointing of Jesus at His baptism, the Father gave proof after proof of Jesus’ Messiahship. But the one proof He was lacking was the official approval of the church—or at least what the people thought was the church.

Of course, Jesus was the church. He was the government. For “where Christ is, even among the humble few, this is Christ’s church, for the presence of the High and Holy One who inhabiteth eternity can alone constitute a church.” The Upward Look, 315.

No human council or organization, either today, in Martin Luther’s day, or in Jesus’ day can either establish or annul a church body by mere human fiat. The true church in Jesus’ day was not the temple in Jerusalem, but the believers that surrounded Jesus. This has constituted the church “in every age.” This is the church that “the gates of hell have not been able to prevail against,” and “is the one object upon which God bestows in a special sense His supreme regard.” Acts of the Apostles, 11, 12. But to even suggest such a thing in Jesus’ day would have been considered divisive, insubordinate and apostate. Thus the leaders were able to take a whole nation with them to ruin in their rejection of the humble King of Israel. The leaders were too proud, entrenched and educated to follow Jesus or to submit to His authority, and the people cast their lot with the priests.

Accepting the Proof

Witness one of the most dramatic of Jesus’ healings. The man was born blind, the result, supposedly, of a curse from the parents’ or grandparents’ sins. But Jesus made clay, packed it upon his eyes, and told him to go wash in the pool of Siloam.

The man came seeing and rejoicing. Though he had never seen Jesus, he knew that He was the Messiah, and acknowledged Him so before the priests. The priests knew this man. They knew he had been blind from birth. They had tried to suggest in previous healings of Jesus, that it was by sleight of hand, but they could not deny this miracle. Neither could they accept the One who performed it, for it was done by Jesus, who was not under their authority or jurisdiction. To acknowledge Him would mean to humble themselves. It could possibly lead to the whole moral and economic collapse of their system. Tithes and offerings would probably start flowing to Jesus. Their own authority would be limited. If they should yield their authority here, what would prevent any and every other upstart from beginning his own ministry? What would preserve the “purity” of the church? To their way of thinking, the whole prosperity of a nation depended upon their handling of this case in such a way as to deprive Jesus of His glory and yet retain the confidence of the people. It would require the utmost skill in administrative tact and crisis management.

“So they . . . called the man who was blind, and said to him, ‘Give God the glory! We know that this Man [Jesus] is a sinner.’ ” But the healed man would not relinquish his faith in Jesus. “Then they reviled him and said, ‘You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples.’ ” John 9:24, 28.

As one last attempt to break through the stubborn resistance of the Jews, Jesus raised a man to life who had been dead for four days. The priests knew that they could not refute this miracle. In their hearts they knew that He was divine. But to acknowledge Him now would destroy their whole social, economic and political system. And to their way of thinking, it would therefore destroy God’s church. That, as “faithful stewards,” they could not allow. Thus Caiaphas said, “It is [more] expedient for us that one man should die for the people, . . . [than] that the whole nation should perish.” John 11:50.

Corruption and political maneuvering they could permit; but someone calling for repentance, someone speaking without their authority, they could not tolerate. When the decision came to choose between Barabbas or Christ, they unanimously, save for Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, demanded Barabbas, and the multitudes followed suit.

Following in Their Footsteps

“At the time of the first advent of Christ to our world, the men who composed the Sanhedrin exercised their authority in controlling men according to their will,” and the people blindly accepted their dominion. Testimonies to Ministers, 301. In their acceptance of human authority they rejected God’s. And though the true church of Israel never fell, the human machinery that the people thought was the church did.

“The sin of ancient Israel was in disregarding the express will of God and following their own way according to the leadings of unsanctified hearts. Modern Israel are fast following in their footsteps and the displeasure of the Lord is as surely resting upon them.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 94.
“The religion of many among us will be the religion of apostate Israel, because they love their own way, and forsake the way of the Lord . . . I know that a work must be done for the people, or many will not be prepared to receive the light of the angel sent down from heaven to lighten the whole earth with His glory.” Testimonies to Ministers, 468–469.

When the earth was lightened with the glory of the angels at Jesus’ first coming, few were ready to receive it—only the humblest were lightened by their glory. Just so, another angel is to lighten the earth before Jesus’ Second Coming. Again, only the humblest will receive His glory. The church, purified, is going through. But not everything that purports to be the church today is going to triumph with it. Only the pure and holy are going to triumph. Nothing that in any way bespeaks corruption or political maneuvering will survive.

“The Lord Jesus will always have a chosen people to serve Him. When the Jewish people rejected Christ, the Prince of life, He took from them the kingdom of God and gave it unto the Gentiles. God will continue to work on this principle with every branch of His work. When a church proves unfaithful to the work of the Lord, whatever their position may be, however high and sacred their calling, the Lord can no longer work with them. Others are then chosen to bear important responsibilities.” The Upward Look, 131.

“Let a church become proud and boastful, not depending on God, not exalting His power, and that church will surely be left by the Lord, to be brought down to the ground.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 127.

Throughout the land it is Christmas time again. Though the origins of Christmas preceded the Christian Era, let us review the meaning of the Bethlehem scene. While all eyes were fastened upon Jerusalem for the official birth announcement of their Saviour and King, a newborn babe lay sleeping on beaten-down straw, under strips of linen, in a Bethlehem barn. While the church went on with its forms and ceremonies and Sabbath rituals, the lowly shepherds were bowing beside His cradle. They were the true theologians of Israel, but none would accept their inspired announcement. There in that cradle of Bethlehem lay the government of Israel. The prosperity of a nation, a church, a people, lay huddled beside Him. Though many rejected Him, God’s true church accepted Him. That church still lives!

The End

Hard Hearts, part 2

by

One time when I was a boy, our pastor came to visit our home. I will never forget the experience. I was not talkative. I just went in and saw him. After he left my mother told me, “You hurt him.” I replied that I had said very little. She said, “You didn’t greet him, you weren’t pleasant, you weren’t courteous. You were almost like you were standing there dead. That hurt him.” In thinking about it, I concluded that I had been hard-hearted.

Last month we studied the first three ways that we can become hard-hearted. (1) By not being trained as children to be kind, sympathetic and affectionate. (2) By forming friendships with worldly people. (3) By refusing to forgive someone who has wronged us, and holding a grudge against them.

A fourth way that we make our hearts hard is by dwelling on the faults of others. This is exceedingly dangerous because so often we say, “Well, I have to recognize reality.” First Corinthians 13 says that love does not keep track of or take account of error. It does not continue to dwell on the sins or errors of others. Every one of us, if we look around, know people, even in our own families, that have faults. If we dwell on them, we will become hard-hearted.

“Let us remember that others’ faults and defects are very poor food. Christ said, ‘If ye shall eat my flesh and drink my blood, ye shall have eternal life.’ We must grow up into Christ, we must be partakers of his divine nature. Just as the branch is joined to the vine, and partakes of the nature of the vine, so we must be daily receiving nourishment from the True Vine, our Lord Jesus Christ. We must be in Christ and he in us; then the defects will disappear from our characters. The closer we live to Jesus, the more we shall reflect in words and character his image. And the farther we separate from God, the farther we live away from the light of life, and as the sure result, become perverse, dictatorial, hard-hearted.” Review and Herald, August 18, 1885. If I am keeping my eye on Jesus, focusing on Him, studying Him, joined to Him, the defects of my character are going to come out. But if am focusing on somebody else’s defects of character, I am going to become hard-hearted.

A Time To Forget

It is a biblical truth that there are some things we should forget. You do not need to remember every defect of fault or somebody else. It will not be good for you. There is a verse in the Bible where a godly man said, “God made me forget.” Study it sometime. You do not have to remember for the rest of your life some defect, problem, or something said to you that was not nice. You can forget. As we get our eyes focused on Jesus and the loveliness of His character, our hearts will become tender.

Failing to help the erring is a fifth way we can become hard hearted. “Shall any one who professes to love God, and to love the truth, be cold, unsympathetic, and hard-hearted toward those who stumble, toward those who err, and fail to give them a helping hand when they need help? By their neglect of the erring, by their unsympathetic words and indifferent deportment, some show themselves to be of that class that pass by on the other side.” Review and Herald, January 15, 1895. Who are the class who pass by on the other side? The story of the Good Samaritan is a true story. It actually happened just the way it was related by Jesus. The hard-hearted people passed by on the other side; the tender-hearted person stopped to help him.

Speak Words Of Encouragement

If you just pass by on the other side, that is bad enough, but some people just about curse when they are passing by on the other side. Ellen White says, “Some pour out words of gall and bitterness in censure, in reproach of the erring, and it is like pouring vitriol into an open wound, instead of pouring in the healing oil.” Review and Herald, January 15, 1895. There are people all around that make many mistakes. What do you do about it? Are you trying to help them get to heaven? Or are you pouring in some gall?

Have you ever been in trouble because you made a mistake? I have. Has someone else in the church said, “It’s too bad, but it was your own fault.” That might be the complete truth. Some things that are true are not Christ-like. Some words are true that are not Christ-like, because that kind of speech comes from a hard heart.

Because I am a pastor, I know what people tell pastors. Sometimes people that have been given Bible studies come to historic Adventist churches and when the pastor visits them, he finds them discouraged because they feel they are not as good or nice as the people in church seem to be. Why do people think and feel this way? They are hungry for some words of encouragement. Every church member needs to be encouraging people. “Instead of lifting up the finger, instead of speaking vanity, instead of reproving and condemning and taking away the last ray of hope that the son of Righteousness sheds into their hearts, let your words fall as healing balm upon the bruised soul.” Review and Herald, August 20, 1895

Healing Instead of Destroying

There are bruised souls all around you. If you do not know it, it is because you are hard-hearted. Concerning Jesus, scripture says, “The bruised reed He will not break. The smoking flax He will not quench.” What is the bruised reed and the smoking flax? It is a human soul that has almost given up. Jesus was so tender-hearted He reached out to those people and always gave a word of encouragement to them. They found out that they could make it.

There are young people in our own families who are coming to the conclusion that they cannot be Seventh-day Adventists, that the standard is too high. They are discouraged and bruised. What are we doing for them? “Be not like desolating hail that beats down and destroys the tender hope springing up in the heart. Leave not the hungry, starving soul in his helplessness to perish because you fail to speak words of tenderness and encouragement.” Review and Herald, August 20, 1895. Do you see why we need a tender heart instead of a hard heart? A hard heart cannot speak tender words. You have to have a tender heart to speak tender words. As you practice speaking tender words to people, your heart will stay tender.

A sixth reason that we are so hard-hearted is because of selfishness. That is frequently a reason for divorce. We say, “She/he doesn’t make me happy.” A tender hearted person asks what can I do to make him/her happy? We are so hard hearted because of our selfishness. “Those who are unfeeling and hard-hearted do greater harm to themselves than they do to others, for they deceive themselves by their own spirit and course. Selfishness leads the one who exaggerates every little offense, and attaches great importance to that which is said of himself, which leads him to attribute guilt to one who is ignorant of having done wrong. Selfishness works in the unsanctified heart, and leads men to depreciate those who do not highly esteem them and show them the honor which they think is their due.” Review and Herald, May 14, 1895

Have Your Lost Your First Love?

The Lord Himself puts His finger on the seventh reason in Revelation 2:2, 3. “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.” Revelation 2:2-5. This church is not heretical. They have not accepted the new theology. They still teach the apostles’ doctrines, but correct doctrines and theology are not enough. Jesus continues, “Nevertheless I have this against you, you have left your first love. 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.” Revelation 2:4, 5. When you lose your first love you are in the process of becoming hard-hearted. Jesus likens it to a moral fall. He says, “Remember from where you have fallen. You have lost you first love.” There is nothing like love to make the heart tender. When we lose that first love the heart is starting to become cold and hard.

An eighth reason we become so hard-hearted is because of the desire and ambition to have power. The result is that a person becomes hard-hearted. There is a story in the Bible, about a man who became exceedingly hard-hearted because of his ambition and his desire to show his arbitrary power. It is the story of the unjust judge in Luke 18. The widow came and said, “Avenge me of my adversary.” And he would not do it. Why? His desire for arbitrary power and ambition led him to be hard-hearted toward the needs of others. Self was his god. He finally gave her a judgment to avoid tarnishing his reputation.

Resisting God’s Message

Number nine is really an important one even though it is the last one we are going to consider. People become hard-hearted when they resist evidence and despise messages of warning that God gives them. Ellen White gave a special testimony to those in the Review and Herald office one time. “Some of you have become hard-hearted. You have resisted evidence and have despised the messages of warning of light and truth which the Lord has sent you by the Holy Spirit because He loves you and is loath to give you up.” 1888 Materials, 1452. As you resist the messages of truth and warning that God gives you, you become hard-hearted.

The devil is hard-hearted and likes to cause suffering. And he wants to make you hard-hearted so he can get you to cooperate with what he is trying to get done in the world. Ellen White says, “Some have come to these meetings with a cold, hard, critical, loveless spirit. Such may do great harm for with them is the presence of the evil one that keeps them on the wrong side. Not infrequently their unfeeling attitude toward measures under consideration brings in perplexity, delaying decisions that should made. Testimonies to the Church, vol. 7, 256

We Must Have The Love Of God

I have studied these things, because I wanted to know what could be done in the Historic Adventist movement so that we could learn to get along. And one of the things that has to happen if we are going to learn to get along is that we all have to become tender-hearted. We have to get over our hard-heartedness. Hard heartedness is one of the big reasons for divorce, for trouble in the churches, and one of the big reasons why God’s people cannot get along. We are not going to heaven this way. “Why,” Ellen White asked, “are we so cold? So hard-hearted? So critical? If we are children of God, why not have the love of Jesus revealed in our lives and expressed in our treatment of one another. Should one drop into the grave there would then by hung in memory’s hall the pleasant pictures of kind words spoken, of kindly acts, of a spirit of brotherly love and tender forbearance exercised.” 1888 Materials, 179

If somebody in your family should die right now, would you be struck with remorse because you have not expressed to them tenderness, affection, kindness, and courtesy that you should have? When somebody does die you are never going to do one more kind, courteous thing for them ever in this world. Most of us here have loved ones who have already died and when that happens we can always remember the kind things that we said or did to them. Often, we wish we had done more. The time to change the record is when they are alive. When they are dead it is too late.

Do you want to be cured of hard-heartedness? Everybody in heaven is tender-hearted and we have to become that way if we are going there. I want to be cured of all my hardness of heart. I want the stony heart out and a new heart of flesh. Let us claim the promise of God. He says, “I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26

The End

Fellow Workers With God

by

For we are god’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.” 1 Corinthians 3:9. This was a favorite text of Ellen White, and it is an incomprehensible privilege. To be considered a fellow worker with the president of the United States would be considered a high privilege. Here we are told that we are called to be fellow workers with God. Some people think the minister is paid to do this, but we are all called to be fellow workers with God.

We all have to make a living, but our primary work is to be a fellow workers with God in His work. “Christ has given to the church a sacred charge. Every member should be a channel through which God can communicate to the world the treasures of His grace.” Acts of the Apostles, 600. We must realize that every day we are meeting people who we may never meet again and we have a saving gospel which must be presented.

No one is converted without a burden for souls. Part of the gospel is that we are called to be missionaries for the Lord. Jesus told the demoniac, when he was healed, “Go home to your friends, and tell them the great things the Lord has done for you.” Mark 5:19. And that is what we must do.

To Grow Spiritually, We Must Be Witnessing

It is absolutely necessary for spiritual growth to spend time witnessing. If we are only feeding ourselves, we are going to grow fat, sluggish and critical. “The great outpouring of the Spirit of God, which lightens the whole earth with His glory, will not come until we have an enlightened people, that know by experience what it means to be laborers together with God.” Christian Service, 253

“To a great degree this must be accomplished by personal labor. This was Christ’s method. His work was largely made up of personal interviews. He had a faithful regard for the one-soul audience.” Christ Object Lessons, 229. We might think that most of Jesus’ work was public teaching and healing, but most of His work was one-to-one. Much of what Jesus did is not recorded, but we know by inspiration that He was in people’s homes and spent time teaching the disciples how to reach individuals.

Teaching Others How to Witness

We are told that the greatest help which can be given to church members is to teach them to work for God, not for the church or pastor. “Just as soon as a church is organized, let the minister set the members at work. They will need to be taught how to labor successfully. Let the minister devote more of his time to educating than to preaching. Let him teach the people how to give to others the knowledge they have received.” Testimonies, vol. 7, 20. When I read this statement, our church sat down and began to plan teaching weekends. We began to try to make the church a learning center instead of just a preaching center. In the process of studying, we found that the Holy Spirit will never be poured out unless we are out winning souls. So we said, “We better start doing this.” Then we began to study how to win souls. And the Lord blessed. “Every Christian should be a missionary, working for the salvation of souls.” Review and Herald, November 29, 1906

Our young people in school need to learn the science of soul winning also. To do this, they must learn about true psychology, how the mind works, how to meet people and how to reach them. They ought to know the Bible and the prophecies. If in first grade they had simply begun learning one verse a day, then by the time they got through academy they would have the whole New Testament memorized.

To be effective in our witnessing, we need to be storing our minds with the truths of God’s word. We may say, “I wish I’d started when I was five years old, but now I’m 45.” We are never going to be younger than we are today. If we are ever going to do it, we must start right now. And if we cannot memorize the whole Bible, we can memorize a whole chapter such as Romans 8 or 1 John 3.

“Our work has been marked out for us by our heavenly Father. We are to take our Bibles and go forth to warn the world. We are to be God’s helping hands in saving souls.” Testimonies, vol. 9, 150. “A great work can be done by presenting to the people the Bible just as it reads. Carry the Word of God to every man’s door.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 388

God established this church on a firm basis. And that firm basis was made because of a great shaking within the early movement. In the early Advent movement we went from approximately 100,000 down to just a few hundred people. But at least these few hundred people were solid. They had given their souls and their lives and all that they had to the Lord. They went out and spread the message and preached. The Lord blessed and the church began to grow.

S. N. Haskell’s Camp Meeting

In the far off state of California there was a man holding a camp meeting at which Ellen White and her son Willie were helping. His name was S. N. Haskell. His concerns were centered on the winning of souls. So for their camp meeting, they invited non-Adventists to the evening meetings. During the daytime they would teach people how to win souls, and other things that were more specifically for Adventists, but the evening meeting was always geared for non-Adventists as well as Adventists and was evangelistic in nature. During the day, many of the Adventists would hand out fliers in the community inviting people to come to the evening meeting. The result was that several hundred non-Adventists were in attendance at the evening meeting.

On one occasion, S. N. Haskell was ready to preach and all these non-Adventists were there to hear the message. It began to rain and thunder and since there were no microphones, people could not hear. It was a terrible catastrophe in any evangelist’s mind. He did not want to send people away. They might never come again. But our extremities are God’s opportunities. S. N. Haskell prayed earnestly and an idea came to him. He came out into the middle of the auditorium and had the people come around him—very unconventional. He stood up on a table, had everyone gather around him as close as they could and then he wrote texts down and distributed them to the people. He would call out a question and then have the answer read from the Bible. The people might miss a few words that were read when the thunder cracked, but they could follow it in the Bible. So it was question, answer, question, answer—all Elder Haskell was doing was reading the questions and the people were reading the Bible.

Willie White was there and was impressed. He could see the people being moved as they found the answers to questions from the Bible. He later told his mother. Shortly after this event, the Lord gave Ellen White a vision and showed her that this storm was from the Lord. He was trying to teach people how to give Bible studies and this was His method. Up to that point, no one in our church had ever, as far as we know, given a real Bible study, rather truth had been presented in sermon form.

A New Type of Bible Studies

Here was something so simple and yet so different, but very effective. S. N. Haskell began to train people how to use this method. Soon we had a paper where people would prepare Bible studies and send them in to this paper. A number of these were later gathered up and published in what became known as Bible Readings for the Home Circle.

During the 1890’s this became fully established in our church as the method of giving Bible studies and our church grew the most we have ever grown—almost 10% every single year— because our laymen were out witnessing.

Bible studies have gone through various developments over the years. About 1930, I believe, we developed the first film strip. Nine years later, a Bible study correspondence school was developed and the Voice of Prophecy became the main headquarters for Bible study through correspondence. When I was growing up in the 50’s, my father, brother and I used the 20th Century, on film strip, Bible studies.

While pastoring in the Washington D.C. area, we were training people how to give Bible studies. We were using materials we had, but we found it was not working well. I discovered the materials were written for the purpose of leaving them in the home as a correspondence course, and not for a Bible worker to use in giving a Bible study. Through a year of experimenting, writing, and testing, the Steps to Life Bible studies were developed. We had some interesting experiences. I remember a young lady who had never given studies. She said, “I can’t give a Bible study.” I replied, “Yes you can. Let me give you a few principles. Next week I can’t be here to give studies to this lady.” I reviewed the principles of asking questions and letting people answer them from the Bible. We gave her the Bible studies we had written. I never went back. She gave all the rest of them to this lady and the lady was baptized. That so excited her that she gave them to another and another and another. In a little over a year before I left, she had given Bible studies to four young ladies and all of them were baptized.

I believe that this work is going to be finished with laymen out witnessing to their neighbors. And I believe that the Lord expects us to qualify ourselves for this work. There is a human element involved. In Fundamentals of Christian Education, 217, Ellen White says, “The Lord does nothing for the salvation of the soul without the cooperation of man.” She goes on to say, in spite of this, how few have qualified themselves in the work of soul-winning.

Personal Bible Study

I would like to encourage everyone to, first of all, have Bible study everyday for your own spiritual growth. I spend at least an hour a day. I may be one of the weakest Christians in the world so I need a lot of special help, but I find that I need at least an hour a day with the Word and on my knees in order to survive. Personal Bible study is essential for personal witnessing. We must realize that everyone of us are God’s fellow laborers and we are called to be active witnesses for the Lord.

There are two things that are required in order to be successful workers for the Lord. One is personal effort, using all the intelligence God has given to us, learning how to do it, not stumbling over, and making the same mistakes time after time. If we learn that something does not work, let’s do it different. Let’s learn from one another. Let’s learn all the methods that we can learn to share our faith. Let’s give out literature. Like Jesus with the woman at the well, let us learn to approach people without offending them, learn different ways to share the Sabbath, and various other truths. Along with that, we must realize that not one of us will ever win a single soul in our own power or with our own strength.

The Holy Spirit

The other requirement is that we must have the Holy Spirit in our lives. To have the Holy Spirit in our lives requires that we be cleansed from sin.

“The latter rain will come, and the blessing of God will fill every soul that is purified from every defilement. Evangelism, 702. “Without the presence of the Spirit of God, no heart will be touched, no sinner won to Christ.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 21. Now you see, the work of gaining the victory over sin becomes important, not only that we can get to heaven, but so that we can be used by God to help others to be in heaven. We will never be effective soul-winners as long as we are retaining known sins in our lives. The greatest reason, the greatest purpose for a holy life is not just so we can be saved, but so that we can be used to be an instrument to help others to be saved; our children, our family, our neighbors, and members of the church.

When I fly on the airlines I always like to get a seat by myself so I can study. I tell the Lord, “If I can’t have that, put someone here to whom I can witness.” I have so little time to do all the work that needs to be done. In every situation we should be looking for someone, somewhere, to whom we can witness. There are many wonderful books that can be given away, such as the book Somebody Cares. This and other books can be given everywhere as a witness.

“There is no limit to the usefulness of one who, putting self aside, makes room for the working of the Holy Spirit upon his heart and lives a life wholly consecrated to God.” Ministry of Healing, 159. Starting today, would you like to dedicate yourself to become a fellow laborer with God for the work of winning souls?

The End

Hard Hearts, part 1

by

Have you ever been in a situation where somebody came to you with either scripture, or a statement from the writings of Ellen White with the sole purpose of trying to trap you and show you how wrong you were with this text of scripture or this quotation? What did you do? Often, persons are not looking for evidence because they have already made up their mind. If you give an answer, it seldom accomplishes anything.

Jesus dealt with this frequently, and most of the time He never gave an answer. However, there are a few times recorded in Scripture when He did. I am intrigued with the reasonings of men and how they were so sure they had the Lord trapped. “The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?’ ” Matthew 19:3. This question had been debated for a long time among Jewish leaders with a great difference of opinion. One school of thought taught that a man could divorce his wife instantly for anything he did not like, period. The other school of thought taught there ought to at least be some big reason before a man could divorce his wife. This was a popular debate question. Could you divorce your wife for any reason or could you not?

Because of your Hard Hearts

“And He answered and said to them, ‘Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female.’ ” That is singular, one man, and one woman. Could Adam divorce his wife? Not if he wanted to be married. Jesus continued, ” ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” Matthew 19:4-6. A human being is not to separate something which God has joined. The Jewish leaders thought they had Jesus trapped because they knew Deuteronomy 24. “They said to Him, ‘Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?’ He said to them, ‘Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.’ And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.” Matthew 19:7-9

Why were they allowed, under the old covenant, to divorce? Because of the hardness of their hearts. They were hard-hearted. No hard-hearted person is going to heaven. That is reality. If I am hard-hearted, something has to happen to my heart or I cannot go to heaven.

Why do people get divorced? Because they cannot get along. The same things that happen in our homes so that we cannot get along, happen in church. And sometimes groups of churches begin working together and then they cannot get along. Why is it? Is it because we are hard-hearted? When we go to heaven, we will not cross the street in the New Jerusalem to avoid meeting someone we could not get along with here in this earth.

We must gain victory, or we are not going to heaven, because there will be no hard-hearted people there. “The spirit that is cherished in the home is the spirit that will be manifested in the church.” Signs of the Times, July 1, 1892. Why can we not get along in church? Why can Historic Adventists not get along? Because we do not get along at home. When we know how to get along at home, we will know how to get along in the church.

We Must Be Cured

At a Bible training school on April 1, 1906, Ellen White said, “Oh how my heart trembles for us all. Unless the hard-heartedness is melted away by the grace of Christ we shall never know what heaven is. I am pained beyond measure when I see and feel the hard-hearted methods of dealing with the Lord’s heritage. I feel so ashamed in behalf of Christ as I see how little respect and reverence are shown toward the purchase of His blood.”

The Lord has promised, “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” Ezekiel 36:25-27. A heart of stone is a heart that is hard. The Lord says, “I’m going to take that heart out of you and I’m going to put another heart in you, a heart of flesh.”

Before we look at the cure, we have to understand what the problem is and how we get the problem. So I want to ask the question, why and how are we so hard-hearted? It has been a problem with the human race for thousands of years. They had the problem in Moses’ time. Jesus said, That’s why God allowed you to divorce your wives. It wasn’t because He wanted you to do it. In Malachi 2:16, the Lord says, “He hates divorce.” But He allowed them to do it because they were hard-hearted.

Early Training

One of the primary reasons we become hard-hearted is because that is the way we grew up. As parents we have a tremendous obligation toward our children so that they do not grow up hard-hearted. The Lords messenger says, “We must let Christ into our hearts and homes if we would walk in the light. Home should be made all that the name implies. It should be a little heaven upon the earth, a place where the affections are cultivated instead of being studiously repressed. Our happiness depends upon this cultivation of love, sympathy, and polite courtesy to one another.” Review and Herald, June 22, 1886. Our happiness depends on the “cultivation of love, sympathy, and polite courtesy to one another.” Ibid.

Sympathy is entering into the feelings of another person. When my wife is happy, I am happy. If I discover that my wife is sad, I feel some sadness coming into my heart. “The reason why there are so many hard-hearted men and women in our world, is because true affection has been regarded as weakness, and has been discouraged and repressed.” Ibid. If you do not want your child to grow up hard-hearted, every day there should be expression of affection. Do not let the devil tell you there is anything weak about it or any reason that you should not do it. Your children should hear much more affection than they hear of reproof. Before you reprove one of your children ask yourself how many times you have expressed affection to them today. Be fearful to reprove if you have not expressed affection to them.

Affection can be expressed by actions. We need to acknowledge when others do something nice for us. Recently, my wife and I had a wedding anniversary. That day we were preparing to leave and were busy from early morning until late at night. We did not take any special time to ourselves. Something really nice happened. Our daughter had purchased gifts for both of us and we both deeply appreciated her expression of love.

Are members of your family doing nice things for each other and expressing affection? If not, your children may be growing up hard-hearted. What a tragedy. Ask the Lord to help you to never let another day go by without expressing affection to the people in your family several times a day. “The better part of the nature of those of this class was perverted and dwarfed in childhood; and unless rays of divine light can melt away their coldness and hard-hearted selfishness, the happiness of such is buried forever. If we would have tender hearts, such as Jesus had when he was upon the earth, and sanctified sympathy, such as the angels have for sinful mortals, we must cultivate the sympathies of childhood, which are simplicity itself. Then we shall be refined, elevated, and directed by heavenly principles.” Review and Herald, June 22, 1886

Children are tender in heart and they will stay tender in heart if we do not make them hard-hearted when they are growing up.

Good Friends

In the Bible is the example of a man who grew up tenderhearted, but as an adult he became hard-hearted. Solomon did not grow up in an ideal home. His father had killed Uriah the Hittite in order to marry his mother. After that time, David lost moral influence with his family, especially his children. He could not talk to his children about sin and tell them not to do it because they could immediately say, “Well, Dad, why did you do it?” There were a lot of things that he would have liked to have said and done which he could not. This is one of the reasons, if you are a parent, that it is so necessary to avoid sin. Young people, very quickly spot a double standard.

Solomon was tenderhearted when he first became the king of Israel but he became a hard-hearted tyrant. “He imperiled his soul’s interest by the formation of friendships with the Lord’s enemies. What carefulness should be exercised in the formation of friendship.” General Conference Bulletin, February 25, 1895. If you form friendships with people of this world who are unconverted, it will cause you to become hard in heart and it will destroy your very capacity for happiness. “What carefulness should be exercised in the formation of friendship. Companionship with the world will surely lower the standard of religious principle. Solomon’s heathen wives turned away his heart from God. His finer sensibilities were blunted.” Ibid.

Sensibility means you are sensitive to something. Enjoying music depends on sensitivity of the ears. Enjoying food depends on the sensitivity of the tongue. All pleasure depends on sensitivity and when you lose sensitivity, you lose the capacity for pleasure and happiness. That is one of the terrible things about sin and being hard-hearted. Solomon’s capacity for pleasure was decreased. Whenever you engage in sin, your capacity for pleasure and happiness is decreased. Not because God made some arbitrary decree. You are doing it yourself and you are hardening your heart and decreasing your capacity for happiness. When Solomon’s finer sensibilities were blunted he lost his sympathy for men and his love for God. The result was, “his conscience was seared and his rule became tyranny.” Ibid. We will become hard-hearted by forming friendships with worldly people.

Forgiving Each Other

The third way we become hard-hearted is because of our failure to forgive. Have you ever met somebody who is holding a grudge? Maybe somebody really did something bad or said something bad against them and maybe it was a long time ago, but they are still holding a grudge. Holding a grudge has a terrible effect on your heart.

“We must forgive those who trespass against us, if we would obtain pardon and grace when we approach the mercy-seat. Mercy and love must be cherished by all who would be followers of Jesus. When Peter asked, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?’ Jesus replied, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times: but, up to seventy times seven. Matthew 18:21, 22. He then enforced the duty of forgiveness, by the parable of the two debtors. [Matthew 18:23-35] One was forgiven a debt of ten thousand talents, and then refused to show mercy to his fellow-servant who owed him a hundred pence. The pardon granted to that hard-hearted servant was revoked, and he was delivered to the tormentors.” Review and Herald, December 26, 1882. If we do not have the spirit of forgiveness, we are hardening our hearts. The worse that is said or done to you, the more necessary it is for you to forgive. If you do not forgive, and you keep holding that in, your heart is going to get hard.

All Bible references are from the New King James Version.

To be continued next month…

Micah

by

The book of Micah is a beautiful book. Micah lived about 700 B.C. At this time, the Children of Israel had been living in the Land of Canaan for about 700 years and were well established. Israel was all still intact. They thought that as God’s people, He would always preserve them. After all, there were no other people on earth who were preaching the truth. If they were wiped out, who would God have? They were the depositors, as Paul says, of the oracles of God.

In Micah 3:11 God, through the prophet says, “Her heads judge for a bribe, her priests teach for pay.” They were making a comfortable, secure living in the priesthood. “And her prophets divine for money. Yet they lean on the Lord. . .” Does anyone like to be used? We do not like to be used, but how often we are tempted to use God. The Children of Israel used God. They leaned on Him to their advantage. “We are His people. We do not have to listen or obey Him, but He must take care of us. He has promised us things and we are going to hold Him to those promises. All nations will be blessed through us.” They knew everything was not right, politics had entered the church, but they reasoned if there was anything wrong at the head of the church, God would right it.

God’s church was going through. Through conniving or politics or however else the leaders happened to get at the head of God’s church—since they were on top of the heap that was going through, they thought they were going to succeed, too. All they had to do was stay on top. “Are we not God’s people? therefore, no harm can come to us.” “Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed like a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, and the mountain of the temple like the bare hills of the forest.” Micah 3:12. Because of this attitude, because of you who are entrenched in your offices, because of you leaders of the people who are working for pay instead of for a calling, Jerusalem will be devastated, will be plowed like a field and be left destroyed.

Micah 4:3 says, “Then they will cry to the Lord, but He will not hear them; He will even hide His face from them at that time, because they have been evil in their deeds.” It is a hard thing for us to admit that God is not dependent upon us. Somehow we are determined that God has to be dependent on us. It is true, God wants to use us and it is even true that God has made His work dependent on some men, somewhere. God has suffered many losses because people have been untrue. He could have, many times, sent angels to do the work, but He has left it in the hands of men, and many times, unfaithful men.

And yet, never has God made His work entirely dependent upon people and never has He made it dependent upon any certain group of people. Hosea, a contemporary of Micah, says, “I will say to those who were not My people. ‘You are My people!’ ” Hosea 2:23. John the Baptist said, “God can raise up children to Himself from these stones. Do not think that He is dependent on you.” One of the most dangerous philosophies for the church, is to come to the place where we think that because we are God’s church , He is dependent on us. It is deadly and it destroyed the Children of Israel. Because they thought God was dependent upon them, the Children of Israel continued to carry out their ceremonies, rituals, and forms of worship. As apostasy deepened, the forms of worship increased. Their professions increased while their morality decreased.

Micah, in chapter 6, verse 6 speaking for the people says, “With what shall I come before the Lord, . . . Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?” Do you know why God required calves a year old? Because He did not want them to get the use out of them and then give them when they were old. A year old calf was a real sacrifice. “Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” Isaiah, descibes what the people were saying in chapter 58, “Look God, we have done everything. We have fasted. We have come with our sackcloth and ashes and we have given offerings and tithes and we have worshipped and come before You day after day and You do not hear. How come?” Isaiah answers, “It is because your sins have hid His face from you.”

Buying God

How does mankind come to the place where he thinks he can do things to buy God’s love? God requires a change of character. Can we do something to buy our way into heaven? Can we attend enough meetings to somehow appease God, as though He needed appeasing? Can we give enough offerings, enough tithe, or fast long enough?

There is nothing we can do to atone for our sins but accept the free gift of salvation through Jesus. However, there is a condition. Jesus said, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven.” John 3:3. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I John 1:9. Is that a fair condition? God says, “You cannot claim Me as your Lord unless you allow Me to come into your life.”

The Children of Israel leaned on the Lord, but did not want Him to come into their lives or to be subject to Him. Why? They were afraid He might change their lives and we do not want to be changed because we like the way we are. That is why the Bible says, “The just shall live by faith.” Romans 1:17. By faith, we know that God loves us and He will do nothing but what is for our own good. By faith, we know that God’s way brings peace and joy and happiness even though it may not look like it to the natural eye. “In the world,” Jesus said, “you will have tribulation.” John 16:33. You may suffer persecution for keeping the Sabbath. You may suffer loss of job, or be unpopular. Even family members may turn against you. But, by faith, we know that while we suffer persecution on the outside, God has promised to give us peace, joy, and happiness on the inside.

Now the Children of Israel asked Micah, “Doesn’t God want us to worship Him? Doesn’t He want our calves of a year old? What about our sacrifices of oil and calves and our convocations and our ceremonies and all these other things?” The gist of Micah’s answer is, “Unless these ceremonies are bringing you closer to God in character, why do them?” (See Micah 6:6–8.)

The Scribes and Pharisees read the Scriptures daily and Jesus said, “You study the Scriptures every day and they teach of Me and yet you refuse to come to Me.” (See John 5:39.) They went to church, they fasted, they gave, they prayed and they even kept the Sabbath of the Lord, but they were lost. They fooled everyone into thinking they were religious and yet, there was one thing they never did. They never surrendered or accepted the way God had worked out for them. God’s way involved the cross. Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Matthew 16:24

We must be broken on the Rock and yield completely to the Lord. I must come to the place where I am willing to yield all sin. But someone says, “I am not willing. So what do I do?” We are told if we pray, “Lord, make me willing to be made willing,” The Mount of Blessings, 142. He will do that. God will begin to work on our heart. God says, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” Ezekiel 33:11

The Lord through Micah gives promises to encourage us in this work of surrendering. “Therefore I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; My God will hear me. Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; when I fall, I will arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me forth to the light; and I will receive His righteousness.” Micah 7:7–9

Promises and Warnings

God is merciful, yet the Children of Israel used these promises of God’s love and grace and goodness as excuses for sin. That is dangerous and presumptive. They said, “God is going to save us anyway. He will correct all our iniquity. Do not criticize. Do not cry aloud. Just trust in the Lord.”

“Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who make my people stray; who chant ‘Peace’” Micah 3:5. Why were they crying peace? Because they thought they were standing on the promises of the Lord. They said, “Peace! Everything is going to be all right. God’s going to see us through.” God said, “While they chew with their teeth, but who prepare war against him who puts nothing into their mouths.” Ibid. God was putting nothing in their mouth. “Therefore you shall have night without vision, and you shall have darkness with divination; the sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be dark for them. So the seers shall be ashamed, and the diviners abashed; indeed they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer from God. But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, and of justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.” Micah 3:6–8. But they said, “Don’t do that. Just say peace. Stand on the promises of God.” (See Jeremiah 6:14 and Desire of Ages, 106.)

True prophets were not prophets of peace. They gave good courage and promises on condition of obedience, but they also warned against iniquities. These prophecies of Micah are given for today. Notice Micah 4:1, “Now it shall come to pass in the latter days . . .” In Micah 4:6, 7, it says, “’In that day,’ says the Lord, ‘I will assemble the lame, I will gather the outcast and those whom I have afflicted; I will make the lame a remnant, and the outcast a strong nation; so the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from now on, even forever.’” God has promised, in the last days, to gather the outcasts of Israel and to make of them a remnant.

The Remnant—His Church

Have we learned the lessons from Micah? Are we today in danger of crying “Peace! Peace!” when there is no peace? Or are we in danger of trying to appease God and earn our way into His favor? Are we standing on promises to our own destruction, not fulfilling the conditions? “Sins exist in the church that God hates, but they are scarcely touched for fear of making enemies. Opposition has risen in the church to the plain testimony. Some will not bear it. They wish smooth things spoken unto them.” Spiritual Gifts, vol. 2, 283, 284

“Just as long as God has a church, he will have those who will cry aloud and spare not, [like Micah] who will be his instruments to reprove selfishness and sins, and will not shun to declare the whole counsel of God, whether men will hear or forbear. I saw that individuals would rise up against the plain testimonies It does not suit their natural feelings. They would choose to have smooth things spoken unto them, and have peace cried in their ears. I view the church in a more dangerous condition than they ever have been. Experimental religion is known but by a few. The shaking must soon take place to purify the church.” Ibid. The remnant in the last days are going to be made up of the poor, blind, lame and halt. “In the last solemn work few great men will be engaged. They are self-sufficient and independent of God and He cannot use them. But the Lord has faithful servants who in the shaking, testing time will be disclosed to view. There are precious ones now hidden who have not bowed the knee to Baal, but it may be under a rough and uninviting exterior that the pure brightness of a genuine Christian character will be revealed. Chaff like a cloud will be blown away on the wind even from places where we see only floors of rich wheat. All who assume the ornaments of the sanctuary, but who are not clothed with Christ’s righteousness will appear in the shame of their own nakedness.” Testimonies to the Church, vol. 8, 80, 81

That was the message of Micah. God’s people are in danger of trusting in being God’s people. “We are the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.” And yet, being the temple of the Lord, they have not developed a Christian character. God says He will destroy them, but a remnant will be left of poor and humble people. The promises in Micah are made to the remnant, “I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob, I will surely gather the [what?] remnant of Israel; I will put them together like sheep of the fold, like a flock in the midst of their pasture; they shall make a loud noise because of so many men.” Micah 2:12. “Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the [who?] remnant of His heritage?” Micah 7:18. The remnant is going to increase, people will come in, but it is only going to be a remnant of the Children of Israel.

“‘In that day,’ says the Lord,‘I will assemble the lame, I will gather the outcast and those whom I have afflicted.’” Micah 4:6. There is coming a time when God will mold together a remnant. They are going to cry and be heard from one end of the earth to the other. It is described as three angels flying in the midst of the heavens with a fourth angel giving them power and that the earth was lightened with its glory. Then it is that God is going to receive the glory. Man’s wisdom will be made of none effect.

Many people are not going to be satisfied with this because God alone will receive the glory. All of man’s glory will be made of none effect. Look at Micah 4:9. “Now why do you cry aloud? Is there no king in your midst? Has your counselor perished? For pangs have seized you like a woman in labor.” People are going to be crying, “Look, we do not have any more kings in our midst. Where are our great counselors? They seem to be gone.” But it is at that time that Jesus will take charge of the church. It is that time that He and the Holy Spirit will receive the glory and He will be the head of the church. What God is looking for today is to become the head of His people. He wants to pour out upon His people, His Spirit. If we will yield ourselves to His character, to His Spirit, to His leading and guiding, God is willing to take charge of the church for His name’s honor and glory.

Today the Lord is inviting us to turn from the strongholds of men to the strongholds of God. May we each have the privilege to be among His remnant in that day when the Lord’s word will go forth with power to the world and He will come to judge the nations in truth and righteousness.

The End

Financing God’s Last Army

by

God Has Devised Methods Of Support For All His Plans

For every plan that God has devised for the finishing of His work, He has devised methods and left instructions about how that plan is to work and how it is to be supported. Some missionary workers are to receive money from the profits of their labors, such as literature evangelists, physicians and nurses, missionary farmers and tradesmen. But those participating in the work of the gospel ministry are not to receive their living from the profits of secular labor. This includes more than just those called “ministers”. According to Ellen White the work of the gospel ministry includes the following kinds of workers.

“Institutions that are God’s instruments to carry forward His work on the earth must be sustained. Churches must be erected, schools established, and publishing houses furnished with facilities for doing a great work in the publication of the truth to be sent to all parts of the world. These institutions are ordained of God and should be sustained by tithes and liberal offerings.” Testimonies, vol. 4, 464

“I have had special instruction from the Lord that the tithe is for a special purpose, consecrated to God to sustain those who minister in the sacred work, as the Lord’s chosen to do His work not only in sermonizing, but in ministering. They should understand all that this comprehends.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 1, 187

“Light has been plainly given that those who minister in our schools, teaching the word of God, explaining the Scriptures, educating the students in the things of God, should be supported by the tithe money. This instruction was given long ago, and more recently it has been repeated again and again.” Testimonies, vol. 6, 215

“The tithe should go to those who labor in word and doctrine, be they men or women.” Evangelism, 492

We Are Responsible for the Use of Our Tithe

The gospel confers individual responsibility upon each of us. In no case can this personal responsibility be avoided or transferred. God will not condone our using tithe for the preaching of apostasy or any use other than specified: “There are fearful woes for those who preach the truth, but are not sanctified by it, and also for those who consent to receive and maintain the unsanctified to minister to them in word and doctrine.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 261, 262

Diversion of Tithe

One of Satan’s major goals is to divert the money that should be coming into the Lord’s treasury and thereby dry up the financial resources to finish God’s work. He has successfully done this by causing men to neglect to give, to invest in worldly speculations that fail, to bequeath their property to children and grandchildren who do not love the truth, and by the needless use of funds for selfish gratification.

We have a responsibility to be sure that our tithe and gifts to God’s cause are supporting the preaching of the truth and that the devil does not out-general us and secure those assets that God has placed into our hands into the wrong storehouse.

What Is The Storehouse?

Only two storehouses exist in the world, “There are only two places in the world where we can deposit our treasures—in God’s storehouse or in Satan’s, and all that is not devoted to Christ’s service is counted on Satan’s side and goes to strengthen his cause.” Testimonies, vol. 6, 448

Where Is The Storehouse?

“Do not worry lest some means shall go direct to those who are trying to do missionary work in a quiet and effective way. All the means is not to be handled by one agency or organization.” Spalding Magan, 421

“Send direct to the people. God’s ways are not to be counterworked by man’s ways. . . . Have this money come direct to your destitute portion of the vineyard. The Lord has not specified any regular channel through which means should pass.” Spalding Magan, 498

Surplus Tithe Money

“If you have means that is not needed after settling with your ministers in a liberal manner, send the Lord’s money to these destitute places,” (missions and churches with limited tithe.) Manuscript Releases, vol. 1, 184

Regular And Irregular Lines

In Ellen White’s day the terms “regular workers” and “regular lines” referred to conference employees and programs and “irregular workers” were the independent ministries. “For years the same routine, the same ‘regular way’ of working has been followed, and God’s work has been greatly hindered. . . .

“God calls for a revival and a reformation. The ‘regular lines’ have not done the work which God desires to see accomplished. Let revival and reformation make constant changes. Something has been done in this line, but let not the work stop here. No! Let every yoke be broken. Let men awaken to the realization that they have an individual responsibility.

“The present showing is sufficient to prove to all who have the true missionary spirit that the ‘regular lines’ may prove a failure and a snare. God helping His people, the circle of kings who dared to take such great responsibilities shall never again exercise their unsanctified power in the so-called ‘regular lines.’ Too much power has been invested in unrevived, unreformed human agencies.” Spalding Magan, 175

“The people to whom God has given His means are amenable to Him alone. It is their privilege to give direct aide and assistance to missions.” Spalding Magan, 177

Special Counsel Concerning Bible Workers

The following quotation is helpful as we seek to answer the question of using tithe money to pay a person not in conference employ: “There are minister’s wives, Sisters Starr, Haskell, Wilson and Robinson, who have been devoted, earnest, whole-souled workers, giving Bible readings and praying with families, helping along by personal efforts just as successfully as their husbands. These women give their whole time, and are told that they receive nothing for their labors because their husbands receive their wages. I tell them to go forward and all such decisions shall be reversed. The Word says, ‘The laborer is worthy of his hire.’ When any such decision as this is made, I will in the name of the Lord, protest. I will feel it in my duty to create a fund from my tithe money, to pay these women who are accomplishing just as essential work in the same line as that of the ministers, hunting for souls, fishing for souls. I know that the faithful women should be paid wages proportionate to the pay received by ministers. They carry the burden of souls, and should not be treated unjustly. These sisters are giving their time to education those newly come to the faith, and hire their own work done, and pay those who work for them.” Spalding Magan, 117

Obviously this same counsel would apply to full-time Bible workers today.

Special Need For Bible Workers

It is God’s will that we prepare thousands to do Bible work. (See Testimonies, vol. 9, 126.) “In every school that God has established there will be, as never before, demand for Bible instruction.” Evangelism, 42. What is this Bible instruction to accomplish? The next sentence says, “Our students are to be educated to become Bible workers.” Ibid. “In every city there should be a corps of organized, well-disciplined workers; not merely one or two, but scores should be set to work.” Christian Service, 72

This work will require money. “It almost seems as if scarcely anyone dares ask a worker to go into cities, because of the means that would be required to carry on a strong, solid work. It is true that much means will be required in order to do our duty toward the unwarned in these places; and God desires us to lift our voices and our influence in favor of using means wisely in this special line of effort.” Evangelism, 42

If We Fail God’s Plan Will Succeed Through Others

If none of us feel a responsibility to fill the gap and become trained in Bible work and then help to train others, the Lord will pass us by and finish His work with others. If we do not feel a responsibility that all of our tithe support the giving of the three angel’s messages, God can at any time find other intelligences and other money or sources of support to finish His work, but we will be the losers. If we support apostasy with our tithe and offerings we are not hastening the Lord’s coming by getting the last message to all the world—rather we are delaying His coming and in dire danger of being accounted as an evil servant at the end. Matthew 24:44–51

“Let me tell you that the Lord will work in this last work in a manner very much out of the common order of things, and in a way that will be contrary to any human planning. There will be those among us who will always want to control the work of God, to dictate even what movements shall be made when the work goes forward under the direction of the angel who joins the third angel in the message to be given to the world. God will use ways and means by which it will be seen that He is taking the reins in His own hands. The workers will be surprised by the simple means that He will use to bring about and perfect His work of righteousness.” Testimonies to Ministers, 300

“There will soon be an awakening that will surprise many. Those who do not realize the necessity of what is to be done, will be passed by, and the heavenly messengers will work with those who are called the common people, fitting them to carry the truth to many places. Now is the time for us to awake and do what we can.” Loma Linda Messages, 83

“If we are to bear a part in this work to its close, we must recognize the fact that there are good things to come to the people of God in a way that we had not discerned; and that there will be resistance from the very ones we expect to engage in such a work. A man that is sincere in the wrong is not justified in the wrong.” 1888 Materials, 1024

Tithe and Educational Reform

God’s plan for the rapid finishing of His work in the world involved educational reform that would refashion people’s thinking about who and what the church is, who and what a minister is, who is qualified to receive tithe and what kind of education this person should receive.

“With such an army of workers as our youth, rightly trained, might furnish, how soon the message of a crucified, risen, and soon-coming Savior might be carried to the whole world!” Education, 271

This missionary training was to prepare young people as quickly as possible for a useful life as a self-supporting or mission board supported missionary. Adventist young people were to be taught the great reforms that God had given to His people—reforms in dress, diet, education, recreation, healthful lifestyle, methods of healing, and reforms in church organization. This training would also include manual skills, would not include games and amusements, and would be offered in a simple setting with simple buildings.

Adventist education was to train young people to be thinkers and to be able to govern themselves instead of being merely reflectors of other men’s thoughts and having to be governed by others.

The Connection Between Christian Education and Tithe

Many times in the past different ones were led to reject truth because they didn’t understand that God is not dependent upon the literary institutions to prepare His workers and they have looked only to the graduates of these institutions for instruction and have sent their tithe support only to these workers. God has often used those that He has trained in another manner to carry forward His work.

In the last great work of God for the world, “the Lord will work through humble instruments, leading the minds of those who consecrate themselves to His service. The laborers will be qualified rather by the unction of the Spirit than by the training of literary institutions.” Great Controversy, 606

The tithe and offering issue has to do with more than what organization you send it to. It has to do with more than just money and who is going to handle God’s money in this world. It has much to do with the finishing of God’s work. As long as your money goes to support apostasy there will not be revival and reformation for you because “where your treasure is there will your heart be also.” Matthew 6:21

The End

How to Meet a Controverted Point of Doctrine

by

From every direction we hear of new religious teachings that someone believes to be truth. How we relate to these new teachings has eternal consequences. While we must bring every new idea to the test of the Scriptures, we should never stoop so low as to use ridicule, even if we firmly believe someone to be in error. Ridicule is not from the Spirit of Christ but rather from the spirit of the evil one. “The papal authorities first ridiculed the Reformers, and when this did not quench the spirit of investigation, they placed them behind prison walls, loaded them with chains, and when this did not silence them or make them recant, they finally brought them to the fagot and the sword. We should be very cautious lest we take the first steps in this road that leads to the Inquisition. The truth of God is progressive; it is always onward, going from strength to a greater strength, from light to a greater light. We have every reason to believe that the Lord will send us increased truth, for a great work is yet to be done. In our knowledge of truth, there is first a beginning in our understanding of it, then a progression, then completion; first the blade, then the ear, and after that the full corn in the ear. Much has been lost because our ministers and people have concluded that we have had all the truth essential for us as a people; but such a conclusion is erroneous and in harmony with the deceptions of Satan; for truth will be constantly unfolding.” Signs of the Times, May 26, 1890

We want to keep pace with the advancing light and truth, remembering that we can never stop the continual climb on the pathway to heaven. As we advance, we must not, however, deny past light lest we fall from the path of truth. “Others rashly denied the light behind them and said that it was not God that had led them out so far. The light behind them went out, leaving their feet in perfect darkness, and they stumbled and lost sight of the mark and of Jesus, and fell off the path down into the dark and wicked world below.” Early Writings, 15

One of the first questions that we must carefully consider with every new teaching is: Does it contradict the past truth that has been firmly established in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy? That condition may sound simplistic—but it is absolutely not optional.

Think of some of the new ideas that you have encountered. Are they new light, fanaticism, or a mixture? The first place to look is to the old light. (Old light should not be confused with tradition.) We must look to Jesus. “In Him was life, and the life as the light of men.” He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” John 1:4; 14:6. But men in His day were so blind that the light shining in their darkness was not understood. (See John 1:5.)

We cannot expect to understand truth if we have darkness in our hearts. This spirit of darkness manifests itself in contentions and debates. “There are many who cannot distinguish between the work of God and that of man. I shall tell the truth as God gives it to me, and I say now, If you continue to find fault, to have a spirit of variance, you will never know the truth. Jesus said to His disciples, ‘I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.’ (John 16:12). They were not in a condition to appreciate sacred and eternal things.” Selected Messages, book 1, 412, 413. [All emphasis supplied] In even stronger language, Ellen White writes, “Nothing frightens me more than to see the spirit of variance manifested by our brethren. We are on dangerous ground when we cannot meet together like Christians, and courteously examine controverted points. I feel like fleeing from the place lest I receive the mold of those who cannot candidly investigate the doctrines of the Bible.” Ibid, 411

The prophet of the Lord felt like fleeing. This is similar to the approach that Jesus adopted when the spirit of variance manifested itself between His disciples and the disciples of John. The story of Jesus departing into Galilee is recorded in John 3:25–4:3. “And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, He that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou bearest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to Him. . . .When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, (though Jesus Himself baptized not, but His disciples,) He left Judaea and departed again into Galilee.”

Jealousy—Cause for Dispute

How did this variance first start between John’s disciples and Jesus’ disciples? The Spirit of Prophecy reveals what was going on in the hearts of John’s disciples. “The disciples of John looked with jealousy upon the growing popularity of Jesus. They stood ready to criticize His work, and it was not long before they found occasion. A question arose between them. . . . Soon they were in dispute with Christ’s disciples.” The Desire of Ages, 178

If we have the root problem of jealousy, we are prepared to be in a dispute very soon, because unless jealousy is overcome, we will be standing by ready to criticize. Then be assured that it will not be long before we will find an occasion to criticize, and soon there will be a dispute. Even when the Lord was here on earth with His workers, John’s disciples (John was a godly man) found a reason to criticize Jesus’ work and His workers.

How did John handle these complaints from his disciples? “John had by nature the faults and weaknesses common to humanity, but the touch of divine love had transformed him. He dwelt in an atmosphere uncontaminated with selfishness and ambition, and far above the miasma of jealousy. He manifested no sympathy with the dissatisfaction of his disciples.” Ibid., 179

The way that John the Baptist handled the situation with the jealousy of his disciples towards Jesus and His workers is left on record as a guiding light for us. Satan used John’s disciples to tempt him to have hurt feelings at being set aside. “If he had sympathized with himself, and expressed grief or disappointment at being superseded, he would have sown the seeds of dissension, would have encouraged envy and jealousy, and would seriously have impeded the progress of the gospel.” Ibid.

John did not fall to Satan’s temptation. “The soul of the prophet emptied of self, was filled with the light of the divine.” Ibid, 180. John, on hearing the complaints of his disciples, said, “He must increase, but I must decrease. . . for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him.” John 3:30, 34

“So with the followers of Christ. We can receive of heaven’s light only as we are willing to be emptied of self. We cannot discern the character of God, or accept Christ by faith, unless we consent to the bringing into captivity of every thought to the obedience of Christ. To all who do this the Holy Spirit is given without measure. In Christ ‘dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and in Him ye are made full.’ Colossians 2:9, 10, R. V.” Ibid., 181

If we can apply the lessons that are given for our learning, there will be far less variance. “Those who are true to their calling as messengers for God will not seek honor for themselves. Love for self will be swallowed up in love for Christ. No rivalry will mar the precious cause of the gospel. They will recognize that it is their work to proclaim, as did John the Baptist, ‘Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.’ John 1:29. They will lift up Jesus, and with Him humanity will be lifted up.” Ibid., 179, 180

Following Jesus’ Example

While there is a lot to learn from John—we have much to learn from Jesus’ response to the criticism of John’s disciples. Even though John the Baptist was a godly man, Jesus simply withdrew. The two ministries never again worked in the same close proximity. Jesus understood how to apply this truth. “If you continue to find fault, to have a spirit of variance, you will never know the truth.” Selected Messages, book 1, 412. “Never” is an all inclusive word. There was, therefore, no point of John’s and Jesus’ workers to be together since there was contention. There is room for only one—either truth or variance, because they do not co-habitate. There are times when withdrawing as Jesus did is the only way to continue to be able to teach the truth.

Variance and contention come from pride. The wise man said, “Only by pride cometh contention.” Proverbs 13:10. Jealousy is one of the fruits of pride, and it was jealousy that caused this dispute between the workers there in Judea. We need to look at what Jesus did for us, and our pride will be humbled in the dust. “He humbled Himself to become a babe and suffer the wants and woes of mortals. He humbled Himself not to the highest position, to be a man of riches and power, but though He was rich, yet for our sake He became poor, that we through His poverty might be made rich. He took step after step in humiliation. He was driven from city to city; for men would not receive the Light of the world. They were perfectly satisfied with their position.” Selected Messages, book 1, 407

Humility Before Knowledge

Men in Jesus’ day refused to receive the light. They would not let self be humbled so that they could understand truth. They determined not to accept a Messiah that would not come in pomp and pride, free them from the Romans, and give them their riches. They were locked in error, and unless they humbled themselves and accepted Jesus, their city and nation would be destroyed.

“All self-sufficiency, egotism, and pride of opinion must be put away. We must come to the feet of Jesus, and learn of Him who is meek and lowly of heart. Jesus did not teach His disciples as the rabbis taught theirs. Many of the Jews came and listened as Christ revealed the mysteries of salvation, but they came not to learn; they came to criticize, to catch Him in some inconsistency, that they might have something with which to prejudice the people. They were content with their knowledge, but the children of God must know the voice of the True Shepherd. Is not this a time when it would be highly proper to fast and pray before God? We are in danger of variance, in danger of taking sides on a controverted point; and should we not seek God in earnestness, with humiliation of soul, that we may know what is truth?.” Ibid., 414

After our pride has been humbled in the dust and all contention has ceased, there are still some additional steps to be taken to discern between truth and error. Notice: “If there is a point of truth that you do not understand, upon which you do not agree, investigate, compare scripture with scripture, sink the shaft of truth down deep into the mine of God’s Word. You must lay yourselves and your opinions on the altar of God, put away your preconceived ideas, and let the Spirit of Heaven guide you into all truth.” Ibid., 413

“When God’s Word is studied, comprehended, and obeyed, a bright light will be reflected to the world; new truths, received and acted upon, will bind us in strong bonds to Jesus. The Bible, and the Bible alone, is to be our creed, the sole bond of union; all who bow to this Holy Word will be in harmony. Our own views and ideas must not control our efforts. Man is fallible, but God’s Word is infallible. Instead of wrangling with one another, let men exalt the Lord. Let us meet all opposition as did our Master, saying, ‘It is written.’ Let us lift up the banner on which is inscribed, The Bible our rule of faith and discipline.” Ibid., 416

Every cell and fiber of our beings are so contaminated by sin that we do not realize the impossibility of understanding truth without the aid of the Holy Spirit. It was this realization by Jesus of the complete infiltration of sin within the heart of man that caused Jesus His greatest agony on the cross. “It was not bodily anguish that filled Him with horror and despair; it was a sense of the malignity of sin, a knowledge that man had become so familiar with sin that he did not realize its enormity, that it was so deeply rooted in the human heart as to be difficult to eradicate.” Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 3, 162

During the hour of trial, “even the disciples doubted His [Jesus’] divinity.” Ibid., 158. What a deep hold sin had on their hearts, making them unable to comprehend truth. The thief on the cross did not have the advantage of being with Jesus for over three years as the disciples had, yet he clearly understood the truth of Jesus’ divinity. How could one who was apparently not a theologian actually be one of the greatest theologians of all history?

Experience of a Thief

The thief had earlier in life been convicted of the teachings of Jesus. Instead of following the Saviour, he accepted the priests’ testimony against Jesus. But even the priests could not drown the conviction in his heart, and he plunged into the pleasure of sin to silence his convictions. A bad choice of friends led him deeper and deeper into wickedness until he was arrested for open crime and condemned to die. He was present at the trial of Jesus. As the thief watched the kindness and forbearance of Jesus toward His tormentors, the thief acknowledged in his heart that Jesus was truly the Son of God.

By this first response to God, the door was opened for the Holy Spirit to reveal to him vast tracts of truth. These truths, doubted by even Jesus’ disciples, were believed and even taught by the thief as he hung upon his cross. “As his heart went out to Christ, heavenly illumination flooded his mind. In Jesus, bruised, mocked, and hanging upon the cross, he saw his Redeemer, his only hope, and appealed to Him in humble faith.” Ibid., 157. “The Spirit of God illuminated the mind of this criminal, who took hold of Christ by faith, and, link after link, the chain of evidence that Jesus was the Messiah was joined together, until the suffering victim, in like condemnation with himself, stood forth before him as the Son of God.” Ibid., 158

This man stands in the foreground of systematic theologians. Notice that through the Holy Spirit, the thief pieced truth together “link after link” in the chain of evidence. This is a description of systematic theology in action. To him was granted the exalted privilege of ministering to Christ in His suffering. By him were spoken the most welcome words ever to fall on the ears of Jesus. “Never in His entire ministry were words more grateful to His ears than the utterance of faith from the lips of the dying thief, amid the blasphemy and taunts of the mob.” Ibid., 159

No one can understand truth without the illumination of the Holy Spirit, but He can teach truth to the veriest sinner who bows in humble faith at the foot of the cross. Theology must be experienced to be understood. David says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Psalm 34:8

In Conclusion

  1. There is no point in discussing various new ideas unless they agree with the established light.
  2. It is impossible to discern between truth and error if there is any contention present.
  3. If there is contention, sometimes it is better to depart than to continue in close proximity.
  4. We must be humble to understand truth.
  5. We cannot understand truth without the aid of the Holy Spirit.
  6. “Investigate, compare scripture with scripture, sink the shaft of truth down deep into the mine of God’s Word. You must lay yourselves and your opinions on the altar of God, put away your preconceived ideas, and let the Spirit of Heaven guide you into all truth.” Selected Messages, book 1, 413

“God wants us to depend upon Him, and not upon man. He desires us to have a new heart; He would give us revealings of light from the throne of God. We should wrestle with every difficulty, but when some controverted point is presented, are you to go to man to find out his opinion, and then shape your conclusions from his?—No, go to God. Tell Him what you want; take your Bible and search as for hidden treasures.” Ibid., 415
The End

The Qualifications of a Minister, part 3

by

Article 3 on the public life of ministers

Must have the power of love in His public discourses

There is warmth and courtesy and love in heaven. Let ministers go before God in prayer, confessing their sins, and with all the simplicity of a little child ask for the blessings that they need. Plead for the warmth of Christ’s love, and then bring it into your discourses; and let no one have occasion to go away and say that the doctrines you believe unfit you for expressing sympathy with suffering humanity—that you have a loveless religion. The operations of the Holy Spirit will burn away the dross of selfishness, and reveal a love which is tried in the fire, a love that maketh rich. He who has these riches is in close sympathy with Him who so loved us that He gave His life for our redemption. Testimonies to Ministers, 153, 1542. Personal work

And the minister’s work does not end with the presentation of truth from the pulpit. He is to do earnest, personal, house-to-house work, studying the Scriptures with the people, and praying with them. Thus many will be brought to a knowledge of God. Souls ready to perish will be imbued with the Spirit of Christ. But this work has been neglected; and therefore the churches are lacking in power. There are many ordained ministers who have never yet exercised a shepherd’s care over the flock of God, who have never watched for souls as they that must give an account. The Church, instead of developing, is left to be a weak, dependent, inefficient body. The members of the Church, trained to rely upon preaching, do little for Christ. They bear no fruit, but rather increase in selfishness and unfaithfulness. They put their hope in the preacher, depending on his efforts to keep alive their weak faith. Review and Herald, January 21, 1903

It is in the labor out of the pulpit, among families, that the richest and most valuable experience is gained, and that the minister learns how he can feed the flock of God, giving to each his portion of meat in due season. If there is a backslider, the shepherd knows how to present the truth in such a manner that the soul will be convicted. He will leave the ninety and nine, and seek the lost sheep. But if the shepherd does not visit his flock, he knows not their condition, he knows not what truths to set before them, nor what is appropriate to their case. And more than this, as the preacher manifests so little interest in the souls under his charge, he cannot set an example to the flock to have an interest and love and watch-care for souls. Every thing is at loose ends; his work is strongly mixed with self, and is not bound off, but left to ravel out; and because of those neglects, you often hear, “I do not have success in bringing souls into the church.” The Lord cannot work for those who are unfaithful, who neglect their manifest duty, the most important part of a shepherd’s duty. Should the Lord move upon the hearts of the sinners, and they become converted, who will watch for them as one who must give an account? Who will visit them? Who will strengthen the diseased and the feeble ones? The truth, if presented to those of our faith and outsiders, should be as it is in Jesus. See with what love, tender sympathy, and perseverance he labored. “He shall not fail nor be discouraged.” This spirit should be with all the laborers. Better, far better, have fewer preachers and far more earnest, humble, God-fearing workers. We are laborers together with God. Now it is highly essential that men be the right kind of laborers, for they are moulding the churches to do as the preacher does; they feel that it is the right way to have just as little interest in the prosperity of their brethren and sisters in the church as the minister has given them an example in their way of laboring. They may raise up churches; but they will always be weak, and inefficient, and unreliable. Such kind of work at such an expense will not pay. Appeals and Suggestions to Conference Officers

By his wisdom in dealing with minds, he will give full proof of his ministry. He will become acquainted with the parents and children in his congregation, and will speak kind, earnest words to them. Review and Herald, January 21, 1902

Talk simply and to the point. Let your discourses be short. Handle only a few points, saving your strength for house-to-house work. Ministers too often give lengthy discourses. The minds of the people are wearied by such discourses, and the truth loses its effect upon them. Ibid., December 29, 1904

Teaching the Scriptures, praying in families,—this is the work of the evangelist, and this work is to be mingled with preaching. If it is omitted, preaching will, to a great extent, be a failure. Come close to the people by personal efforts. Teach them that the love of God must come into the sanctuary of the home life. Ibid.

He should visit every family, not merely as a guest to enjoy their hospitality, but to inquire into the spiritual condition of every member of the household. His own soul must be imbued with the love of God; then by kindly courtesy he may win his way to the hearts of all, and labor successfully for parents and children. He is to sow the seeds of truth beside all waters. Let him seek to keep the church alive by teaching its members how to labor with him for the conversion of sinners. This is good generalship; and the result will be found far better than if he should seek to perform the work alone. Ibid., April 23, 1908

They have not had the missionary spirit; they have not felt the great need of thoroughly educating the people in all branches of the work, in all places where the truth has gained a foothold. The work done thoroughly for one soul is done for many. But the ministers have not realized this and have failed to educate persons who in their turn should stand steadfast in defense of the truth and educate others. This loose, slack, halfway manner of working is displeasing to God. Testimonies, vol. 5, 255

People are easily reached through the avenues of the social circle. But many ministers dread the task of visiting; they have not cultivated social qualities, have not acquired that genial spirit that wins its way to the hearts of the people. It is highly important that a pastor should mingle much with his people, that he may become acquainted with the different phases of human nature, readily understand the workings of the mind, adapt his teachings to the intellect of his people, and learn that grand charity possessed only by those who closely study the nature and needs of men. Ibid., vol. 4, 266, 267

They should not neglect the duties of a pastor, as they visit from house to house. They should become familiar with every member of the family, that they may understand the spiritual condition of all, and vary their manner of labor to meet the case of each. Ibid., vol. 3, 233

Should give work to members

The best help that ministers can give the members of our churches is not sermonizing, but planning work for them. Give each one something to do for others. Help all to see that as receivers of the grace of Christ they are under obligation to work for Him. And let all be taught how to work. Especially should those who are newly come to the faith be educated to become laborers together with God. If set to work, the despondent will soon forget their despondency, the weak will become strong, the ignorant intelligent, and all will be prepared to present the truth as it is in Jesus. They will find an unfailing helper in Him who has promised to save all that come unto Him. Review and Herald, January 21, 1902

Let every minister to whom has been committed sacred trusts, take into consideration the vastness of the closing work of God in the earth, and study ways and means of placing the obligation of accomplishing this work on the large number upon whom it rests. Hundreds and thousands who have received the light of truth for this time, but who are still idlers in the market-place, might be engaged in some line of useful service for God. Ibid., March 24, 1910

Those placed in positions of responsibility should patiently seek to make others familiar with all parts of the work. This will reveal that they do not desire to be first, but that they are glad to have others become acquainted with details, and to become as efficient as they are. Those who faithfully fulfill their duty in this respect, will, in time, have standing by their side a large number of intelligent workers whom they have trained. Should they shape matters in accordance with narrow, selfish conceptions, they would stand almost alone. Ibid., December 1, 1904

The minister’s preaching

Young ministers should not be encouraged to preach to the churches. This is not their work. They are to go forth without the camp, taking up the work in places where the truth has not yet been proclaimed. Australian Union Record, July 15, 1902

The minister who mixes story-telling with his discourses is using strange fire. God is offended, and the cause of truth is dishonored, when His representatives descend to the use of cheap, trifling words. Review and Herald, December, 22, 1904

Ministers should not preach sermon after sermon on doctrinal subjects alone. Practical godliness should find a place in every discourse. Ibid., April 23, 1908

It has been shown me that our camp meetings are to increase in interest and success. As we approach nearer the end, I have seen that in these meetings there will be less preaching and more Bible study. There will be little groups all over the ground with their Bibles in their hands, and different ones leading out in a free, conversational study of the Scriptures. Testimonies, vol. 6, 87

Let the men who are engaged in the solemn work of bearing the last message to the world, heed the exhortation of Paul, “Preach the word,”—not the science of phrenology, or the productions from human speculations. Review and Herald, June 13, 1893

It is especially true that new and startling themes should not be presented to the people at too great length. In every address given, let there be an application of truth to the heart that whosoever may hear shall understand, and that men, women, and youth may become alive unto God. Testimonies to Ministers, 258

I long to see our ministers dwell more upon the cross of Christ, their own hearts, meanwhile, softened and subdued by the Saviour’s matchless love, which prompted that infinite sacrifice. If, in connection with the theory of the truth, our ministers would dwell more upon practical godliness, speaking from a heart imbued with the spirit of truth, we should see many more souls flocking to the standard of truth; their hearts would be touched by the pleadings of the cross of Christ, the infinite generosity and pity of Jesus in suffering for man. These vital subjects, in connection with the doctrinal points of our faith, would effect much good among the people. But the heart of the teacher must be filled with the experimental knowledge of the love of Christ. Testimonies, vol. 4, 374, 375

Ministers should be examined especially to see if they have an intelligent understanding of the truth for this time, so that they can give a connected discourse upon the prophecies or upon practical subjects. If they cannot clearly present Bible subjects they need to be hearers and learners still. Ibid., 407

From unfeigned lips you should breathe a prayer that God would guide you to give to every man his portion of meat in due season, and so aid you that you will not get above the simplicity of the gospel to dwell upon favorite subjects which will not enlighten the darkened conscience, or convince men of sin, of righteousness, and judgment to come. In distinct lines, present to your hearers what they must do to be saved; lead them into the paths of truth and holiness. As the flock of the pasture, lead them where they may drink the water of salvation. Voice in Speech and Song, 341

If we only knew what is before us, we should not be so dilatory in doing the work of the Lord. There are ministers and workers who will present a tissue of nonsensical falsehoods as testing truths, even as the Jewish rabbis presented the maxims of men as the bread of heaven. These are given to the flock of God, as their portion of meat in due season, while the poor sheep are starving for the bread of life. Even now there seems to be a burning desire to get up something startling, and bring it in as new light. Thus men are weaving into the web as important truths a tissue of lies. This imaginary food that is being prepared for the flock will cause spiritual consumption, decline, and death. Review and Herald, January 22, 1901

Evangelism

O what a work there is before us! Ministers are not to spend their time laboring for those who have already accepted the truth. With Christ’s love burning in their hearts, they are to go forth to win sinners to the Saviour. Beside all waters, God’s messengers are to sow the seeds of truth. Place after place is to be visited; church after church is to be raised up. Those who take their stand for the truth are to be organized into churches, and then the minister is to pass on to other equally important fields. Ibid., August 19, 1902

5. Speech and communication

Those who have a careless, clownish manner, either in the family or in society, dishonor their divine Lord. Even ministers have thus misrepresented Christ, when in the pulpit they have made a display of theatrical actions and eccentric manners. This is not of God. Eccentricities are sometimes looked upon as virtues by men, but they do not aid in representing Christ. Careless attitudes and irreverent expressions may serve to please men of unrefined tastes, anecdotes may amuse, but the minister who seeks to cater to such tastes has a meager appreciation of the dignity, simplicity, goodness, and loveliness of the character of the divine Lord. Signs of the Times, October 13, 1890

I see that great reformation must take place in the ministry before it shall be what God would have it. Ministers in the desk have no license to behave like theatrical performers, assuming attitudes and expressions calculated for effect. They do not occupy the sacred desk as actors, but as teachers of solemn truths. There are also fanatical ministers, who, in attempting to preach Christ, storm, halloo, jump up and down, and pound the desk before them, as if this bodily exercise profited anything. Such antics lend no force to the truths uttered, but, on the contrary, disgust men and women of calm judgment and elevated views. Review and Herald, August 8, 1878

O that those who are proclaiming the most solemn message ever given to the world would realize how greatly their influence is weakened when they are suspicious of their brethren, when they allow angry words to pass their lips! The displeasure of God rests upon every one who speaks harsh, unkind words. Nothing so dishonors the Lord Jesus as a readiness on the part of church-members to take offense when something occurs to displease them. The conversion of unbelievers depends on the distinctness with which Christ is revealed in the lives of believers. When our hearts are filled with love and compassion, when our conduct toward one another is marked by Christlike tenderness and courtesy, then our words will have power to convict souls. Ibid., July 21, 1903

Let those who labor in word and doctrine strive to perfect themselves in the use of language. The voice is a great power, and yet many have not trained their voices in such a way that they may be used to their highest capacity. Jesus is our example. His voice was musical, and was never raised in high, strained notes while He was speaking to the people. He did not speak so rapidly that His words were crowded one upon another in such a way that it made it difficult to understand Him. He distinctly enunciated every word, and those who heard His voice bore the testimony that “never man spake like this man.” Ibid., March 5, 1895

Dwell not on the negative points of questions that arise, but gather to your minds affirmative truths, and fasten them there by much study and earnest prayer and heart-consecration. Ibid., April 23, 1908

And we are to be faithful in reproving wrong-doing. This God requires of every one of His laborers. Pure and unadulterated trust will always meet the elements of unsanctified profession. There will always be those who claim to be doing God service, but who are serving Him not. Those who are blinded by erroneous opinions are to be treated with gentleness, yet labored for faithfully that their minds may be undeceived. Saving truth must be repeated over and over again.

. . . Satan will surely use erroneous theories to deceive and confuse minds, and we can not pass by these errors and be guiltless before God. Patiently, and in a spirit of meekness and gentleness, yet with a firmness that can not be misinterpreted, we are to reprove wrong, and to teach professed believers to adorn the doctrine of Christ our Saviour. Ibid., September 9, 1909

My brethren, withhold not the testing truths that should come to every soul at this time, and which must be practised by those who would find acceptance with God. We are to let the Word of God come to every appointed agency, for there is a crisis before the people of God. Ibid.

When Christ was living on this earth, how surprised would have been His associates, if, after becoming acquainted with Him, they had heard Him utter one word of impatience, one word of accusation or of faultfinding! He expects those who love Him and believe in Him, to represent Him in character. Paulson Collection, 16

By murmuring and complaint it is made manifest that his soul is not under the discipline of the Holy Spirit. Those who are full of murmuring and complaint against God and their fellow-men will have to be converted and transformed before they can enter the kingdom of heaven. It may be necessary that the furnace of trial be kindled and heated sevenfold to purge away the dross from the character, that the gold may come forth purified, refined, and stamped with the image of the Refiner. Review and Herald, June 5, 1894

The truth should be spoken clearly, slowly, forcibly, that it may impress the hearer. Testimonies to Ministers, 257

Especially should those who have accepted the position of directors or counselors feel that they are required to be in every respect Christian gentlemen. While in dealing with others we are always to be faithful, we should not be rude. The souls with whom we have to do are the Lord’s purchased possession, and we are to permit no hasty, overbearing expression to escape the lips. Ibid., 262

Speaking from the throat, letting the words come out from the upper extremity of the vocal organs, all the time fretting and irritating them, is not the best way to preserve health or to increase the efficiency of those organs. You should take a full inspiration and let the action come from the abdominal muscles. Let the lungs be only the channel, but do not depend upon them to do the work. If you let your words come from deep down, exercising the abdominal muscles, you can speak to thousands with just as much ease as you can speak to ten.

Some of our preachers are killing themselves by long, tedious praying and loud speaking, when a lower tone would make a better impression and save their own strength. Now, while you go on regardless of the laws of life and health, and follow the impulse of the moment, do not charge it upon God if you break down. Many of you waste time and strength in long preliminaries and excuses as you commence to speak. Instead of apologizing because you are about to address the people, you should commence your labor as though God had something for you to say to them. Some use up nearly half an hour in making apologies; thus the time is frittered away, and when they get to their subject, where they are desirous to fasten the points of truth, the people are wearied out and cannot see their force or be impressed with them. You should make the essential points of present truth as distinct as mileposts so that the people will understand them. They will then see the arguments you want to present and the positions you want to sustain. Testimonies, vol. 2, 616

He who has bestowed upon us all the gifts that enable us to be workers together with God, expects His servants to cultivate their voices so that they can speak and sing in a way that all can understand. It is not loud singing that is needed, but clear intonation, correct pronunciation, and distinct utterance. Let all take time to cultivate the voice so that God’s praise can be sung in clear, soft tones, not with harshness and shrillness that offend the ear. Testimonies, vol. 9, 144

Some of our most talented ministers are doing themselves great injury by their defective manner of speaking. While teaching the people their duty to obey God’s moral law, they should not be found violating the laws of God in regard to health and life. Ministers should stand erect and speak slowly, firmly, and distinctly, taking a full inspiration of air at every sentence and throwing out the words by exercising the abdominal muscles. If they will observe this simple rule, giving attention to the laws of health in other respects, they may preserve their life and usefulness much longer than men in any other profession. Ibid., vol. 4, 404

The offensiveness of this severe, overbearing, denunciatory talk in a large gathering is of as much more grave a character in the sight of God than giving personal, individual reproof as the numbers are greater and the censure more general. It is ever easier to give expression to the feelings before a congregation, because there are many present, than to go to the erring and, face to face with them, openly, frankly, plainly state their wrong course. But bringing into the house of God strong feelings against individuals, and making all the innocent as well as the guilty suffer, is a manner of labor which God does not sanction and which does harm rather than good. It has too often been the case that criticizing and denunciatory discourses have been given before a congregation. These do not encourage a spirit of love in the brethren. They do not tend to make them spiritually minded and lead them to holiness and heaven, but a spirit of bitterness is aroused in hearts. These very strong sermons that cut a man all to pieces are sometimes positively necessary to arouse, alarm, and convict. But unless they bear the especial marks of being dictated by the Spirit of God, they do far more injury than they can do good. Ibid., vol. 3, 508

Our workers should use the greatest wisdom, so that nothing shall be said to provoke the armies of Satan and to stir up his united confederacy of evil. Christ did not dare to bring a railing accusation against the prince of evil, and is it proper that we should bring such accusation as will set in operation the agencies of evil, the confederacies of men that are leagued with evil spirits? Christ was the only-begotten Son of the infinite God, He was the Commander in the heavenly courts, yet He refrained from bringing accusation against Satan. Testimonies to Ministers, 222

I beseech you to weed out of your teachings every extravagant expression, everything that unbalanced minds and those who are inexperienced will catch up, and from which they will make wild, immature movements. It is necessary for you to cultivate caution in every statement you make, lest you start some on a wrong track, and make confusion that will require much sorrowful labor to set in order, thus diverting the strength and work of the laborers into lines which God does not design shall be entered. One fanatical streak exhibited among us will close many doors against the soundest principles of truth. Ibid., 228

The Holy spirit does not work with men who love to be sharp and critical. That spirit has been cherished in meeting debaters, and some have formed the habit of squaring for combat. God is dishonored in this. Keep back the sharp thrusts; do not learn in Satan’s school his methods of warfare. The Holy Spirit does not inspire the words of censure. A time of trouble is before us, and every honest soul who has not had the light of truth will then take a stand for Christ. Those who believe the truth are to be newly converted every day. Then they will be vessels unto honor. Ibid., 248

7. Miscellaneous

The inexperienced are in need of wise generals who by prayer and personal effort will encourage and help them to become perfect in Christ Jesus, wanting in nothing. This is the work which every gospel minister should endeavor to do, but which some are liable to fail of doing. Review and Herald, December 1, 1904

There are those who embrace too much in their labors, and by so doing accomplish little. Our efforts now must be more concentrated. Every stroke must tell. Ibid., December 8, 1885

Some are too indolent to make a success of life in business matters and are deficient in the experience necessary to make them good Christians in a private capacity; yet they feel competent to engage in the work which is of all others the most difficult, that of dealing with minds and trying to convert souls from error to the truth. Testimonies, vol. 3, 551

Our policy is, Do not make prominent the objectionable features of our faith, which strike most decidedly against the customs and practises of the people, until the Lord shall give the people a fair chance to know that we are believers in Christ, and in His preexistence. Review and Herald, April 13, 1911

My soul is much burdened, for I know what is before us. Every conceivable deception will be brought to bear upon those who have not a daily, living connection with God. In our work no side issues must be advanced until there has been a thorough examination of the ideas entertained, that it may be ascertained from what source they have originated. Satan’s angels are wise to do evil, and they will create that which some will claim to be advanced light, will proclaim as new and wonderful things; and yet while in some respects the message is truth, it will be mingled with men’s inventions and will teach for doctrines the commandments of men. If there was ever a time when we should watch and pray in real earnest, it is now. There may be supposable things that appear as good things, and yet they need to be carefully considered with much prayer, for they are specious devices of the enemy to lead souls in a path which lies so close to the path of truth that it will be scarcely distinguishable from the path which leads to holiness and heaven. But the eye of faith may discern that it is diverging from the right path, though almost imperceptibly. At first it may be thought positively right, but after a while it is seen to be widely divergent from the path of safety, from the path which leads to holiness and heaven. My brethren, I warn you to make straight paths for your feet, lest the lame be turned out of the way. Testimonies to Ministers, 229

In order to reach those who are in the darkness of error and false theories, we must approach them with the utmost caution and with the greatest wisdom, agreeing with them on every point that we can conscientiously. Testimonies, vol. 3, 462

Ministers should be careful not to expect too much from persons who are still groping in the darkness of error. They should do their work well, relying upon God to impart to inquiring souls the mysterious, quickening influence of His Holy Spirit knowing that without this their labors will be unsuccessful. They should be patient and wise in dealing with minds, remembering how manifold are the circumstances that have developed such different traits in individuals. They should strictly guard themselves also lest self should get the supremacy and Jesus should be left out of the question. Ibid., vol. 4, 262

Ministers should not do work that belongs to the laymen, thus wearying themselves, and preventing others from doing their duty. They should teach the members how to work in the church and community, to build up the church, to make the prayer-meeting interesting, and to train for missionaries youth of ability. The members of the church should co-operate actively with the ministers, making the section of country around them their field of missionary labor. Churches that are weak or few in numbers, should be looked after by sister churches. Review and Herald, October 12, 1886

8. The minister’s authority, its type, and source

We are God’s commandment-keeping people. For the past fifty years, every phase of heresy has been brought to bear upon us, to becloud our minds regarding the teaching of the Word—especially concerning the ministration of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary, and the message of Heaven for these last days, as given by the angels of the fourteenth chapter of Revelation. Messages of every order and kind have been urged upon Seventh-day Adventists, to take the place of the truth which, point by point, has been sought out by prayerful study, and testified to by the miracle-working power of the Lord. But the waymarks which have made us what we are, are to be preserved, and they will be preserved, as God has signified through His Word and the testimony of His Spirit. He calls upon us to hold firmly, with the grip of faith, to the fundamental principles that are based upon unquestionable authority. Selected Messages, book 1, 208

Descent from Abraham was proved, not by name and lineage, but by likeness of character. So the apostolic succession rests not upon the transmission of ecclesiastical authority, but upon spiritual relationship. A life actuated by the apostles’ spirit, the belief and teaching of the truth they taught, this is the true evidence of apostolic succession. This is what constitutes men the successors of the first teachers of the gospel. The Desire of Ages, 467

The work of the ministry is no common work. Christ is withdrawn only from the eye of sense, but He is as truly present by His Spirit as when He was visibly present on earth. The time that has elapsed since His ascension has brought no interruption in the fulfillment of His parting promise,—”Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” God has provided light and truth for the world by having placed it in the keeping of faithful men, who in succession have committed it to others through all generations up to the present time. These men have derived their authority in an unbroken line from the first teachers of the faith. Christ remains the true minister of His church, but He delegates His power to His under-shepherds, to His chosen ministers, who have the treasure of His grace in earthen vessels. God superintends the affairs of His servants, and they are placed in his work by divine appointment. Signs of the Times, April 7, 1890

It is not the work of a gospel minister to lord it over God’s heritage, but in lowliness of mind, with gentleness and long forbearance, to exhort, reprove, rebuke, with all long-suffering and doctrine. Testimonies, vol. 3, 229

The End

The Swelling of the Jordan

by

“If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?” Jeremiah 12:5

Recently I spent two hours listening to a video tape, which, as nearly as I could tell, came from the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists. Four speakers spent two hours explaining how, when, and why they are going to bring celebration worship into the whole North American Division. The voices were soft and gentle; the faces were smiling; but the message was unmistakably clear: If you do not like it, get out. There was no credence whatsoever given to the idea that those who object to celebration worship might have a valid reason for doing so. The whole discussion was based on the assumed principle that the people who do not want celebration worship just have a psychological problem and cannot handle change. You are to be patient with them as long as you can; but if you have tried everything else and they just will not accept it, then you just say to them very kindly, “We want you to be ministered to so we are going to find some place where you can go.”

As I understood, they had not decided yet whether it will be on Sabbath or Sunday; but for two hours every week, you will be able to phone in to an 800-number and they will tell you how to handle anybody resisting your attempts to bring celebration worship into your church.

Jeremiah Challenges God

In Jeremiah 12, the Lord is being challenged by Jeremiah. Very carefully Jeremiah is presuming to cast a little bit of reflection on the Lord because he does not understand what He is doing. “Righteous art Thou, O Lord, when I plead with Thee: yet let me talk with Thee of Thy judgments. Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?” Jeremiah 12:1. In other words, Jeremiah is saying, “Lord, I am not criticizing You, You understand. I am not finding fault with You, but I certainly do not understand what You are doing. May I ask a question or two?”

The Lord looks on the heart and understands what is going on inside. He did not enter into any disputation with Jeremiah about his understanding. But if you look carefully at the words that follow, what He is really saying to Jeremiah is, “Jeremiah, you have a problem. You are putting understanding ahead of trust. If I were to try to explain the whole plan of salvation to you, you could not understand it. You could not wrap your head around all of that. You have to learn to trust Me whether or not you understand.”

We are going to be very deeply puzzled by things that we see taking place. Even though they are puzzling, perplexing, and bewildering, they must never affect our trust in God. We must never put understanding ahead of trust. We must learn to say with Job, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” Job 13:15. The Lord is not worrying about the swelling of the Jordan. He knows what He is going to do. We are told that not one single cloud has ever risen over the church that He has not prepared for. Clouds are no problem to Him.

I want to review quickly and briefly with you just a little bit of what does lie ahead of us.

“The days are fast approaching when there will be great perplexity and confusion. . . . Every wind of doctrine will be blowing.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 80. Ellen White might have said it would be like a hurricane.

“God will arouse His people; if other means fail, heresies will come in among them, which will sift them, separating the chaff from the wheat.” Ibid, 707. I had a struggle with this statement. I had to get down on my knees like Jeremiah and say, “Lord, I am not criticizing You, but I have a question. Why are You letting heresies come into the church?”

“Before the last developments of the work of apostasy, there will be a confusion of faith. One truth after another will be corrupted.” Signs of the Times, May 28, 1894. Those who seek to confuse our faith begin with criticizing the sanctuary doctrine. But anyone who criticizes the sanctuary doctrine has to deal with the Spirit of Prophecy which strongly affirms that truth, so they end up taking a position against the Spirit of Prophecy; one thing comes right after another and you can see what is happening; one truth after another is being corrupted.

“In the very midst of us will arise false teachers giving heed to seducing spirits whose doctrines are of Satanic origin. These teachers will draw away disciples after themselves.” Ibid, January 7, 1904. This is a hard thing to understand, too. Why are people deceived and confused? Sometimes literature comes to my desk; and I look at it and think, How in the world can anybody be deceived by something as crude and clumsy as that? But people are being deceived.

“Many will stand in our pulpits with the torch of false prophecy in their hands, kindled from the hellish torch of Satan.” Testimonies to Ministers, 409, 410. Now a man does not walk in off the street and step into a Seventh-day Adventist church pulpit, does he? He has to be placed there by authorities that are higher. So what does this tell us about what will be happening in offices of authority, positions of authority? They will be assigning false teachers to the pulpits of Seventh-day Adventist churches.

“The enemy will bring in false theories such as the doctrine that there is no sanctuary. This is one of the points on which there will be a departing from the faith.” Counsels to Writers and Editors, 53

Ellen White writes that there will be changes in our worship. (See Testimonies, vol. 5, 491.) I was attending a worship service in a church where they had a guest speaker who was a professor from some university. After the choir sang, he stepped up to the pulpit and said, “Now folks, if you were attending a concert and heard a musical number like that, would you not give some applause? Come on, give them some applause.” I thought, “Oh, dear Lord, this man has a doctor of philosophy, but he does not know the difference between the sacred and the secular. He does not know what worship is all about.” Things that might possibly be accepted some other place are not acceptable in church.

 

In Selected Messages, book 2, pages 36 and onward, Ellen White talks about worship with a bedlam of noise. She is addressing what had taken place in Indiana where a little group of people were doing some different things with worship services. They were using a big bass drum and lots of bedlam of noise, as she describes it. Writing to Elder Haskell, she said, “The things you have described as taking place in Indiana, the Lord has shown me would take place just before the close of probation. Every uncouth thing will be demonstrated. There will be shouting, with drums, music, and dancing. The senses of rational beings will become so confused that they cannot be trusted to make right decisions. And this is called the moving of the Holy Spirit.

“The Holy Spirit never reveals itself in such methods, in such a bedlam of noise. This is an invention of Satan. . .”

An Invitation to Demons

I want to point out to you something that you might overlook as you read this section. Notice that Ellen White said that the same music would be all right if it were conducted differently. It is the way it is being performed that she is objecting to. But in six places in three pages she points out that Satan is present there; demons are present there; Satanic agencies are present there. Seventh-day Adventists have been very well protected against spiritualism by our belief about the state of the dead. What Seventh-day Adventist would accept an invitation to go to a seance where the spirits of the dead are being called up from the grave, presumably? Why, you would not give that a thought, would you? Listen folks, you can forget about seances. You do not have to go to a seance to get into direct contact with Satan; all that you have to do is go to a celebration worship program. If you think that statement is too strong, go back and read what she says. You can get into direct contact with Satan by going to the wrong kind of worship service.

“Before the final visitations of God’s judgments upon the earth there will be among the people of the Lord such a revival of primitive godliness as has not been witnessed since apostolic times.” The Great Controversy, 464. Do not give up your hope; something wonderful is just around the corner. “The Spirit and power of God will be poured out upon His children. At that time many will separate themselves from those churches in which the love of this world has supplanted love for God and His Word. Many, both of ministers and people, will gladly accept those great truths which God has caused to be proclaimed at this time to prepare a people for the Lord’s second coming.” Ibid. That is the good news; but before this can take place, we read: “The enemy of souls desires to hinder this work; and before the time for such a movement shall come, he will endeavor to prevent it by introducing a counterfeit [a counterfeit revival]. In those churches which he can bring under his deceptive power, he will make it appear that God’s special blessing is poured out; there will be manifest what is thought to be great religious interest. Multitudes will exult that God is working marvelously for them, when the work is that of another spirit.” Ibid.

Now, this is a little bit cynical perhaps, but I think it is realistic; I think it is practical. If you are a preacher and you would like to have an opportunity to visit camp meetings across the land and preach to people, let me tell you what to do. If you prepare some sermons which subtly, ingeniously, and cunningly undercut the Spirit of Prophecy and the sanctuary doctrine, you will receive invitations from all over the country. “Come to our camp meeting.” Conference presidents will call you. Is that too cynical? I think it is real.

On the other side of that, you cannot put all of the blame on the preachers, folks. I have another supposition, and this is a supposition; you take it for what you think it is worth. My supposition is this: I have observed that these preachers do not need to present good, solid evidence. Maybe this is a little extreme, but this thought has occurred to me as I watch what happens. I believe that those preachers who are trying to undercut our message could stand up in front of the people and say, “Mary had a little lamb. Its fleece was white as snow. Now there you have absolute proof that you do not need to stop sinning;” and a lot of the people would say, “Ah, that is the great truth of God. That is what we have been waiting for.” They do not have to present strong, carefully researched evidence. Any garbage will work if you are appealing to the carnal spirits of human beings.

Changes in our theology are already here. There are changes in our worship, but they are going to get worse. There is going to be a great false revival, and the result is going to be the forming of two parties. You hardly need to go beyond a Sabbath School class in any church on a Sabbath morning to observe that there are two schools of thought working there; two parties are forming in the church.

Two Parties to Develop

“As trials thicken around us, both separation and unity will be seen in our ranks.” Testimonies, vol. 6, 400. Well, how can this be, both separation and unity? There is a separation into two parties, and the individuals within the two parties are drawing closer and closer to each other.

“Two parties will be developed.” Selected Messages, book 2, 114. People sometimes say to me, “Ralph, I see three parties out there.” Well, that is true in a sense; but in a sense it is not true. Kenneth Sample, the Calvinistic theologian who inherited the work of Walter Martin when Walter Martin died, looked at our church; and he saw three parties also. He said that in the Seventh-day Adventist Church today you have Calvinists, Liberals, and Historics. Well that is true enough. You see, the Liberal says that nothing is important anyway, so what do standards matter. The Calvinist says, “The Bible guarantees me the right to sin and nobody is going to take my right to sin away from me.” So they meet on the ethical platform, or should I say, the unethical platform. They come to it from different sides, but that is where they get together. I have seen this happen.

I watched a church business meeting where a nominating committee report was being discussed in which the question was, “Are we going to let some conservative Historic Adventist people be put into church office?” It was very, very obvious there that the Calvinists and the Liberals ganged up against the Historics. It was just as clear as could be.

“The wheat is being bound up for the heavenly garner. The true people of God are now pulling apart, and the tares are being bound in bundles to burn.” Letter 12, 1892. When somebody accuses you of pulling apart, show them this statement.

And then we have the final separation, the mass exodus. It will not be small. Remember that we read in Testimonies to Ministers, 409, “Many will stand in our pulpits with the torch of false prophecy in their hands, kindled from the hellish torch of Satan.” Many, not a few. Again the word many in Testimonies, vol. 5, 81,

“Many a star that we have admired for its brilliancy will then go out in darkness.”

“The light given me has been very forcible that many would go out from us, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils..” Evangelism, 363

“As the storm approaches, a large class who have professed faith in the third angel’s message, but have not been sanctified through obedience to the truth, abandon their position and join the ranks of the opposition.” The Great Controversy, 608

“Standard after standard was left to trail in the dust as company after company from the Lord’s army joined the foe and tribe after tribe from the ranks of the enemy united with the commandment-keeping people of God.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 41. During the General Conference in Texas, years back, Elder H.M.S. Richards, who was still alive at that time, read this statement to the delegates from all over the world and then posed the question, “What is a company? What is she describing as a company here? We have our own definition today. A company is a Sabbath School group that grows and grows until it finally becomes a church. Is that what she is talking about or is she talking about something else? Is she talking about a conference? Is she talking about a union conference? A division?” My observation is that any of these definitions could be appropriate.How do we cope with these things? First of all, do not despair. “But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel, ‘Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour; I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.’ ” Isaiah 43:1–3

Let the Jordan overflow, who cares? “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee.” The Lord is perfectly able to take us through the troublous times ahead in the way that He sees best.

Trust Before Understanding

Now let us go back to where we started, folks. Our situation is pretty much like Jeremiah’s. The things ahead of us could be put in the same category as what was ahead of Jeremiah, with a little adaptation of course. It is a pretty gloomy picture. In the midst of all this, poor Jeremiah is saying, “Lord, I am not criticizing You; I am not telling You that You are making any mistakes; but would You please let me ask? I have some questions, Lord.” And the Lord’s response to him: “Jeremiah, I understand your questions, and I sympathize with your condition; but, Jeremiah, you have to put first things first. Do not put understanding ahead of trust. You must trust Me, Jeremiah.” Let us take that message given to Jeremiah as a message for every one of us. May God bless you.

The End

Jehu

by

A time came when the Lord spoke to Elijah and said, “Then the LORD said to him: Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria. Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. It shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill; and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill.” 1 Kings 19:15–17.

“And Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets, and said to him, Get yourself ready, take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth Gilead. Now when you arrive at that place, look there for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, and go in and make him rise up from among his associates, and take him to an inner room. Then take the flask of oil, and pour it on his head, and say Thus says the Lord, I have anointed you king over Israel. Then open the door and flee, and do not delay.” “And when he arrived, there were the captains of the army sitting.” Jehu was the head over all the armies of Israel at this time. “I have a message for you, O commander. And Jehu said, For which one of us? And he said, For you, Commander. Then he arose and went into the house. And he poured the oil on his head, and said to him, Thus says the Lord God of Israel: I have anointed you king over the people of the Lord, over Israel. You shall strike down the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord at the hand of Jezebel. For the whole house of Ahab shall perish; and I will cut off from Ahab all the males in Israel, both bond and free.

“So I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the vicinity of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her. And he opened the door and fled.” 2 Kings 9:1–3, 5–10

Anytime Jehu was involved, things happened really fast. “Then Jehu came out to the servants of his master, and one said to him, Is all well? Why did this madman come to you? And he said to them, You know the man and his babble. And they said, A lie! Tell us now. So he said, Thus and thus he spoke to me, saying, Thus says the Lord: I have anointed you king over Israel. Then each man hastened to take his garment and put it under him on the top of the steps; and they blew trumpets, saying, Jehu is king!” 2 Kings 9:11–13

Jehu set out to fulfill the commission that the Lord had given him. He killed the king of Israel, and then Ahaziah of Judah was killed. Jehu then went on to Jezreel and had Jezebel put to death. The Lord had told him that he was to kill all of the house of Ahab because of their wickedness, “So Jehu killed all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men and his close acquaintances and his priests, until he left him none remaining.” 2 Kings 10:11

Lost Doing A Good Work

Because Jehu did a work that God commissioned him to do, the Lord rewarded him. (See 2 Kings 10:30.) However, as I study the life of Jehu, I find nothing that assures us that Jehu will be in the kingdom of heaven. The Bible states that “Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord.” Verse 31. There is no promise of salvation to people who do not walk in the law of the Lord.

All of these stories in the Bible are given for us to learn lessons. The story of Jehu is a very interesting one. How is it that a man could be anointed by Elisha, do what he was supposed to do, have the Lord tell him, “I am going to reward you because you did what you were supposed to do,” and yet be lost?

Jehu had a number of problems in his life. One of those problems was that he was self-confident. Many people think that if you are self-confident, you are going to accomplish a great deal; but in the Christian life, self-confidence is one of the most dangerous elements that we encounter because a Christian’s confidence is to be only in the Lord.

Determined to Be Someone

What was Jehu’s second problem? He was determined that he was going to do something to really distinguish himself above other people. Do you remember that Jehu said to a companion, “I am zealous for the Lord. Come up with me and see it?” (See 2 Kings 10:16.) Jehu had a type of zeal but without knowledge. Writing of this type of error, Ellen White wrote that those who “cast aside all that has been said in regard to unity of sentiment and feeling, and trample upon the prayer of Christ as though the unity for which He prayed was unessential, that there is no necessity for His followers to be one, even as He is one with the Father. They go off on a tangent, and Jehu-like, call to their brethren to follow their example of zeal for the Lord.” Review and Herald, September 12, 1893. What is this tangent? “Men are to be condemned who start out with a proclamation of wonderful light and yet draw away from the agents whom God is leading.” Ibid.

So a person says, “Oh, I have this wonderful new truth.” They tell you the wonderful new truth and then start condemning all of the other people whom God has been using and say, “They do not know about this yet. They are not up to this yet.” This, she says, is the way that Jehu was. He wanted to lead others to follow his own example of haste and zeal which was not according to knowledge.

Another problem that Jehu had was that his religion was all activity. Remember the Bible talked about driving furiously like Jehu? Ellen White writes about this also. She says, “There are many whose religion consists in activities. They want to be engaged in and have the credit of doing some great work while the little graces that go to make up a lovely Christian character are entirely overlooked. The busy, bustling service which gives the impression that one is doing some wonderful work, is not acceptable to God. It is a Jehu spirit which says, ‘Come, see my zeal for the Lord.’ It is gratifying to self; it feeds a self-complacent feeling, but all the while the soul may be defiled with a plague spot of unsubdued, uncontrolled selfishness.” Signs of the Times, November 20, 1884. What was wrong? His religion consisted all in activity, but his heart was not changed. He was not developing the graces of a Christian character, a Christ-like spirit.

I referred to the fact that Jehu had a number of problems. He also had a problem of dissecting other people’s characters. Ellen White wrote to some people in the Battle Creek church who had this very same problem.

“You are not a converted people. The love of Jesus does not dwell in your hearts, and you are just as ready to fasten upon some other one to dissect his character, to become like Jehu in zeal to ferret out everything you can of a nature to condemn him, as you have been in the case of Bro. Bell. The spirit is there. The root of bitterness has not been dug out, but will spring into life and flourish wonderfully if it has a chance. The same suspicion, the same jealousies, the same spirit of insubordination, the same disrespect for men whom God has acknowledged as His servants, the same riding over authority that caused your present trouble, is not dead,—it is only quelled to arouse again in greater force, if a favorable occasion should offer. This spirit has never been expelled.” Special Testimony to the Battle Creek Church, 18

When you begin trying to determine everything that is wrong in the character of others, it has a reaction upon yourself.

Those who are like Jehu also tend to behave rashly. Do you know what it means to be rash? It is the tendency to make big, important decisions without carefully thinking the situation through. Of course, people who have this problem tend to think that everybody else is slow. Speaking of this problem, Ellen White wrote, “Many indulge a zeal like that of Jehu and rashly venture to make decisions in matters of grave importance while they themselves have no connection with God. They should humbly and earnestly seek wisdom from the One who has placed them in their position and should be very modest in assuming responsibilities. They should also lay the matter before the president of their conference and counsel with him. At some appointed time the subject should be patiently considered in the fear of God with much humility and sorrow for the erring who are the purchase of the blood of Christ with earnest, humble prayer. The proper officer should deal with the offenders.

“How different has been the course when, with self-assumed authority and a hard, unfeeling spirit, accusations have been made and souls have been thrust out of the church of Christ.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 12, 113

Have you ever met people who, if somebody commits a grievous error, their immediate response is, “Well, let’s just get them out. Let’s just disfellowship them.” That is the way that Jehu was.

One of Our Great Problems

Jehu went about to establish his own authority; and, friends, this has always been one of the greatest problems among the people of God. This has happened time and again. “During the night season has been presented before me the unfaithfulness of men who have occupied positions of responsibility at the great heart of the work. The counsels of this great center if kept pure and uncorrupted, would have been as the voice of God. But men have worked upon principles that are condemned by the Word of God and they have not heard nor obeyed the voice of God. Like Jehu they have driven furiously in a course to uproot the confidence of God’s people in men who are true to the Master’s cause. They have sought to establish their own authority while betraying the cause of God. While making decisions and devising and planning, they have tried to make their oppressive human orders as the voice of God to the people.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 17, 209. What were they doing? They were saying, “I am on the Lord’s side; but those people over there, they are not.” That was the way that Jehu was. He cast discredit on people whom God had been using.

Jehu assumed burdens that he was not able to carry. Ellen White, speaking about the leaders of the work, said, “Like Jehu, they have been driving furiously forward, to assume burdens which they cannot carry. It is because men know so little of true godliness, because they have so little genuine experience in the building up, little by little, of the work and cause of God, that they make long strides without God to lead the way.” 1888 Materials, 1630. While we do not want to go too slowly, there is such a thing as going too fast; and that is what Jehu did. He went too fast; he did things that were rash and not well thought through and assumed burdens that he was not competent to carry. He took long strides; he wanted to get the work done quickly.

I was interested in what Ellen White told our workers. She said, “Do not try to make everything go as fast as Jehu’s chariot wheels.” She wrote, “Men are slow to learn the lesson that the spirit manifested by Jehu will never bind hearts together. It is not safe for us to bind our interests with a Jehu religion. For this will result in bringing sadness of heart upon God’s true workers. God has not given to any of His servants the work of punishing those who will not heed His warnings and reproofs.” Review and Herald, April 10, 1900

Jehu had a spirit that, if you did not go along with his way of doing it, he would punish you.

Jehu was not gentle. Do you remember that Jesus said, “Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart”? Matthew 11:28, 29. Jehu was not that way. Ellen White wrote about this character trait to our writers and editors. “The truth should be presented with divine tact, gentleness, and tenderness. It should come from a heart that has been softened and made sympathetic. We need to have close communion with God lest self rise up as it did in Jehu and we pour forth a torrent of words that are unbefitting, that are not as dew or as the still showers that revive the withering plants. Let our words be gentle as we seek to win souls.” Publishing Ministry, 307. Oh, friend, has your heart been made soft and sympathetic by the love of Jesus? When that has taken place, your religion is going to have a much greater effect on other people.

Jehu did what God wanted to have done, but he did not have the right spirit. Are we going to learn what Jehu apparently never learned? If we have Jesus inside our hearts, we will always see some way to reach the minds and hearts of others because we will be unselfish and thoughtful. Kindness opens the door to people’s hearts.

Greater Power Than Jehu

We are told that, “If we would enter into the joy of our Lord, we must be co-laborers with Him. With the love of Jesus warm in our hearts, we shall always see some way to reach the minds and hearts of others. It will make us unselfish, thoughtful, and kind; and kindness opens the door of hearts; gentleness is mightier far than a Jehu spirit.” Review and Herald, February 10, 1885. Would you like to have something that is more powerful than the Jehu spirit? Would you like to have power in your life? power to influence your children? power to influence other people? When you have the gentleness of Jesus and you speak to other people with tenderness and courtesy, that has greater power than all of the force that Jehu was able to muster. God wants to give you a superior wisdom, a superior power that will be able to go beyond the Jehu spirit and reach people’s hearts. Do you want it? Ask the Lord to give you a Christ-like, gentle spirit. Remember, it is far more powerful than the spirit of Jehu. It will give you access to people’s hearts. If you will ask the Lord for it, He will give it to you.

The End