Daily Living

God is Never Too Late

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Through prayer, we have access to communicate with our Creator. Whatever situation we may find ourselves in, Jesus said, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” John 14:18. The only way to overcome temptations is to have an intimate connection with Him through sincere prayer and the study of His word.

For the past few years I have been honored to direct the team of workers at Three Angels’ Polytechnic and Bible School in Bunyore, Kenya. One of my responsibilities is to purchase necessities for the college. Recently, an incident occurred that severely tested my faith.

On Friday, I left the school to go into Luanda, which is 85 kilometers (approximately 54 miles) away from the school, to conduct some business and purchase some needed school items. My first stop was the bank. After making the necessary withdrawals I decided to hire a motorbike taxi to take me back to school to avoid the often much wasted time while waiting at the bus stop for the public vehicles. We had not gone more than two kilometers when a grey saloon vehicle overtook the motorbike and blocked the way, forcing the driver to promptly stop. Three men came out of the vehicle like policemen, in private garments, armed with a gun and chains. As soon as I climbed off the bike the driver raced away, leaving me in the hands of these men who pushed me into their vehicle. Once inside I was forced to lie down between the seats. I did not know what was going on. The men hit me on my head wedging my large frame between the seats. As I lay there one man stepped on my neck, while another was on my back and another held down my feet. For almost three hours I was a victim of their torture. My cell phone was taken from me, and I knew that nobody would know what had happened to me or where I was to rescue me. I could not see or know where I was being taken or by whom, as my captors ensured that I did not see their faces.

I remembered the plans I had made for that day and the other chores that were to be done. Many people at the school were waiting for me to get home with the needed purchases, but I had no other choice but to accept the situation in which I found myself. In pain I remembered how Daniel and his friends had suffered for the sake of their faith, and I sought help from above. The more I was beaten, the more I offered silent prayer. I knew that if God would not hear and answer my prayer I would be dead, because the men were very angry because I was not answering their questions the way they wanted.

Becoming exhausted, I felt that God had forsaken me, but He reminded me of how Joseph had remained faithful when his own brothers had sold him to the slave traders, so I continued to pray. Eventually the vehicle stopped and the driver asked my tormentors what they were going to do with me now—throw me in the water or kill me! The man sitting next to him told the driver that they would throw me in the water to either survive or die on my own. The three men in the back who held me down rarely spoke.

The one who had taken my documents noticed that I was a pastor and responsible for children. He suggested that they look for a place to leave me and not kill me as they had previously been directed. The vehicle picked up speed again for almost 20 minutes before it stopped. I was pulled out of the vehicle, my face tied with a plastic cover as well as being chained. Two of the men led me to a small path that led into a forest while a third man pointed a gun to my head threatening to shoot if I showed any sign of resisting or making a noise for assistance. The driver and the other man remained in the vehicle.

After we had walked quite a way, I was unchained and told to continue walking without looking back or I would be killed. They knew that I was weak. My hand was dislocated from being twisted and my joints hurt from the beating that I had received. There was no part of my body that was not in pain. I continued walking for a few more minutes before carefully looking back. What a relief it was when I saw nobody; they had already gone.

Having no idea where I was, I needed to look for assistance. Following the path I was on brought me to a small homestead where I was then able to contact my wife and staff members at the school who came to assist me back to the nearest police station to report the attack. Before heading back home we detoured by the hospital to have my injuries checked.

I praise God for His watch-care throughout this ordeal. It was a miracle to feel alive again, because I was like a dead man being jammed under those seats. Since this incident, more security measures have been taken to prevent this from happening again.

Dear brothers and sisters, what do you think of each time you learn of lives that have been cut short? My heart is heavy when I see such evidence that man has become the worst enemy of his fellow man. I am living proof that though all worldly communication can be broken and withheld and not one of your loved ones has any idea what has happened to you or where you are, God is still in control! He knows where you are every minute, and He hears every sincere prayer. His arm is not short that He cannot save you. He said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Hebrews 13:5. Whatever you may go through you are not alone. As Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us …” (Daniel 3:17), but if not we will still trust in Him. This can also be our conviction. God is not late to rescue us. When we trust Him with everything, we have the assurance that nothing happens without His knowledge and purpose. Never forget that we are not safe if we do not continually seek for heavenly assistance.

Atanas Anyanzwa has been connected with The Three Angels’ Polytechnic and Bible School in Bunyore, Kenya, since it was formally organized. Prior to returning to the Bunyore area with his family, as a result of the 2007 post-election violence, he was a successful building contractor. With his previous experience and with the help of the students, they have constructed most of the buildings on the compound. Since January 2012 he has been the manager, taking on the role of counselor and father figure for many of the students and particularly for those who are orphaned.

Stress the Hidden Killer

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There was once a time when the term “stress” was used mostly within the confines of engineering and was in reference to building design, as in the careful calculations that have to be made in determining how much stress a structure can withstand. More recently, however, the term stress began to creep into the arena of human life as it became increasingly recognized that people, like bridges, airplanes, and ships, can also “fall apart” if the stresses of life prove too great for them to handle.

Until his death just a few years ago, Dr. Hans Selye was recognized as the world’s leading authority on the subject of stress. When Dr. Selye entered the field of medicine, he very soon became fascinated with some of the more abstract and nonspecific aspects of disease. While examining and reviewing the case histories of patients, he would ask his professors perplexing questions which they found to be very frustrating and difficult to deal with. Selye wanted to know, for example, where the general feeling of unwellness came from that accompanied disease and why certain diseases presented themselves without any apparent cause. Unable to give any reasoned answers that would satisfy his inquiring mind, his professors and teachers would tell him not to ask such foolish questions. But Selye did not think his questions were so foolish; and in pursuing the answers, he was destined to discover the relationship of stress to disease, greatly broadening the horizons of medical science.

While working in Montreal, Canada, Selye began experimenting and documenting the effects of stress upon live rats. For example, he devised various means that would subject them to such things as the extremes of cold and physical exertion. Autopsies later revealed that as a consequence of ongoing unresolved stress the rats had developed such conditions as inflamed joints, internal ulcers, kidney and blood vessel disease. Selye found himself looking at certain disease conditions that are so often found in human beings today. He also noted that the rats had enlarged adrenal glands—evidence of excessive hormone production in response to stress. It was then that his mind began to ponder the question: Could it be that certain diseases so common today in humans can also be caused or initiated by stress?

Today, thanks to the pioneering research of Hans Selye and others, we now know that stress can indeed initiate certain disease processes and that it can destroy both a person’s quality and length of life. It can also produce a vague, non-specific feeling of general unwellness that individuals sometimes experience. We must bear in mind that stress in itself is not the only cause of disease; but it is a major component that, along with other causative factors, should not be overlooked. We know, for example, that cancer can be initiated or caused by certain chemicals, irritants, or even viruses. The body also produces a small volume of precancerous, abnormal cells on an ongoing basis, yet this does not mean that a person will necessarily succumb to cancer. If they live a healthy life style and have a strong immune system that aggressively destroys abnormal cells or harmful invasive organisms, they can successfully ward off the deadly killer.

As a result of stress, however, the immune system can become depressed, reducing its capacity to deal with carcinogens. When this takes place, the body’s defenses lose the high ground and cancer or some other disease overcomes the body’s weakened defense system.

As mentioned earlier, Selye discovered that many of his laboratory rats had enlarged adrenal glands. This was indicative of excessive hormonal production, triggered in response to high levels of unresolved stress. We might well ask why the adrenal glands should also figure prominently in the question of stress. A well-known illustration should help to answer this question.

Let us imagine that your cat, having just enjoyed a restful snooze, majestically walks across the lawn, feeling at peace and enjoying the dominion of her front yard. Little does she realize that her dominion is about to be invaded and her sovereignty challenged. Suddenly, the neighbor dog, having slipped his leash, bounds rudely and unannounced into your yard. Like some uncouth ruffian devoid of all etiquette, he propels his uninvited self toward the cat, announcing with yelps and snarls that he is here for “some fun” with Miss Kitty.

As we would expect, Miss Kitty is not amused. In fact, she is far from amused. In an instant, the startled cat’s placid and stately demeanor is changed. Like a lightning flash, she raises her hackles, shows her claws, and hisses at the bold intruder. As the dog draws closer and the situation becomes more desperate for the cat, she raises her shoulders and arches her back yet more. With hair on end like porcupine quills, the little feline is now fully prepared to fight or run for her life! Assuming that Miss Kitty decides that the latter option is the wisest, we see her hastily take off to find refuge up in the apple tree.

Later, after Kitty’s canine friend has left the scene, she ventures earthward to continue to go about her business, just as serenely and placidly as before. The threat has gone; the stress of the whole affair has now subsided; but it would be well for us to get the inside story of what actually happened in order to better understand how the adrenal glands figured in all of this.

As Miss Kitty spied the dog coming into the yard, her brain immediately interpreted this as a danger signal. As quick a flash, the brain shot nerve impulses down line, stimulating the sympathetic nervous system. This triggered a response in the cat known as the flight or fight mechanism. Sympathetic impulses passing quickly down the spinal cord also impinged upon the mid-portion of the adrenal glands, causing them to release adrenaline directly into the bloodstream, which greatly accentuated the cats flight or fight response to danger. This physiological phenomenon, also seen in humans, is a built-in lifesaving mechanism, allowing for a more ready response, accompanied by an increase in strength and speed.

As a result of this automatic and involuntary action, the heart rate is increased, increasing the blood supply to the skeletal muscles. In response, the arteries supplying blood to the extremities dilate to allow increased circulation to these areas. The smaller air passages in the lungs (bronchioles) also dilate to allow an increased flow of air, permitting the blood to become more rapidly supercharged with oxygen.

The metabolism is stimulated and increased amounts of glucose are released, providing energy-rich fuel. The pupils of the eyes also dilate to admit more light, and the coagulability of the blood increases in readiness to impede blood loss should injury arise. Other bodily functions not vital to the preservation of life, such as digestion, are shut down or greatly reduced. It is at such times, when the body is thus reacting to stress, that people find themselves capable of some extraordinary feats of strength and speed.

There is, however, another aspect of this same flight or fight mechanism that can prove counterproductive if allowed to remain operative for long periods of time. The problem is that long after the crisis has passed, some people continue to relive the event from memory and keep the adrenaline and other hormones, in lesser but significant amounts, continuing to trickle into the bloodstream. Though few people are physically threatened, yet with many, the stress hormones are just as readily pumped out when they find themselves confronted with other circumstances which they view as just as hostile and threatening.

For some, the overbearing shop foreman or manager in the work place can create a great deal of emotional stresses. For others, a quarrelsome or abusive spouse who nightly devours them piece by piece may be an ongoing source of stress. Home sweet home is not so sweet and not much of a home to many who suffer the devastating stress of such hostile relationships. In many ways, the short-term, physical threat that can be responded to by direct action may, in the long run, be far less damaging than to emotionally run the marathon day in and day out with problems that just will not let you outrun them, no matter how hard you try. It may be stress caused through relationships at work, home, or school, or in any situation that we face that is emotionally intense but which remains an unresolved difficulty in life. Whatever the cause, it is always there, threatening any moment to overtake you, overpower you, and finally to destroy you!

It is in such situations of ongoing, unresolved stress, where the flight or fight mechanism remains in the on mode. Though it may not necessarily show itself, or be acutely felt, it has the subtle effect of affecting you internally, keeping the system from working as it should. The chronic effect of excessive hormone secretion in response to unresolved stress begins, eventually, to break the body down. Energy decreases, resistance to disease is lowered, and the body becomes vulnerable to sickness and premature death, as Selye noted in his laboratory rats. How important, therefore, that we learn to identify the major stress factors that confront us and, more so, how to deal with them.

“God has endowed us with a certain amount of vital force. He has also formed us with organs suited to maintain the various functions of life, and He designs that these organs shall work together in harmony. If we carefully preserve the life force, and keep the delicate mechanism of the body in order, the result is health; but if the vital force is too rapidly exhausted, the nervous system borrows power for present use from its resources of strength, and when one organ is injured, all are affected. Nature bears much abuse without apparent resistance; she then arouses and makes a determined effort to remove the effects of the ill-treatment she has suffered. Her effort to correct these conditions is often manifest in fever and various other forms of sickness.” Ministry of Healing, 234

If we have lived properly and in accordance with Divine law and in harmony with the physical, mental, and emotional laws that govern our being, we should not prematurely exhaust this priceless endowment of life energy. Unhealthy life practices, however, and such factors as stress can prematurely deplete a person’s measure of this vital commodity.

The body is so marvelously designed and engineered by God that it seeks to function as economically as it can in order to preserve its own supply of vital force. After a person may have literally escaped from a raging bull or some other life threatening episode, the body will soon seek to slow down the machinery again. The excess adrenalin in the bloodstream is dissipated. The pulse rate and blood pressure come down and are brought within their normal ranges of operation. The same happens with all other organs or systems that were affected during the flight or fight response to stress. This act of the body in returning its vital functions to normal and maintaining them within their normal ranges is known as restoring homeostasis.

Stress, unfortunately, affects the body’s homeostasis. The long-term effects of excessive hormone production keep a person and some of his vital, bodily functions flying high. As a consequence, he uses up excessive amounts of vital force. Someone has likened this precious endowment of energy to a special kind of bank account that will allow you to make withdrawals but will not permit you to make deposits. While you have money in the account, you can withdraw as much as you want; but once it is gone, there is no more. So with this life and the precious energy that God has given to us to live this life. Sadly, there are many who have exhausted their supply too early in life because unresolved stress wrote too many checks on the account. It literally robbed them of life.

It is well for us to remember that not all stress is bad. We all need the stimulating challenge of life to prevent us from vegetating. If life was otherwise, there would exist no possibility of developing strength of mind and body and especially development of Christian character. However, it is when the stresses of life exceed our ability to cope with them that, as someone once said, stress becomes distress!

The factors, or stressors, that induce stress may well be different for different people. For example: takeoff and landing for a veteran pilot may be a routine part of life causing only mild stress levels for a few moments. However, should his poor wife for some reason have to take control of the aircraft, it would be sufficient reason to place her under extreme stress. On the other hand, once safely home again, it could be the stressful undoing of her husband to have him prepare a meal for the family—a task which under normal conditions would be routine and low stress for the lady of the house—while she retires to bed with shattered nerves and an aching head.

Several years ago two stress researchers by the names of Holmes and Raye developed a special chart that listed certain stressing life-events that most people experience at one time or another. Each event was given a score. The highest scoring life-events were death of a spouse and divorce. Other events, such as going on vacation, getting married, and changing employment, came lower on the scale. It was noted, however, that if a person’s accumulated score exceeded a certain point, they often came down with a serious illness within the space of two years. While this life-events chart is not infallible, it is a useful tool to show how excessive stress takes its toll. It also enables a person to recognize the importance of taking remedial action to reduce the stress level in his life if he recognizes that he has already accumulated a high score.

Thus far as we have examined this question, we may have looked in a negative fashion at the various stressors that confront us on a daily basis. We must remember, however, that many things that arise to challenge and may cause us stress may not in themselves be negative or unpleasant. The point is, however, all events, even the pleasant ones, draw upon our energy reserves and challenge our coping ability. According to Holmes and Raye, even birthdays notch up a few points on their chart.

In pursuing this aspect of “pleasant stress” a little further, we know it is not uncommon for those who really enjoy their work to push themselves to the extreme. They love what they do, and they do it very well. Promotions and pay raises just get them cranked up even more. Production climbs and soars, and there appears no limit; but given time, in most cases, they eventually reach a plateau. They push harder and longer; but somehow the production, instead of increasing, begins to decline. Though they may have enjoyed every minute, as the old saying goes, you cannot burn your candle at both ends. To be even more correct, you can if you want, but you will burn up your candle much more quickly. “Burnout,” a term that came into use well over a decade ago, applies just as forcefully with people who burned out having a good time as to those who burned out having a bad one. The simple reality is that in the first category, those who finally burn out and crumble under the stress of their job find that their good time ultimately evolved into a bad time. The relentless drive to achieve, the constant pressure of deadlines, enjoyable as it was initially, finally lost its lustre. Energy and enthusiasm ultimately waned and the production curve declined. The honeymoon had turned into a nightmare, and there seemed no way out. It is at such times as these that a person may look beyond and outside of himself for a solution; but in the majority of cases, he seeks escape through drugs and alcohol, or in some cases, even suicide. It is not only what we eat but what eats us that determines the length and quality of our life.

Whatever the causes and the level of stress in a person’s life, it is not God’s wish that he should lose control and finally be consumed by the monsters of his own or someone else’s making. God has a way prepared to bring relief. We will examine this next time.

To be continued…

The Trials of the Christian

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True Christianity presupposes a total response to Jesus Christ and to His way of life. We must beware of lowering our moral and spiritual ideals. We need to behold again the glory of God’s character, the beauty of His moral law that stands far above the ways and codes of men. Insight into the narrow way and courage to take that road are required at a time when the world is distinguished by its departure from it. Jesus our wonderful Saviour talked about the Christian life in these words: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Matthew 7:13, 14.

Traveling the Narrow Way

In commenting on these verses of Scripture, the servant of the Lord says, “Those who travel in the narrow way are talking of the joy and happiness they will have at the end of the journey. Their countenances are often sad, yet often beam with holy, sacred joy. They do not dress like the company in the broad road, nor talk like them, nor act like them. A pattern has been given them. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief opened that road for them, and traveled it Himself.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 127. Why are their countenances often sad? Apart from other reasons, the Christian journey requires that every person enter through a gate that is strait or difficult, beset with distressing circumstances. Also the Christian must travel a pathway, which is narrow or one filled with trouble, trials and tribulation.

One of the greatest problems we face is that while we acknowledge that Christ has redeemed us, we live much of the time as if we own ourselves. We go off on our own to do “our own thing.” But there can be no separation from our Lord without Satan’s moving in to take over. Failure to let Christ own us completely is responsible for most spiritual problems and lapsing into sin. If Christ is not master at any point, He is not master at all. If He is not the master of our pleasures, He is not the master of us. If He is not the master of our money, He is not the master of our life. This is why the apostle Paul says, “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” I Corinthians 9:27.

Why Trials?

There is something very significant in this text to which the apostle wishes every Christian to pay careful attention; listen to what he emphasizes, “… lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” I Corinthians 9:27. The Greek word that Paul used in this text, which means cast away, is taken from bad metal and properly denotes those which will not bear the test or not standing the test that is applied to them. A “castaway” is a metaphor derived from the testing of metals and the casting aside of those which are spurious. This word castaway also means rejected after testing or unapproved. This is what Paul wants every Christian to understand and bear in mind that trial management by the Christian demonstrates the sincerity or genuineness of his or her profession. II Corinthians 11:23–28.

The apostle Paul had subjected himself to trials. He had given himself to self-denial and toil; to persecution and want; to perils and cold, and nakedness, and hunger. He had done this, among other things, to give his religion a fair trial, to see whether it would bear all these tests; as metal is cast into the fire to see whether it is genuine, or it is base and worthless. In doing this he had endeavored to subdue his corrupt propensities, and bring everything into captivity to the Redeemer, that it might be found that he was a sincere, humble, and devoted Christian. The element of trial patiently borne in the Christian experience clearly reveals the real Christian from the counterfeit!

From the book Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, 44, we read these words: “Trials patiently borne, blessings gratefully received, temptations manfully resisted, meekness, kindness, mercy, and love habitually revealed, are the lights that shine forth in the character in contrast with the darkness of the selfish heart, into which the light of life has never shone.” How well you and I manage trials and temptations as Christians will ultimately determine who we are, the impact we make on unbelievers and where we spend eternity. Paul understands that he is traveling a pathway that is beset by trials and temptations, which is designed to prove his worthiness to bear the Christian name and his fitness for the heavenly home. This is why he keeps under his body and brings it into subjection to Christ.

God’s Workmen to Develop Character

We are reminded by the servant of the Lord that, “The trials of life are God’s workmen, to remove the impurities and roughness from our character. Their hewing, squaring, and chiseling, their burnishing and polishing, is a painful process; it is hard to be pressed down to the grinding wheel. But the stone is brought forth prepared to fill its place in the heavenly temple. Upon no useless material does the Master bestow such careful, thorough work. Only His precious stones are polished after the similitude of a palace.” Ibid., 10.

In another place she states, “All our sufferings and sorrows, all our temptations and trials, all our sadness and griefs, all our persecutions and privations, in short, all things work together for our good. All experiences and circumstances are God’s workmen whereby good is brought to us.” Help in Daily Living, 30. Also, “Afflictions, crosses, temptations, adversity, and our varied trials are God’s workmen to refine us, sanctify us, and fit us for the heavenly garner.” Testimonies, vol. 3, 115.

So then, understanding the significance of trials and temptations why then do we murmur and give way to the devil so easily? This was not Jesus’ attitude neither was it Paul’s attitude! Jesus declared, “… for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me.” John 14:30. The narrative records, “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterward an hungered. And when the tempter came to Him, He said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But He answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh Him up into the holy city, and setteth Him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto Him, If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down: for it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee: and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest at any time Thou dash Thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith unto Him, All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” Matthew 4:1–10.

Trial Management

Paul elsewhere in Scriptures talks of the importance of trial management in the life of the Christian, because this is one outstanding way, which recommends Christ to the unbeliever. We read, “Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.” II Timothy 2:10. To the young Timothy, Paul wrote, “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” Verse 3. “If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him: if we deny Him, He also will deny us.” Verse 12.

So let me share with you a few reasons why God allows trials and tests to come to His followers. First, character must be tested to help us see our true selves. This is what the Lord revealed to His servant: “Tests are placed all along the way from earth to heaven. It is because of this that the road to heaven is called the narrow way. Character must be tested, else there would be many spurious Christians, who would keep up a fair semblance of religion until their inclinations, their desire to have their own way, their pride and ambition, were crossed. When, by the Lord’s permission, sharp trials come to them, their lack of genuine religion, of the meekness and lowliness of Christ, shows them to be in need of the work of the Holy Spirit. Christ’s command, ‘If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me’ (Matthew 16:24), is the touchstone that discovers the quality of the experience. When a man’s inclinations or ambitious hopes are crossed, he reveals the spirit that governs him.” The Review and Herald, October 23, 1900.

Finding Strength in Trials

Second, the spiritual life is strengthened, reading from the book Christ’s Object Lessons, 61, the following: “Through conflict the spiritual life is strengthened. Trials well borne will develop steadfastness of character and precious spiritual graces. The perfect fruit of faith, meekness, and love often matures best amid storm clouds and darkness.” Also from The Review and Herald, August 6, 1889, we read, “It is coming in contact with difficulties that will give you spiritual muscle and sinew. You will become strong in Christ if you endure the testing process, and the proving of God. But if you find fault with your situation, and with everybody around you, you will only grow weaker.”

Patience in Trials

Third, the Christian needs to develop patience under tribulation and trials. From Manuscript Releases, vol. 19, 345, we note, “Patience must have its perfect work or we cannot be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Troubles and afflictions are appointed unto us, and shall we bear them all patiently or shall we make everything bitter by our complaining? The gold is put into the furnace that the dross may be removed. Shall we, then, not be patient under the eye of the Refiner? We must refuse to sink into a sad and disconsolate state of mind, but show calm trust in God, counting it all joy when we are permitted to endure trials for Christ’s sake.”

Character Revealed

Fourth, through trials the glory or character of Christ is developed in His children. God’s servant points out that, “Through trials and persecution, the glory–character–of God is revealed in His chosen ones. The church of God, hated and persecuted by the world, are educated and disciplined in the school of Christ. They walk in narrow paths on earth; they are purified in the furnace of affliction. They follow Christ through sore conflicts; they endure self-denial and experience bitter disappointments; but their painful experience teaches them the guilt and woe of sin, and they look upon it with abhorrence. Being partakers of Christ’s sufferings, they are destined to be partakers of His glory.” Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, 31.

Is it possible to be an effective preacher, pastor, evangelist, elder, church officer and church member and yet lose eternal life? It’s a serious question to ponder, but I am sure you know the answer! If your answer is yes, then let me ask you another question. Why is it possible? Paul gives the answer “… when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” I Corinthians 9:27. If we are unwilling to bring ourselves under the subjection of Jesus Christ, we will be unable to manage our own trials and tribulations and also fail the test.

The true Christian has the abundant life of Christ. We can be moving in a truth, in a religious body, and not really be of it. The church may enlist our services without our being a Christian. The outstanding quality of being converted to Jesus is enduring allegiance as a follower, a willingness to bring our whole lives permanently into line with Him and with His word. It involves unfailing love for God and man.

Never Give Up!

How are you coping under trials; are you failing often? Is your management of trials recommending your Saviour to a dying world? Have you given up because you are not able to endure, but just going through the rounds of Christianity? You don’t need to become discouraged, for Jesus says to you today, come unto Me. “I gave My life for thee, My precious blood I shed that thou might’st ransomed be and quickened from the dead.” Frances Ridley Havergal, 1858. Amen!

Pastor Ivan Plummer ministers through the Emmanuel Seventh Day Church Ministries in Bronx, New York. He may be contacted by telephone at: 718-882-3900.

Satan’s Last Temptation

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Jesus Christ must come. We are living in the final generation, and we are going to see the appearing of Jesus Christ in the sky with glory. We yearn to see the Second Coming, for that is the only answer for all of the problems of this earth, including political and economical unrest. There is also a spiritual warfare within the churches and the worldwide corruption of morality. All of these events come together like a puzzle, making a picture of the final generation. Now is the time that we must finish the work of the gospel and hasten the coming of Jesus Christ.

The remnant church must be roused and ready to receive the power of the Holy Spirit to proclaim the gospel to the world. At the time of the early church the gospel had been preached with such a power and many souls were convicted and converted. It seems like that kind of power has been lost for a long time.

Paul talks about the power of the gospel. He said, “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” It was not the enticing words of man nor was it man’s wisdom, but it was the demonstration of God’s power. That is what is needed today to finish the gospel work in this world so Jesus Christ can come in this generation. Then Paul continues, “That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” I Corinthians 2:4, 5.

We must become pure vessels imbued by God’s power, so that when we preach, our words will be simple, powerful, persuasive and will convert and convict many souls. The harvest is ready. God is waiting for the harvesters to be ready to anoint them with His Holy Spirit. Satan knows that at that time the work will be finished very quickly and he desperately sets a last temptation before us to make us an impotent people; a people who are not able to finish the work—not able to preach the gospel with the demonstration of the power of God. We must wake up, the world is waiting for the demonstration of the power of the gospel. “The message will be carried not so much by argument as by the deep conviction of the Spirit of God. The arguments have been presented. The seed has been sown, and now it will spring up and bear fruit.” The Great Controversy, 612.

We need the power of the gospel given back to the church as it was in ancient days. Satan knows that this power of godliness is going to be recovered, restored within the church and then the latter rain, the Holy Spirit will be poured out. At that time, God’s people are going to rise up and preach the gospel, as a demonstration of the power of God and the work will be finished. Satan knows that the power of the early church will be revived in this generation and he is trying to hinder it, trying to block it and to destroy it.

Why has this kind of power been lost? Is it because God does not want us to have that kind of power anymore? Why is not this kind of power manifested anymore within the church? We should have been in heaven a long time ago. If we believed and lived according to the Spirit of God and preached the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14, then God’s people who are still in the Babylonian churches would have already come out. We should have been in heaven a long time ago and are yearning for the power of the latter rain. We need to find the answer to this important question in the experience of ancient Israel.

After the Israelites had wandered in the wilderness for forty years, they came to the outskirts of Canaan, the Promised Land. They were so happy and ready to go in and occupy. They had longed for this moment. At the same time, Satan was preparing one last temptation for them. Just like the Israelites, we are standing at the border of the heavenly Canaan and we are about to enter in. Now, as Satan did to the ancient Israelites, he has prepared for us a snare—his last temptation for God’s church. He is making God’s church impotent so they cannot receive power to preach the gospel.

In I Corinthians 10:1–5, 11, it says, “Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat.” That spiritual meat symbolizes the word of God, the truth of God. This is something we cannot make for our own selves. We have to receive it. It must come down from heaven. That manna was round and white, which signifies the infinite love of God. The infinite truth of God, His righteousness was given to them by heaven. They had partaken of the manna every day and actually experienced the miracle of drinking water and of eating food every day. Verse 4 says, “And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.” So they came out from Egypt and were all baptized together, “But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.” Verse 5. Even though they came out or overcame the Egyptians and they experienced the miracles of God, yet they were defeated in the wilderness. They were not able to overcome their own selves, their own intemperance, their own pride, their own selfishness. Their own enemy in their own souls defeated them. “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” Verse 11.

These experiences were written in the Bible for us to study and contemplate so not to make the same mistake. Satan attempts to block God’s people from receiving His power and experience a true miracle by spreading his last temptation before God’s church.

Our enemy is out to destroy God’s church, the souls of His people. He hates to hear about the soon coming of Jesus Christ. He has put a snare before us to numb our thoughts and our feelings and to make us disinterested in holy things. His temptations are very subtle and yet very powerful. He succeeded in defeating ancient Israel while they were standing right on the border before entering the land of Canaan and his plan is to defeat us too.

We need to do something quickly in order for us to stand against this final temptation. We need to pray and build our spiritual standard. Nothing should be allowed to come into our thoughts, hearts and souls that would benumb our spiritual senses and lower our spiritual stamina. The Israelites learned a lesson from this. The false prophet, Balaam, was enticed; Balak, the King of Moab, tempted him. Balaam attempted to curse Israel, but when he opened his mouth, the Spirit of God came upon him and caused him to speak blessings toward God’s people. He had failed three times and later on he devised a temptation, a devilish plan. Satan knew that the only way to destroy the Israelites was to separate them from God’s protection. If he could cause God’s people to break His law, His commandments, then they would be severed from His protection and that is exactly what he did. Balaam caused God’s people to commit adultery, to break God’s law, and he successfully uses that same technique today. The new interpretation of righteousness by faith, the new interpretation of the gospel, the new gospel, the liberal gospel, has been devised by Satan to cause God’s people to break His law and commit sin, yet still harboring a false hope of salvation in their hearts. That is the deception of Satan.

In Patriarch and Prophets, 455, we are told, “Their iniquitous practices did that for Israel which all the enchantments of Balaam could not do—they separated them from God.” Balaam’s plan had succeeded and caused them to be separated from the power and protection of God.

The Israelites committed adultery by participating in the heathen festivals of the Moabites. The first thing Balaam did was to invite them to come and see. They did not have to participate, but to come and watch and be entertained. Through this process, they finally committed fornication with the harlots of the Midianites.

“At Balaam’s suggestion, a grand festival in honor of their gods was appointed by the king of Moab, and it was secretly arranged that Balaam should induce the Israelites to attend. He was regarded by them as a prophet of God, and hence had little difficulty in accomplishing his purpose. Great numbers of the people joined him in witnessing the festivities.” Ibid., 454. Remember, the first time they did not have to participate, just to come and see and be entertained. God asks us to guard our five senses. Satan uses his cunning to penetrate the senses, sight, hearing, talk, smell and touch. He spreads before us heathen-like festivities and then excites our emotions and our feelings, which defile our thoughts, causing us to contemplate on evil things.

“They ventured upon the forbidden ground, and were entangled in the snare of Satan. Beguiled with music and dancing, and allured by the beauty of heathen vestals, they cast off their fealty to Jehovah. As they united in mirth and feasting, indulgence in wine beclouded their senses and broke down the barriers of self-control. Passion had full sway; and having defiled their consciences by lewdness, they were persuaded to bow down to idols. They offered sacrifice upon heathen altars and participated in the most degrading rites.” Ibid. They went so far as to commit fornication with the prophets and prophetesses, the harlots of this heathen worship ceremony.

First came the invitation to come and watch. Satan spreads out all of the things in the world, billboards, televisions, dramas and movies and all of these things. Satan attempts to come into our inner sanctuary and defile our feelings and thoughts and so benumb our holy senses and excite our passions so that we will lose the senses to understand between the holy and the unholy. He causes impotence to preach the gospel with power.

A new kind of gospel has been spread all over the church—Adventism is in crisis! Satan has introduced the wines of Babylon, the wrong gospels, wrong festivities, wrong programs, celebration worship styles. He has been spreading these wines into the church and invited God’s people to come, to sit and to be entertained—to watch and witness. Slowly and surely he began to benumb the spiritual senses and the hearts of God’s people. Through this process we have lost the power of the gospel; we have lost the power of the demonstration of God so that when we preach the three angels’ messages it has lost the power that was once demonstrated by the early church to convict and convert souls.

God’s servant, Ellen White, has told us that this power is going to be restored. Satan fears this knowing that when that time comes he will be defeated, so he increases his deceptions. By the decline of reverence and the rise of entertaining worship he benumbs spiritual senses. There is very little difference between the music in the Babylonian world and in the church. Why? Because we have been watching; we have been entertained, and our spiritual senses have been benumbed and our fleshly passions have been aroused.

We have a work to do to resist these kinds of temptations. Those who do not want to fall prey to Satan’s services must guard well the avenues to the soul. Our individual duty and responsibility is to overcome these things, guard our holy emotions and feelings, and understand the true gospel and the three angels’ messages. This is the best way to be prepared to receive the latter rain and to go out and to give the loud cry and hasten Jesus’ second coming.

The mind should not be allowed to wander at random on every subject that the adversary of souls may suggest. Satan is trying to suggest all kinds of things through the entertainments of the world, especially to young people.

“Satan seduced Israel into licentiousness before leading them to idolatry. Those who will dishonor God’s image and defile His temple in their own persons will not scruple at any dishonor to God that will gratify the desire of their depraved hearts. Sensual indulgence weakens the mind and debases the soul. The moral and intellectual powers are benumbed and paralyzed by the gratification of the animal propensities; and it is impossible for the slave of passion to realize the sacred obligation of the law of God, to appreciate the atonement, or to place a right value upon the soul.” Ibid., 458.

Because their senses are benumbed by entertainment and all the snares of Satan, many Adventists today do not understand the true meaning of the three angels’ messages or the true meaning of the everlasting gospel and the meaning of the most holy place, what it means to have a cleansing experience, what it means to have a blotting out of sin experience. The mental powers are paralyzed and they try to gratify their animal passions by entertainment.

It is about time to wake up and to pray and confess our sins and let our souls be cleansed and purified because Jesus Christ must come soon.

Goodness, purity and truth, reverence for God and love for sacred things, all of those holy affections and sacred desires that link man with the heavenly world are consumed in the fires of lust. The soul becomes a blackened and desolate waste, the habitation of the evil spirits and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird. Mrs. Ellen White used this expression to express the defiled soul. God’s people who had allowed their souls to be defiled by the temptations of Satan were described as every unclean and hateful bird. This is the description of Babylon. This is the habitation of the evil spirits and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

By introducing the wines of Babylon, compromised gospel of Babylon, into the souls of God’s people, he is trying to defile us. There is a possibility that we, God’s church in these last days, could become the habitation or cage of every hateful bird, evil spirits and Babylon. Satan has spread the last temptation before God’s people as he did so successfully before the Israelites, destroying so many on the banks of the Jordon while they waited to go in and occupy the land of Canaan. My friends, Satan is using the same tactic for God’s people and His church today hoping to jeopardize their entry into the promised heavenly Canaan.

Beings formed in the image of God are being dragged down to a level with the beasts. “It was when the Israelites were in a condition of outward ease and security that they were led into sin. They failed to keep God ever before them, they neglected prayer and cherished a spirit of self-confidence. Ease and self-indulgence left the citadel of the soul unguarded, and debasing thoughts found entrance. It was the traitors within the walls that overthrew the strongholds of principle and betrayed Israel into the power of Satan. It is thus that Satan still seeks to compass the ruin of the soul. A long preparatory process, unknown to the world, goes on in the heart before the Christian commits open sin.” Ibid., 459.

Sometimes we do not understand how a brother or a pastor or a deacon could fall and do such things as they do. But before that sin is committed, for a long time Satan has been preparing their souls and their hearts by introducing evil thoughts, evil pictures and evil imaginations. When the citadels of their souls are unguarded and they have allowed and even invited all of these temptations from Satan, when finally the opportunity comes, they commit sin, openly. “The mind does not come down at once from purity and holiness to depravity, corruption, and crime. It takes time to degrade those formed in the image of God to the brutal or the satanic. By beholding we become changed.” Ibid.

When you are tempted, when you feel weak and lose stamina, come to Jesus Christ; come to the foot of the cross and pray. Meditate upon the word of God. You have lost the battle many times and you have probably lost the spiritual stamina to stand up and fight, but have courage, there is power in the word of God. Read the Scriptures and pray. By faith contemplate on the Word. If you will chew and swallow and eat, the power of God will be manifested in your soul. Read, study, contemplate and live it.

Satan is out to get us. We must stand up and cleanse our camp and cleanse our heart and soul to hasten the coming of Jesus Christ.

We are living in the Day of Atonement. By faith we follow the high priest into the most holy place. On that day, God asked the Israelites to afflict their souls, which means to agonize with your souls. Search your souls for any hidden sins or desires for sin and confess it and pray to have a purification experience. This is the cleansing experience of the most holy place. Jesus Christ went into the most holy place—this is not just any theory. He went into the most holy place to open the books and start an investigative judgment. God is preparing a people in which God’s law cannot find fault. God is preparing a people through the experience of the most holy place in the heavenly sanctuary. He will produce a pure, spotless people—a cleansed people free from all defilement.

Let us search our hearts and guard our thoughts and afflict our souls and confess our sins so we can be cleansed. We are living in the most holy place period of this earth. Jesus Christ is not only thumbing through the pages of the books in heaven but in His ministry He is cleansing a people to be ready to receive the last resource of the power of God so that He can demonstrate the power of the gospel before the world and call them out of the Babylonian churches and from the world.

“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” Proverbs 4:23. Every day be revived and renewed by the working of the Holy Spirit. We are living in a generation where it is very easy to be enticed, tempted and defiled.

My plea to you right now is to wake up, pray and meditate upon the word of God. We need to become the last warriors to stand up and become holy to defeat the enemy and hasten the coming of Jesus Christ. Only when we first come out of the practices and faults and teachings of Babylon will we be able to call God’s people out of the Babylonian churches and the world. God’s church is not Babylon, but many of God’s people became Babylonians by the defilement of the temptations Satan spread before them. As the Spirit of Prophecy declared, their minds and desires are defiled; they are a “cage of hateful birds.” Our church has been bringing the heathen idols into the camp for some time. What a sad situation we are in. Many people are baptized into the church without knowing and understanding the true Spirit of Prophecy and the meaning of the sanctuary message including the cleansing of sin.

In the time of the apostasy in ancient Israel, there was a warrior for God, Phinehas. When he saw one of the princes take one of the harlots of Midian into his tent, his anger for God and for righteousness arose, and he took the javelin, went into his tent and thrust down into the two bodies, and God’s wrath was stopped. Are there any modern Phinehas’ in our camps?

We are in the most holy place, the Day of Atonement. This should be our cleansing experience, a time to search our souls and our hearts to know what is wrong with us and what is preventing us from receiving the latter rain. What is preventing God’s church from preaching the gospel as it did in the early church? We have lost the demonstration of God’s power as individuals and as a church, because we have participated in idol worship and rites. We are standing before the heavenly Canaan and Satan is using the same tactic he used with such success with the Israelites on the border of Canaan causing many of God’s people to fall. For this reason we have lost the power of the gospel; the gospel that has power to convict and convert thousands in a day so the work can be finished and we can go home. We must pray and search our hearts as a church, as a group, as a family and as an individual. Let us truly have a cleansing of soul experience, a Day of Atonement experience—confess our sins and become holy.

“When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 69.

Pastor David Kang is the director of Light for Life U.S. Ministry operation out of Ft. Lee, New Jersey. His sermons are broadcast weekly on New York and Virginia Korean television stations. Pastor Kang also frequently travels to Asia where he trains pastors who often work “underground.” 

Overcoming Impossible Odds

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There are many stories in the Bible about overcoming impossible odds. Some of these stories have to do with overcoming the number six, others with overcoming the number sixty, but in the final generation, the issue will be concerned with overcoming the number 666, the number of anti-christ.

A few hundred years after the children of Israel overcame their enemies and had settled in the land of Canaan, the time came when they demanded that they have a king, like all the other nations around them. So the Lord granted them a king in response to their request. Samuel the prophet anointed a man by the name of Saul as the first king of Israel. They found out later that they had been much better off when the Lord had been their only king, and having a human king turned out to be a real disaster. It is similar to starting down the road of socialism; once you begin that journey, it is very hard to retrace your steps. The time came when Saul had not only rebelled against the Lord, but he had committed the unpardonable sin. This caused much anxiety for Samuel, but the Lord told Samuel that he was to not fret about this anymore.

Now that Saul had been rejected, Samuel was directed to anoint another person as the king. The conversation went this way: “The Lord said to Samuel, ‘How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons.’ And Samuel said, ‘How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.’ And the Lord said, ‘Take a heifer with you and say, “I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.” Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; you shall anoint for Me the one I name to you.’ ” I Samuel 16:1–3.

Samuel did as the Lord had bidden him to do. He went to Bethlehem, where Jesse lived, and told him that they would have a sacrifice there. Not all of the plan was revealed, but Jesse was asked to call his sons who came to be seen of Samuel, who requested that they come to him in order of their age, beginning with the oldest. Eliab was so good-looking and had such a handsome stature that Samuel thought surely this was the one. However, when Samuel wanted to anoint Eliab, God told him something very interesting. “The Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’ ” Verse 7.

There is no beauty of appearance, there is no outward manifestation of handsomeness, or beauty, or desirableness that can recommend any man or woman to God. What He is interested in is the character, a man’s inner worth, the excellency in his heart; that is what determines acceptance with the Lord of hosts. Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8 KJV.

We see in this story the mistake that Samuel, a very wise prophet, made; how vain it is for us to make estimations about a person because of the beauty of face or nobility of their stature. We also see how incapable we are of understanding the secrets of the heart, or of comprehending the counsels of God without special enlightenment from heaven.

After Eliab passed before Samuel, then Jesse had the second oldest son pass before him, and they kept this going until finally, seven of Jessie’s sons had passed before the prophet. The Lord did not consent for any of them to be anointed to be the king of Israel. Samuel was perplexed, for the Lord had told him specifically to go there because He had chosen for Himself a king from the sons of Jessie. But as they all passed before him, the Lord said no to each one.

Finally, Samuel asked Jessie: “ ‘Are all the young men here?’ Then he said, ‘There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep.’ And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Send and bring him. For we will not sit down till he comes here.’ So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with bright eyes, and good-looking. And the Lord said, ‘Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!’ ” Verses 11, 12.

Samuel anointed David with the horn of oil in the presence of his brothers and “the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah.” Verse 13. Samuel went back home and David, after being anointed as the king of Israel, went back to herding his sheep. He was not king yet. Saul was still king, and was determined that nobody else was going to be king except him.

A short time after this, a terrible crisis happened in the land of Israel, the Israelites and the Philistines went to war with each other. In this war, the Bible says that the Philistines had in their army a giant, a man by the name of Goliath; his height was six cubits and a span. A cubit is approximately eighteen inches, so this man was over nine feet tall. He was a very strong man and a trained warrior. He came out against the children of Israel and threatened them.

“And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred shekels; and a shield-bearer went before him.

“Then he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, and said to them, ‘Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.’ And the Philistine said, ‘I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.’ ” I Samuel 17:4–10.

He kept uttering this boastful charge and sneering accusation against the armies of Israel, saying, “You don’t have anybody. You don’t have anybody that can fight me. If you do, just send them out. We’ll fight, and whoever wins, the other side will be their servants.” Well, this went on day, after day, after day. There was no man of the children of Israel that wanted to venture to fight against the giant. In fact, the Bible says this went on for forty days, but before the forty days were over, God had in mind a way to deliver His people. God always has a plan and a way in mind to accomplish His purpose.

Often, though, we don’t understand what that plan is. We are bewildered because we cannot understand the outcome of affairs or events, and think everything is going to ruin. That is what Saul and his army thought. But God, as is always the case, had a plan in mind to defeat this boastful enemy. The person that He had in mind to defeat this giant was the boy, David, who was out herding his father’s sheep. David’s three oldest brothers were in the army; they were with Saul and listened to the defiant speech of Goliath day, after day, after day.

The time came when David’s father, Jesse, gave him food to take for his brothers and to check out if they were doing well and how the battle was going. “So David rose early in the morning, left the sheep with a keeper, and took the things and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the camp as the army was going out to the fight and shouting for the battle. For Israel and the Philistines had drawn up in battle array, army against army. And David left his supplies in the hand of the supply keeper, ran to the army, and came and greeted his brothers. Then as he talked with them, there was the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, coming up from the armies of the Philistines; and he spoke according to the same words. So David heard them. And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were dreadfully afraid. So the men of Israel said, ‘Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel; and it shall be that the man who kills him the king will enrich with great riches, will give him his daughter, and give his father’s house exemption from taxes in Israel.’ ” Verses 20–25.

David was indignant when he heard the speech. He said, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” Verse 26.

And so, the people began to talk about what David had said. He said, “Who is this man? He is not a follower of the Creator of the heavens and the earth; he is a worshiper of idols. Why should he defy the armies of people who worship the God of heaven?” Finally, the report reached King Saul. And Saul said, “Send that young man in to see me. I want to see him.”

When David came in to see King Saul, he told the king that he was willing to go and fight Goliath and they got into a little argument. The Bible records it this way: “Then David said to Saul, ‘Let no man’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.’ And Saul said to David, ‘You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.’ ” Verses 32, 33.

Then David gave his credentials. He told Saul why he believed he was qualified to go and fight with Goliath. “But David said to Saul, ‘Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.’ Moreover David said, ‘The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.’ And Saul said to David, ‘Go, and the Lord be with you!’ ” Verses 34–37.

Saul did not really believe that David would be victorious. He thought he would end up being killed, but he was willing to let him give it a try. They had been enduring Goliath’s mockery for forty days. Saul put his own armor on David and sent him out to face the giant. After David had gone out a little ways, he came back. All those watching thought he had decided that it was just too dangerous a venture; he would not take his life in his hands and get killed trying to kill that giant!

But actually, that wasn’t what David had in mind at all. When he came back, “David said to Saul, ‘I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them.’ So David took them off.” It’s not good to try to fight in armor with which you are unfamiliar. David took only what he was familiar with, what he knew. The Bible says, “He took his staff in his hand [used for herding the sheep]; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine.” Verses 39, 40.

As the two unlikely contestants drew closer, the Philistine looked to see who it was that had come out against him expecting to see the most powerful warrior in the Israelite army. Instead, he sees what is apparently a teenager, a young man with no armor, no bow, no sword and no spear. “And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him; for he was only a youth, ruddy and good-looking. So the Philistine [being quite insulted] said to David, ‘Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks?’ And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, ‘Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!’

“Then David said to the Philistine, ‘You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.’ ” Verses 42–47.

When David had made such a speech, the rage of Goliath seemed to be intense. He became so outraged and so angry that the Bible says, “The Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hastened and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.” Verse 48. Goliath was so angry and so outraged he failed to properly protect himself with his head armor. Approaching the giant whose face was exposed with his visor up, “David put his hand into his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth.” Verse 49.

The watching army expected that in just a moment, they would see David killed, decapitated by Goliath’s sword, but now everyone stood shocked, and in amazement as they watch the stone go whizzing through the air, straight to the mark. It hit the target in the forehead so hard, that it sank into his forehead. Goliath suddenly staggered, and fell to the ground. David did not hesitate. “Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.” Verse 51. David prevailed over the Philistine giant with nothing more than a sling and a smooth stone that he picked up out of the brook.

David was faced with impossible odds against him yet he prevailed, because he had faith in God and he was prepared to do what he knew he could do. He’d had some experience. God had sent him some trials in life beforehand to prepare him for this very event. God had allowed him to meet up with a lion, and to meet up with a bear. He had successfully killed those ferocious animals to protect his flock. He knew that the same God Who delivered him from the lion and the bear could deliver him from Goliath. Perhaps you noticed that the number six appeared often in the description of Goliath, concerning his spearhead and also his height.

A deeper Bible study on Goliath reveals several other sixes related to him. Several hundred years later, three of God’s children, had to come to an image that King Nebuchadnezzar had erected. This image was sixty cubits high and six cubits wide. David had to meet a man that was six cubits and a span tall. The three Hebrew worthies, written about in Daniel 3, had to come with all the people gathered from all over the earth to a golden image that was sixty cubits high, and six cubits wide. They were commanded to kneel down and worship it at the sound of music. However, the second commandment says that you are not to worship, you are not to bow down before any image (Exodus 20:4–6). The second commandment is the second longest commandment in the law. God said that we are not to bow down or worship any graven image or anything we have made in His likeness.

The three Hebrew worthies refused to bow down, even under the threat of being thrown into the fiery furnace for disobeying the command of King Nebuchadnezzar to worship his image. They fearlessly remained standing when all others bowed. When brought before the king, they said, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” Daniel 3:16–18. When they were thrown into the fiery furnace, the same God that delivered David out of the hand of Goliath, delivered the three Hebrew worthies. They walked out of the fiery furnace when Nebuchadnezzar asked them to, no longer bound and unharmed. God delivered them. With David it was six, with the three Hebrew worthies it was sixty. But, God’s children will have to meet a crisis at the very end of the world, having to do with the number 666, the number of anti-christ.

Christ can give you the grace to be an overcomer against impossible odds. Will you have the kind of faith that David had? Will you have the kind of faith that the three Hebrew worthies did so that you will able to say, “I know God is able to deliver me from your power, but if He does not, and whether you kill me or whatever you do, I will continue to worship the God of heaven. I will keep His commandments; I will do His will.” The time to develop that kind of faith is now. Now is the time to say, “Lord, I’m choosing to follow and obey You, and I pray that You will give me the strength to follow You, to be obedient to You, no matter the outcome.”

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

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

Living a Victorious Life

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Many try to live the life of a Christian, desiring to serve God in every way. At the same time, we must face the reality that many have become discouraged at their continual failure. Maybe you are just drifting along in this Christian life, thinking that there is no hope of living like Jesus. But I want to tell you the good news; there is hope! This hope has already been given to us in the word of God.

We have been told: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:48. This is the utmost challenge. How in the world can I be as perfect as the Father of Jesus? It is impossible, so why expect this? There are some Bible examples of Christian perfection. There are those who have walked through our same experiences and have succeeded, after coming to Jesus, and live a sanctified life. There are stories of others who have fallen and later repented of their sins that are encouraging examples of victory.

The first righteous man the Bible mentions is Enoch. It is recorded, “And Enoch walked with God; and he was not; for God took him.” Genesis 5:24. What did he do right? He walked with God. That sounds very simple. The apostle Paul adds a little more information and explains that it was “by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death.” Hebrews 11:5. Enoch walked with God by faith. His faith was in the promise of the Redeemer Who would come. Because he had this hope, he lived by faith. It continues: “… and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” He not only walked with God, but he pleased God. All that God required was for him to walk with Him. This is so simple, yet it is so hard for people to grasp the concept and allow this beautiful truth to sink into their hearts. Praise God for His patience!

Another example of an excellent person who walked with God and who is a favorite Bible character with many people is Joseph. Joseph was raised in a God-fearing family. It was not perfect, like all of our families, but he grew up fearing God. He was the favorite of his father, Jacob, which unfairly provoked so many relationships that were not conducive to harmony in the family. The ensuing jealousy of his brethren was the cause of him being sold to the Ishmaelites, which landed him as a slave in Egypt. For many years Joseph’s life was not one to be envied however, God had His hand over Joseph for a special purpose and there were many experiences he went through that prepared him for this work. We also can learn from the experiences of Joseph. He was a very attractive young man, and Potipher’s wife attempted on a number of occasions to lure him into an illicit relationship. But Joseph walked with God and repelled her advances saying, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” Genesis 39:9. Joseph’s refusal to sin and the consequent accusations against him caused him to be thrown into prison. “But the Lord was with Joseph, and showed him mercy, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.” Verse 21. Mortal eyes could not yet see God’s big plan for Joseph’s life, but God had His hand over Joseph and was in control of every event affecting him. Joseph’s faith did not falter, and while in prison he shared his faith to his captive audience.

To have victory over our own sinful nature we must walk with God continually. We must have Him with us even as we go to the grocery store and allow Him to direct us in what items we purchase to put into our bodies to keep us healthy, giving the enemy no room to distract us.

The story told of the three worthies while captive in Babylon is one that parallels well with the time in which we live today. Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were among the princes that were taken captive and given the new names of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, of which we are more familiar. There are several points in this account that are very important to understand. Daniel 3:8–10 says, “Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and accused the Jews. They spake and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live for ever. Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, shall fall down and worship the golden image.” Nebuchadnezzar felt so proud and honored to have an image of his own interpretation of the dream God had given him. Considering himself a god in his high position, like Satan, he craved the worship of all the people.

Continuing their accusation: “And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth, that he should be cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, ‘Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?’ ” Verses 11–15.

There is a movement today happening around the world, particularly in Europe, pushing for a day off each week, apparently to be set-aside for the family. Bible students know what is behind this push, which of course is Sunday and will be the spurious Sabbath that all will be required to acknowledge. It is hidden behind the guise of a necessity for the family, which would absolutely be a benefit.

At first, Nebuchadnezzar looks like a nice guy, a patient king. He offers a second chance and an opportunity for them to change their minds. He basically said, You can save your skins if you just bow down! But then followed the awful declaration in which he was really challenging the God of heaven, the God of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. His declaration was similar to Pharaoh’s when he said to Moses, “Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?”

“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.” Verses 16, 17. What a statement of faith! They knew their God, that He would not be mocked.

We can identify with these men as we make spiritual preparation for the Sunday law that we know is coming. We must determine in our minds not to worship the image that will be set up and be prepared to tell the authorities that our God, Whom we serve, is able to deliver us out of any punishment that is devised for those who refuse to conform to this law. That is all fine, but …!

What if God doesn’t deliver you? What if God has assigned that you and I be martyrs for His honor and glory? Those faithful men fearlessly standing before the king of the greatest nation on the earth at that time said, “But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.” Nobody dared to challenge the king as they did. So, he “… commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated. And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” Verses 18–24. Suddenly God opened this king’s eyes and he saw what you and I today don’t physically see while we walk with God, the presence of Jesus safeguarding His loved ones.

“They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” Verses 24, 25. That is one reason why they were able to answer the king and say, “No,” and even if he was going to take their lives, they said, “We’re not going to obey you anyway.” They were confident in their individual relationship with their God, they were in His presence; they walked with Him.

The only reason we sin and fall into the traps that Satan has set for us is because we lose the awareness that God is with us. When we forget or neglect our morning devotions, we walk away from Him and miss His guidance. The day never goes well without His companionship.

The story continues in verses 26 and 27, “Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire. And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king’s counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.” What an encouragement is this story from past times; we cannot thank God enough for giving us this story of faith.

The Bible is full of stories of faithfulness. In John 1:47, it says, “Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to Him, and said to him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile!” Nathaniel, a person that walked with God, and Jesus declared him to be righteous, an Israelite in whom there is no guile.

Our greatest example of faithfulness is our Saviour, Jesus Christ. “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Hebrews 4:14, 15.

Was He tempted beyond our human capability? Absolutely not! In this one sense, I have to clarify, but He was tempted in everything that we humans could be tempted. I do believe He was tempted even more, because for Him, being part of the Godhead, and knowingly, that He could not yield His power so He could be our example. He could have called a legion of angels to come and save Him, but He would have ruined His example for us and broken the agreement He had with the Father. In that sense, He was harassed even harder by the enemy. In Philippians 2:5, Paul tells us to “let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” The battle we fight is in the mind, and all power is given to us to win this war by having the mind of Christ.

Jesus, “Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in the fashion of a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Verses 6–8. As a man He became obedient unto death. Are you ready to die, to die for your faith? We need the fullness of God in us.

In I Peter 2:21–25, it reads, “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps.” How can I follow the example of Somebody that has more power than I and “Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth. Who when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously.” Jesus committed Himself to His Father Who was the source of His power. “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.”

“For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted.” Hebrews 2:16–18.

Jesus went through suffering and temptations and He succeeded, by the power of His Father. We are living in the time of the end, and we want to be part of that group who sing the song of Moses and the Lamb. “And I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father’s name written in their foreheads.” Revelation 14:1. That name describes their character, the character of God, their Father. That name is engraved in every cell and in every feeling. It influences everything they do.

“These are they which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.” Verses 4, 5. In Jesus there was not found any guile, neither was there in the three Hebrews who were tossed into the fiery furnace. God says, in Matthew 5:48, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Never are we asked to do anything without being given power to accomplish the task.

An instruction manual for righteousness has been given to man, the Bible. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished into all good works.” II Timothy 3:16, 17. “And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.” I Corinthians 12:28. Our ignorance is without excuse.

Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me.” John 15:1–4. The key word is abide. The word abide came from the word abode, which is dwelling, a house.

If we are attached to the vine, we will produce fruit. To increase fruit production the branches must be pruned. Ever so lovingly He prunes away our bad habits, all the time giving us grace so we don’t get discouraged. We may not notice the changes in our own lives, but others will see the evidence when patience is displayed instead of the past quick temper. Paul identifies these fruits in Galatians 5:22, 23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Do these attributes describe you?

“Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for His seed remaineth in him.” I John 3:9. That sounds very simple. Looking at the parable in Luke 8:11, we see that the seed is the word of God.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.” John 1:1, 2. Paul said, “Knowing this that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.” Romans 6:6, 7. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20.

God certainly understands human nature but makes no excuse for sin when He has provided a remedy in abundance. “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take need lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.” I Corinthians 10:12–14. One of our biggest idols is self – my needs, my wants, my own opinion and my own comfort – the importance of me!

“Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.” Jude 24. “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13. How many blessings are missed that can never be recovered because we don’t take the time to “be still, and know that I [God] am God.” Psalm 46:10.

There is a promise found in I John 3:5: “And ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin.” God is able to keep us from falling through Jesus Christ. Matthew 1:21 tells us, “And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins.”

“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” 1 John 2:1. This is so encouraging, for if we do fall we can raise a hand and call out as did Peter when he took his eyes off Jesus and sunk into the water, “Lord, save me!”

“But when he [Peter] saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.” Matthew 14:30. Immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand, and caught him. Paul spoke of this great mystery: “Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but is made manifest to His saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:26, 27.

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7. Surround yourself with the things of God and don’t give the devil any ground. Jesus has shown the way, and His word overflows with counsel how to live a righteous life – walk with Jesus! He is coming soon to take His children home. “Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputed not iniquity, and is whose spirit there is no guile.” Psalm 32:2. Let this be our prayer!

Harold Cortes serves as the pastor for 7th Day Sabbath Church in Colton, California. He has a wife and two children. Brother Cortes grew up in the Seventh-day Adventist faith in Colombia, South America and received his medical degree in Mexico. After coming to the United States he obtained a Master of Public Health degree from Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, California, and it was there that he received the call from the Lord to become a pastor and has been serving the church in Colton since 1977.

Good for Evil

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A man’s character is more clearly revealed by the manner in which he treats his enemies than by the way he treats his friends.

The divine instruction on how to treat those who are personal enemies is found in Luke 6:27, 28. Jesus said, “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.” We live in a world where many people, by their feelings or actions say, “He has slugged me once, I’ll slug him twice!” But Jesus said to love them and do good to those who hate you.

The apostle Paul, writing about this same subject gave this advice: “Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. Therefore, ‘If your enemy is hungery, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink, for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:17–21.

This is often hard counsel for most to apply. It is far easier to pay back. After all, don’t they deserve it? Or at least, walk away and stay out of their lives, but return good for evil—that is way too hard! This world would be a much different place than it is today if there were more people trying to follow this counsel.

There have been men in the past who have lived by this rule. Many stories in the Bible tell of men who developed the ability to refrain from avenging themselves and, in return for evil, give good. One of those men who had developed this trait in an eminent degree was the man David. David is usually remembered by many other prominent things he did during his life—as a young teenager, fighting the giant Goliath, and later in his life committing that terrible sin against one of his mighty men of valor, Uriah the Hittite, as well as other things. He is not often considered for the tremendous patience that he developed during the many years of trial and suffering he experienced while being hunted for his life because of the insane jealousy of King Saul. Many times Saul attempted to kill him. In fact, once he took several thousand people with him to chase David and his men, who numbered only a few hundred, in order that he might kill him.

Something to think about is what you would do or how you would react if the person that was trying to kill you was all of a sudden in your power and you had the opportunity to kill that person if you so desired. In the book of I Samuel 24 we find a story about this same thing. It says, “Now it happened, when Saul had returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, ‘Take note! David is in the wilderness of En Gedi.’ Then Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel, and went to seek David and his men on the Rocks of the Wild Goats. So he came to the sheepfolds by the road, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to attend to his needs. (David and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave.) Then the men of David said to him, ‘This is the day of which the Lord said to you, “Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you.” ’ And David arose and secretly cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. Now it happened afterward that David’s heart troubled him because he had cut Saul’s robe. And he said to his men, ‘The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.’ So David restrained his servants with these words, and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And Saul got up from the cave and went on his way.” Verses 1–7.

And then here’s what happened. “David also arose afterward, went out of the cave, and called out to Saul, saying, ‘My lord the king!’ And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed down. And David said to Saul: ‘Why do you listen to the words of men who say, “Indeed David seeks your harm”? Look, this day your eyes have seen that the Lord delivered you today into my hand in the cave, and someone urged me to kill you. But my eye spared you, and I said, “I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord’s anointed.” Moreover, my father, see! Yes, see the corner of your robe in my hand! For in that I cut off the corner of your robe, and did not kill you, know and see that there is neither evil nor rebellion in my hand, and I have not sinned against you. Yet you hunt my life to take it. Let the Lord judge between you and me, and let the Lord avenge me on you. But my hand shall not be against you.’ ” Verses 8–12.

When Saul saw the corner of his robe in David’s hand he realized that David and his men had been back in the darkness of the cave, right there where he had been sleeping. He realized that his life had been spared, that David could easily have taken a sword and killed him while he slept, but he did not do it. Saul was humbled. He realized that David had returned to him good for evil. “So it was, when David had finished speaking these words to Saul, that Saul said, ‘Is this your voice, my son David?’ And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. Then he said to David: ‘You are more righteous than I; for you have rewarded me with good, whereas I have rewarded you with evil.’ ” Verses 16, 17.

O friend, there it is. David was being hunted. Saul was going to kill him, to take his life. David had an opportunity to take Saul’s life. How easy it is for the Lord God of heaven to switch circumstances around so that everything is up-side down and those that apparently are on the defensive and do not have the resources, those that are on the weaker side end up having the advantage. Saul, with his vast army, had the advantage against David and his small band of men, but David, when the tables turned, spared Saul’s life and proved to him that he had no intention to do him any harm. Saul left and let David go, but this was just a temporary relief and David was still afraid because of everything that Saul had done. He would not venture to put himself in the hands of Saul. After Saul left it appeared that David would be left alone for a while, but it was during this period of time that David had another interesting experience.

After the prophet Samuel died, David felt less secure than he had before. The life of Samuel had been a positive influence on the whole nation. When a leader is godly, he has an influence on the whole nation that he leads. However, when a leader is wicked, the Bible says, “The righteous take cover.” David felt less secure knowing that Saul would feel a freedom to wreak vengeance upon him without Samuel being around.

During this time while David was in the forest and in the wild country around Carmel, near the little village of Maon, there was a very wealthy man who lived there who was a descendant of Caleb. He had 3,000 sheep, 1,000 goats, and other livestock and large possessions, and of course, he had shepherds who took care of his livestock. Whenever David’s men were around where Nabal’s shepherds were, they took care of Nabal’s sheep. David was a shepherd and knew all about sheep and livestock, and he had his men take care that nothing happened to Nabal’s sheep while they were nearby.

In fact, the Bible records that the shepherds appreciated this help very much. As long as David and his men were around, they didn’t lose any stock. David heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep and thought that since they had done all of this service for him maybe he would help with some provisions, so he sent ten young men to Nabal with the following instructions:

“Go up to Carmel, go to Nabal, and greet him in my name. And thus you shall say to him who lives in prosperity: ‘Peace be to you, peace to your house, and peace to all that you have! Now I have heard that you have shearers. Your shepherds were with us, and we did not hurt them, nor was there anything missing from them all the while they were in Carmel. Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever comes to your hand to your servants and to your son David.’ ” I Samuel 25:5–8. When David’s men went with this request to Nabal, they received a terrible response. It says, “Then Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, ‘Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants nowadays who break away each one from his master. Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men when I do not know where they are from?’ So David’s young men turned on their heels and went back; and they came and told him all these words.” Verses 10–12.

When they told him all these things, David became indignant; in fact, he became outraged that Nabal was returning him evil for good. David was human; he had not yet learned all the lessons in patience that God’s children must learn if they are going to enter the kingdom of heaven. “Then David said to his men, ‘Every man gird on his sword.’ … And about four hundred men went with David, and two hundred stayed with the supplies.” Verse 13. There was no question as to what was going to happen to Nabal and his houshold. However, there was a person who intervened. What happened next shows how God intervenes in the lives of His children when they are about to make a terrible mistake.

One of Nabal’s servants, recognizing they were in a dangerous situation and that David could destroy the entire household in order to get what he needed, if he so chose, went and told Nabal’s wife Abigail what had happened. “Now one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, ‘Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master; and he reviled them. But the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, nor did we miss anything as long as we accompanied them, when we were in the fields. They were a wall to us both by night and day, all the time we were with them keeping the sheep. Now therefore, know and consider what you will do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his household. For he is such a scoundrel that one cannot speak to him.’ Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep already dressed, five seahs of roasted grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys. And she said to her servants, ‘Go on before me; see, I am coming after you.’ But she did not tell her husband Nabal.” Verses 14–19.

“Now when Abigail saw David, she hastened to dismount from the donkey, fell on her face before David, and bowed down to the ground. So she fell at his feet and said: ‘On me, my lord, on me let this iniquity be! And please let your maidservant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your maidservant. Please, let not my lord regard this scoundrel Nabal. For as his name is, so is he: Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I, your maidservant, did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent. Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, since the Lord has held you back from coming to bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now then, let your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be as Nabal. And now this present which your maidservant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord. Please forgive the trespass of your maidservant. For the Lord will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord fights the battles of the Lord, and evil is not found in you throughout your days.

“ ‘Yet a man has risen to pursue you and seek your life, but the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God; and the lives of your enemies He shall sling out, as from the pocket of a sling. And it shall come to pass, when the Lord has done for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you ruler over Israel, that this will be no grief to you, nor offense of heart to my lord, either that you have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has avenged himself. But when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your maidservant.’ ” Verses 23–31.

In this speech from Abigail is seen a man who was irritated and a woman who had wisdom to speak words that would be soothing and calm the wounded spirit. She addressed David with as much reverence as if she were speaking to a crowned monarch. She gave him kind words to soothe his irritated feelings and pled with him on behalf of her husband. We see in this woman a person who is full of wisdom and the love of God. She was what Jesus referred to as a peacemaker. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” Matthew 5:9. Abigail was full of kindness and peace and she shed upon David and his men a heavenly influence soothing their irritated feelings which prevented them from committing a rash impulse. If there were more people like Abigail, much evil in the world could be stopped. When David listened to this gentle, kind reproof, he accepted it with a humble heart. Later he wrote, “Let the righteous strike me; it shall be a kindness. And let him rebuke me; it shall be as excellent oil.” Psalm 141:5.

David gave thanks and blessings because she had advised him righteously. He said, “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! And blessed is your advice and blessed are you, because you have kept me this day from coming to bloodshed and from avenging myself with my own hand.” I Samuel 25:32, 33. So many people refuse to receive a rebuke well, and some, if they are reproved, and do receive the rebuke without becoming impatient, think that they have done something wonderful. But how few there are who take a rebuke with gratitude of heart and thanksgiving, blessing those who seek to save them from pursuing an evil course.

This was a second time where David showed an unusual characteristic, the ability not only to receive a rebuke but to thank the one who was rebuking him for keeping him from doing something he should not do.

The world needs more people like Abigail, more peacemakers, more people who have wisdom to soothe the feelings of those that have become irritated, to stop the evil consequences. The Bible says that the person who has love in his heart does not become irritated. (See I Corinthians 13.)

There was still another time when David demonstrated that the way a man treats his enemies reveals more clearly his character than the way he treats his friends. The Bible records that after Samuel died, Saul arose and he went into the wilderness of Zif with 3,000 men, having decided again that he was going to kill David. Remember, David had already had an opportunity to kill him in the cave and he had not done it. At that time Saul was humbled and wept saying he was sorry. But now, some time later, his jealousy and envy again got the best of him. The Bible says, “Who can stand in front of envy?” Saul decided again to go after David. David sent out spies to find out what Saul was doing. “So David arose and came to the place where Saul had encamped. And David saw the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the commander of his army. Now Saul lay within the camp, with the people encamped all around him.” I Samuel 26:5.

It’s interesting how easy it is for the Lord to turn upside-down the counsels of men so that the strongest are weak, and the most prudent and the wise do not have the skill that they thought they had. Saul and his army were out to kill David again. David finds out where they are and sneaks up there with his men in the dark and sees, of all things, that there were no watchmen. Even in ancient times armies had night watchmen that were supposed to watch over the army, but the whole of Saul’s army was asleep; there wasn’t anybody awake or watching. David said, “I’m going to go down there. Will one of you go with me?” And Abishai said, “Yes, I’ll go with you.”

So they went down into the camp. It says, “Then Abishai said to David, ‘God has delivered your enemy into your hand this day. Now therefore, please, let me strike him at once with the spear, right to the earth; and I will not have to strike him a second time!’ ” I Samuel 26:8. Here was the second opportunity for David, if he had wanted, to kill the one who was seeking to kill him.

It is a natural reaction to think that if you try to kill me, I’ll kill you first. Many murders have been committed because of that reasoning. Twice David had the opportunity to kill the person that was trying to kill him. “But David said to Abishai, ‘Do not destroy him; for who can stretch out his hand against the Lord’s anointed, and be guiltless?’ David said furthermore, ‘As the Lord lives, the Lord shall strike him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall go out to battle and perish. The Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the Lord’s anointed. But please, take now the spear and the jug of water that are by his head, and let us go.’ ” Verses 9–11.

So they took the spear that was stuck in the ground right by Saul, and they took the cruse of water, the jar of water, which was right by it and they slipped out silently just as they had come. And when they got on a hill, a sufficient distance away, so that they could not easily be chased and over run, David cried out to Abner and said: “ ‘This thing that you have done is not good. As the Lord lives, you deserve to die, because you have not guarded your master, the Lord’s anointed. And now see where the king’s spear is, and the jug of water that was by his head.’ Then Saul knew David’s voice, and said, ‘Is that your voice, my son David?’ ” Verses 16, 17. David suggests that one of Saul’s men come and fetch those things that David had taken. This time Saul was more impressed than he was the time before, saying, “I have sinned. Return, my son David. For I will harm you no more.” Verse 21. However, David knew better than to trust himself with Saul, so he left.

David, the man described as the man after God’s own heart, demonstrated the principle of “do good to those who hate you.” How is it with you? Jesus said, “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” Matthew 5:44. The apostle Paul said, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21. That is the rule we must follow if we are to reflect the character of Jesus.

(Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

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

Mother’s Day

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Mother’s Day is a celebration honoring mothers and motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society.

Ann Jarvis founded Mother’s Day Work Clubs in five cities to improve sanitary and health conditions. During the Civil War the women belonging to the clubs made it their business to treat the wounds, feed, and clothe both Union and Confederate soldiers with neutrality.

The modern holiday of Mother’s Day was first celebrated in 1908 when, two years after her mother’s death, Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother in Grafton, West Virginia. She then began a successful campaign to make “Mother’s Day” a recognized holiday in the United States. But by 1920 she was disappointed that the festival had become commercialized so she, with her sister Ellsinore, spent their family inheritance campaigning against what the day had become. Both died in poverty. According to her New York Times obituary, Anna became embittered because too many people sent their mothers a printed greeting card. As she said, “A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world. And candy! You take a box to Mother—and then eat most of it yourself. A pretty sentiment!”

This gives us food for thought! How do you honor your mother?

Other countries adopted the festival, which is now celebrated worldwide, predominately on the second Sunday in May.

The wise man, Solomon, considered that a virtuous woman’s worth is far above the value of rubies. God has given wives and mothers the special privilege and honor to be the queen of their home.

“After they have done the best they can do for the good of their children, they may bring them to Jesus. Even the babes in the mother’s arms are precious in His sight. And as the mother’s heart yearns for the help she knows she cannot give, the grace she cannot bestow, and she casts herself and children into the merciful arms of Christ, He will receive and bless them; He will give peace, hope, and happiness to mother and children. This is a precious privilege which Jesus has granted to all mothers.” The Adventist Home, 274.

We remember a true mother in Israel, one who left a legacy of faithfulness to all who had the privilege of knowing her during her long and blessed life. This tribute can also be applied to faithful mothers everywhere.

A Tribute to Ruth Grosboll

You reached the age of ninety-three
A champion on the road of life.
You chose the straight and narrow way,
Through good times, and through strife.
But you hadn’t any inkling
Of the task you’d undertake,
When you’d venture out on life’s highway,
And the single life forsake.
It wasn’t very long before
A mother you became—
T’was then you knew that life for you
Would never be the same!
Your hands were young and tender then,
As you cared for family.
They baked the bread; they kept the home—
They did it lovingly.
They wiped the runny noses;
They soothed the bumps and scrapes;
They healed the many little hurts,
And baked the pies and cakes!
They mended many rips and tears;
Washed heaps of soiled clothes;
They sewed on countless buttons;
How many—no one knows!
They prepared so many, many meals;
Packed many lunches, too.
Each sandwich was filled with slices of love,
And wrapped in a blessing; it’s true!
You rose up early and stayed up late,
To care for your little flock.
You gave them a good foundation—
You built upon the Rock.
Yet, many a night you were awake,
With folded hands in prayer.
You wiped the feverish little brow—
To sleep, you didn’t dare.
Your hands gave love and comfort.
They were gentle in their quest
To help a friend, and share God’s love—
You always gave your best.
The years they came; the years they went;
Your hands grew wrinkled and old.
They were silent little witnesses
Of stories yet untold.
You strove to serve the Master.
Your dedication, we recall.
We hear your voice in our memories—
You stand so proud and tall!
You reached fourscore and ten—and more,
And the world is a better place.
You cared enough to touch the lives
Of many—by God’s grace.
We have courage for the future,
’Cause you’ve gone this way before.
We promise we’ll not fail you—
We’ll give our best and more!
To reach the coveted milestone
Is a blessing you received.
To live throughout eternity
Is the goal we must achieve.
Your children loved and adored you.
To this they will attest.
If they could tell you—I know they’d say,
“My Mom—She Was the Best!”

– Jo Phelps –

Mother’s Wisdom

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I often marvel,” said a middle-aged man, “at the way my mother used to work out the kinks and knots in our young lives. She had such a faculty of lowering the pitch of our indignations and of placing before us in the true light all sides of our troubles. Instead of fanning the flames of our unjust and unbalanced estimates of the wrongs we thought we had suffered, she calmly judged the case and showed us where we were at fault. She showed us the unwise results of jumping at conclusions, and the wrong we did ourselves and others by forming unjust judgments of them. And I cannot remember that I ever heard her speak an unkind, uncharitable word of anyone. What a pity that we cannot see these wonderful characteristics in our young days, and that they are not revealed to us until so many of our mothers have passed away, and we cannot tell them how they influenced our lives for good?”

When my friend left me I found myself thinking of the wonderful influence of mothers. To the child what mother says and does is always right. Mother’s estimate of people and things is conclusive. What opinions she has must be right, for is not mother the wisest and best person in the whole world?

If the boy has a quarrel and comes home to tell her that his mate is the meanest boy in the world, that he has injured him and he hates him and will not speak to him again —“never as long as he lives”—the unwise mother will take her boy’s part; she will depreciate his mate in his hearing, and leave the impression on her son’s mind that he is perfectly justifiable in his denunciation of his former friend.

But the wise mother will listen calmly to her boy’s statement of the wrongs he thinks he has suffered, and then she will ask him what he did himself to bring about such a state of unpleasantness. She will not magnify the wrong, but make it as light as possible, and convince her boy that he was somewhat to blame himself, and that it “always takes two to make a quarrel, but one can always end it”—showing that a forgiving, forgetting spirit is the right one to be fostered, and that it is no sign of weakness, but strength, to go more than half way in the making up of quarrels and being good friends again.

Children often come in and tell some stories detrimental to their neighbors, which they have heard unwisely told over in some of their young companions’ homes. Oh, how much trouble and unjust prejudices have come from gossip of this kind spoken before children, who have not the discretion to keep it to themselves!

The wise mother never encourages such gossip. She deprecates it, and teaches her children that charity which makes the child and the man and the woman so Christlike all through life. If we mothers could only, as Madam Swetchine says, “employ heavenly forces to keep our balance amid earthly ones”!

Let us try to keep out of our own and our children’s hearts all bitterness and irritation and the words that have stings in them and hurt so cruelly. Let us be careful not to talk too much of the burdens of life, and estimate their weight in high figures—rather by patient bearing to show the strength that comes from the help given by the mother’s God, in whom she trusts and on whose arm she leans.

The true mother has no time or strength to give to the vanities of life. “Blessed is the memory of a good mother. It floats to us now like the beautiful perfume of some woodland blossom. The music of other voices may be lost, but the entrancing memory of hers will echo in our souls forever. Other faces will fade away and be forgotten, but hers will shine on until the light from heaven’s portals shall glorify our own. When in the fitful pauses of our busy life our feet wander back to the old homestead, and, crossing the well-worn threshold, we stand once more in the low, quaint room so hallowed by her presence, how the feeling of childish innocence and dependence comes over us as we kneel down in the evening hour just where we long years ago knelt at mother’s knee, lisping ‘Our Father’! How many times when the tempter lures us on, the memory of those sacred hours, that mother’s words, her faith and prayers, saved us from plunging into the abyss of sin! Years have piled great drifts between her and us, but they have not hidden from our sight the glory of her pure, unselfish love.” —Christian Work.

The Signs of the Times, November 12, 1894.

Conviction vs. Preference

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As a young attorney, David C. Gibbs Jr. could hardly believe his ears as the pastor relayed how his church was being sued by the state for operating its ministry. As he reviewed the legal documents, Dr. Gibbs was astonished that such a thing could happen in modern America. From that very first case through the present day, God has blessed Dr. Gibbs’ commitment to legally help churches, pastors, and Christians free of charge. The ministry has grown substantially through God’s blessing over the last 40 years as attorneys, legal assistants, and other ministry workers have joined the team of “legal missionaries.”

Shared here are excerpts from his book, Conviction vs. Preference, by Attorney David C. Gibbs Jr., Christian Law Association, Conneaut, Ohio 44030. These are actual incidents that have occurred during court proceedings.

When a Christian stands to defend his beliefs in a court room, his testimony becomes quite critical, for the court has said a man cannot hold his beliefs if he cannot describe them. A belief is not a hunch. It is not a feeling or an “it seems to me.”

There are people who have gone to the witness stand and after stating what they believe are asked, “Well, why do you believe that? Can you show me that in the word of God?” Some do not even know if what they believe is there, but reply with “it sort of seems to me.” The problem the court has with a “well, it seems to me,” is that feelings change rapidly and as a consequence, a hunch or a feeling, or an “it seems to me” will not be honored.

In a court of law, a defendant must be able to state his beliefs from the Bible orally. The court does not expect eloquence, but it does expect the defendant to be able to explain his or her beliefs in a simple and concise manner. It also requires knowledge of those beliefs. This becomes important because often we like to hide behind a title. We may claim to be a “separated fundamentalist” or “a Christian,” which are descriptive terms that may have to be described more fully. In the matter of beliefs and believers, the court realized there must be a test to determine which beliefs are upheld and which beliefs will not be honored and protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

In 1972, the court came down with such a test. Ironically, that test case involved Christian education. An Amish man who lived in the state of Wisconsin by the name of Jonas Yoder told the state that he would no longer send his children to the state school. The state of Wisconsin advised him that he must, to which he replied, “I don’t think you hear me. I am not going to send my children to your school.” Mr. Yoder was threatened with being sued if he refused to comply but still he refused. He was warned that if he was sued and if the state won the case, he could go to jail. His only response was that he would not send his children to the school. Even under the threat of losing his children, he refused to change his mind, explaining that his religious beliefs prohibited him from complying with the demand.

Mr. Yoder did not fare very well in court. He lost the case and was told that now that he had had his day in court, he must comply with the ruling. He still refused, never altering his position and he found out something very interesting. After losing his appeal, his case went to the U. S. Supreme Court, where Mr. Jonas Yoder was told that the First Amendment protected him and he was not required to send his children to the state school. This case laid down the test that was to be used for all subsequent cases to determine which beliefs are to be protected by the First Amendment and which are not.

The first definition the court made was, “Every religious belief is one of two types. It is either a conviction or a preference.”

Most Christians carelessly use the word conviction. In reality, the test of whether or not a matter is a conviction is a very severe one and not to be taken lightly. It will be seen here that most of us possess only preferences.

WHAT IS A PREFERENCE?

A preference is a belief that is held with such intensity that a person can go into full time service in the name of that belief. He can be a minister of the gospel, a Christian schoolteacher or a missionary. He might even give all of his wealth to it and the court decides he still has only a preference. His belief may energize him to stand on a street corner and witness and proselytize, but it would still only be a preference. If a belief can change under some circumstances, the court calls it a preference. True conviction cannot be changed!

  1. Peer Pressure

The court has found that peer pressure causes many people to change their beliefs. A minister may study the word of God and believe that there is something he knows he must do. He resolves in his heart to make that change, but when he shares it with his friends or other ministers or his congregation, they convince him to tone it down a bit so others can cooperate with him. Little by little he bends, proving that what he first said was a preference. He preferred it, he wanted to do it and even resolved to do it, but he changed. The court says that if you can change the belief, it is a preference.

Bear in mind that if a person can ever show from the word of God where something they do is wrong then they must change it. In the context of this topic it refers to peer pressure causing good men to change. In that case the belief is a preference.

  1. People Pressure

People pressure causes many people to change their beliefs. When a man knows what he believes is right and allows the pressure of others to cause him to bend, the court calls the belief a preference. The court is well aware that the family is probably the strongest influence of change in a person’s life. The court says if “family pressure” will cause you to change, your beliefs are preferences.

  1. Lawsuit Pressure

Lawsuit pressure causes many people to change their beliefs. There have been many men who say, “I am for this, but I am not going to get sued over it because the news media makes us into villains.” Defending a ministry against a lawsuit can be very expensive. There are some great victories that are publicized but not many are interested in those who have churches of about 100 that are reduced to 20, or a man with a church of 350 to 400 reduced to 60. If you avoid taking a stand that will cause you to get sued because you do not want to see your church membership drop and that causes you to change your beliefs, then your belief was a preference.

  1. Jail Pressure

Jail pressure causes many people to change their beliefs. Jails today are thought by some to be like holiday inns but they are horrible places. The incarcerated are isolated from their Christian influence, friends and family. They are told when to go to bed, when to get up, when to eat, how to eat, when to stand, when to sit, when to go to the restroom. And they are thrown into the middle of often-brutal men who normally relish the thought of breaking a Bible-toter.

Would you go to jail for a matter of your faith? Throughout history great men of faith have gone to jail and nobody understood why they went. The court says if you change your beliefs for fear of going to jail, then your beliefs are preferences.

You may believe you could go to jail but would you, as a man, watch your wife go to jail? Levi Whisner, in Ohio, faced that threat and made plans for who was going to take care of their children while he and his wife were incarcerated.

  1. Death Pressure

Death pressure causes most people to change their beliefs. The court will ask if you are prepared to die for your belief. The court says that for a belief to be a conviction it will not change, even in the face of death. Why? What creates a conviction? For a Christian it is only one thing. He believes that his God requires it of him.

Only a belief that is God-ordered is a conviction. Therefore the court must first decide if your belief is a conviction or a preference. Only a conviction is protected by the Constitution.

WHAT IS A CONVICTION?

  1. A conviction is something that you purpose in your heart, as a fabric of your belief system. It is one that you will not change due to any circumstance. It says, “When you believe that your God has required something of you, you will withstand all of the tests put to you.” It has been said that a man is never made by a crisis. The crisis exposes the man for what he already is.

There are parallels to this in the history of the three Hebrew children in the book of Daniel. When taken into captivity, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego purposed in their hearts not to defile themselves. It was something about which they determined with resolve.

  1. A conviction must be pre-determined. When Nebuchadnezzar erected his golden image and commanded that all the people bow when the instruments played, these three men stood erect. A question might be asked at this point, where were all the other Hebrews? There were more than three Hebrews in Babylon who must have been in compliance with the King’s orders, for only these three Hebrews, who had predetermined what they would do, remained standing.
  2. A conviction is a personal belief. The court says that if you require others to stand with you to maintain your beliefs, then your beliefs are preferences and not convictions. There have been preachers willing to stand on their belief only if they have the backing of a certain college or group to stand with them. That doesn’t go over in a court, for your belief must be a personal conviction regardless of what anyone else thinks or does. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did stand together, but in reality they stood alone. Their decision was made more difficult when going against other Hebrews who buckled under the pressure of impending death.
  3. A conviction is non-negotiable. When they were brought before the king, Nebuchadnezzar did a strange thing. He broke the law by giving them a second chance. They said to the king that they did not have to be careful how they answered him. They had resolved that they were not going to bow and that was not going to change. They told the king that this was a matter of faith and non-negotiable.

The court says if you can discuss the negotiation of your faith, it is a matter of preference. Why? How do you negotiate what is God ordered? Recall what the three Hebrews said because it illustrates the last point the court chose. “King, we believe that our God can deliver us, but even if you throw us into that furnace and God does not deliver us, we are not going to bow” (Daniel 3:16–18).

  1. A conviction is not contingent on victory. The court said if you must be assured of victory before you stand, your beliefs are preferences and not convictions. That is a test the court is beginning to follow because many are more concerned about winning than about standing. Bear this in mind. In the Christian faith we do not fight for victory; we fight in victory. The battle was won at the cross of Calvary and we stand in that victory.

When Levi Whisner went to trial and lost, he still won. When he appealed and lost, he won. When he went to the Supreme Court of the state of Ohio and the judges unanimously said he was right, he was right all along. A court does not tell us whether we are right or wrong. We are right as long as we honor the word of God. Levi recognized that. He stood in this country when no other man saw the issue. He stood for all of us. He stood with no one beside him. When all the tests of preference and conviction were applied, he passed.

THE ULTIMATE TEST OF CONVICTION

The court recognizes a problem because people sometimes do not tell the truth. In the courtroom I have seen some men who have been incredibly casual with the truth. The court decided there must be a way to know whether what is being claimed is the truth, if it is preference or conviction. Real convictions will have already passed the other preference tests: peer pressure, people pressure, lawsuit pressure, jail pressure and death pressure.

  1. A conviction will be demonstrated by a person’s lifestyle. The court said you do not have the right to say you have a conviction unless it can be seen that the conviction is lived with some degree of consistency. When the court begins to apply that test, good Christian people often become quite uncomfortable.

The word of God says in James that faith is dead without corresponding works. It is like a body with no spirit and is meaningless, because the thing that gives it vibrancy and life is absent. The court will examine the evidence of your faith in action in order to prove it is a conviction.

For example, it may be claimed that children ought to be sent to a Bible based Christian school, believing it to be the only desirable place for them to receive an education that will equip them for life. However, if you do not send your child to a Christian school, then have your child be the best witness he can be in the public school. The court said that is a classic example of a preference statement.

The court is looking for consistency

If we say that something is a matter of conviction, the source of those beliefs is the word of God. We teach a child that it is a sin to disobey the word of God. The court says the opposite of conviction must be a sin and you must act on that belief or else it is not a conviction.

We really cannot take exception to being required to be consistent because that is in line with our beliefs. If the Bible requires it, it is God ordered. If it is God ordered and we choose not to do it, it is a sin. A Christian believes that disobedience to what God has ordered is the classic definition of sin.

According to the court, stating that something is a conviction, you must be prepared to say that its opposite is a sin. If you say you have a conviction about Christian education, then you must be prepared to say that to not give a child a Christian education is a sin. If you say that you have a conviction about a certain lifestyle, then you must say the opposite is a sin, or it is not a conviction. When a person says he ought to do some things, but wants to be more tolerant and a little more open minded, the court determines it a preference.

In the courtroom you must be able to define what you believe. You must tell the court whether you hold your beliefs as preferences or convictions and be able to explain to the court that the opposite of these convictions is a sin. What happens if you don’t tell them it is a sin? The following is dialogue that I have personally witnessed:

“Pastor, do you believe that every child must receive a Christian education?”

“Yes I do.”

“Well, Pastor, do you hold that as a conviction of your faith?”

“Yes I do.”

“Pastor, have you ever told your people that not giving your child a Christian education is a sin?”

“No I have not done that.”

“Why have you not done that Pastor?”

“I just have not gotten around to it.”

“How long have you been getting around to it?”

“Oh, a couple of years.”

Then the pastor was asked: “Pastor, is it not that the reason you have not said that is because you were afraid of the effects? You were afraid that the public school teachers in your congregation would leave? You were afraid that the people who do not agree with Christian education in your church, and are good givers might be offended. You were afraid of what the repercussions would be. Is that not the truth as to why you did not say that?”

One must bear in mind the pastor has taken an oath of affirmation to tell the truth in front of the whole world. Half of his congregation is sitting in that courtroom and he must now answer that question truthfully. If you say that you have a conviction make sure that you do.

Otherwise the court becomes a very painful place in which to be trapped. Unfortunately, I have seen it happen to many Christians.

  1. A conviction is consistent to itself. In this matter of lifestyle consistency, the court says that consistent practice means reasonably consistent, not perfect. One judge said to me, “Your people do not have to be perfect, but they are becoming very perfect at being imperfect. I would like you to see if we could match up the two L’s—Life and Lip.” A good part of every court case is about whether what you say with your mouth is consistently being practiced with your life. Let us examine how easily we form convictions that can be challenged in court.

It is a conviction of Christians that pornography should not be viewed, that obscenity should not be spoken, that nudity should not be viewed. It is a conviction that unrighteous themes should not be exalted. Most would agree that these are the convictions of a Christian because the Bible requires it. Is it a sin to do otherwise? Yes. These are things that most of us believe, yet I have seen the following happen:

In a courtroom people have been asked,

“Do you own a television?”

“Yes I do.”

“How much did that television cost?”

“Two to three hundred dollars.”

“Where do you keep that television?”

“In the living room or family room.”

“Why do you keep it there?”

“We keep it there so people can see it.”

“Is it not true that if you do not plug in that television and turn it on, it does not work? That television cannot do anything until you turn it on, and it is your choice whether or not you watch it?”

“Yes, this is true.”

“On this television do you ever see or hear obscenity, or do you ever hear someone curse or swear?”

“Yes!”

“Is there any nudity?”

“Yes!”

“Do you ever see unrighteous themes exalted on television?”

“All the time.”

“Do you ever see righteous themes debased?”

“Yes.”

“Yet you have no problem watching those? Do you have no problem paying hundreds of dollars to have an instrument that allows all of those things that you say you are against in the most traveled portion of your house, and you say you even have to turn it on before it can do anything to you?”

Do you see the inconsistency? That person just showed the court through his lifestyle that the convictions he mouthed were not consistently practiced. Bear in mind that you don’t have to believe anything, but if you are going to say that you believe something, and that it is a conviction, then you must live it and at such a level that when the court looks at your life, they can see consistency.

If a man stood with an alcoholic drink and told you he did not believe in drinking alcohol and then guzzled it down he would appear to be a hypocrite. But that is exactly what happens in the courtroom when people say one thing, but they do another. The court will go into all of the areas of life, including the use of your finances, and the use of your time, to see if you are living your beliefs with visible consistency.

Your life is the truest test of your convictions. Many Christians live lives that defy their stated beliefs, being against sin in some forms that they readily accept in another form. They denounce the actions of some that they allow to be acceptable in themselves.

The problem we face here is that convictions are being tested and for most of us that scrutiny will verify that many of our so-called convictions are merely preferences. Most of us claim that we would die for beliefs that we are not even consistently living for in other areas of our lives. We have convictions for morality in the school that we do not enforce in our own living rooms. This proves that most of our beliefs are only preferences that we personally find comfortable and convenient.

The greatest tragedy is not the inconsistency before the court, but the insult before Christ. Far too often we bow before the altar of self-serving living and bring a reproach upon the Saviour who bought us with the price of His own blood. It is a sad commentary on our love and commitment to Him that we have very few beliefs that could stand up to the serious examination of this world. The greatness of the New Testament church was that the believers were not only willing to die for their beliefs, but their accusers could find no fault or inconsistency in them. Oh, that the world could say the same about us. Someone has said, “Your walk talks and your talk talks, but your walk talks louder than your talk talks.”

Perhaps it is time to place ourselves on trial to see if we really believe what we say we believe. Are we really living consistently by the things that we say are convictions? Whether or not you are ever brought to a courtroom and put on trial by men, you are on trial every day before your God. He demands holy living and consistency of life, not just in simplicity of word. Anyone can say he believes in certain things, but as a child of God we ought to live like it. God help us to make it so.