Editorial

Living Representatives

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Recently, I had the opportunity to visit with a gentleman who has traveled over a large percentage of the world and has become acquainted with people in many countries. He told me there are many troubled populations who realize that things are terribly wrong in this world, and they are trying to figure out what is really happening, and why. They are seeking for truth but do not know where to find it. The Lord has revealed to those who understand the three angels’ messages the answer to the cry of these multitudes.

“A great work is to be accomplished in setting before men the saving truths of the gospel. This is the means ordained by God to stem the tide of moral corruption. This is His means of restoring His moral image in man. It is His remedy for universal disorganization. It is the power that draws men together in unity. To present these truths is the work of the third angel’s message. The Lord designs that the presentation of this message shall be the highest, greatest work carried on in the world at this time.” Testimonies, Vol. 6, 11

However, God needs a certain kind of person to take this message.

“The cause of God in the earth today is in need of living representatives of Bible truth. … God is calling not only upon ministers, but also upon physicians, nurses, colporteurs, Bible workers, and other consecrated laymen of varied talent who have a knowledge of the word of God and who know the power of His grace … .” The Acts of the Apostles, 158, 159

“Everyone must lift the cross, and in modesty, meekness, and lowliness of mind, take up his God-given duties, engaging in personal effort for those around him who need help and light.” The Review and Herald, July 21, 1891

“There may be marked defects in the character of an individual, yet when he becomes a true disciple of Jesus, the power of divine grace makes him a new creature. Christ’s love transforms, sanctifies him.” My Life Today, 257

Religious Laws

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Who has the right to make a religious law? Governments in this world are authorized by the God of heaven to make civil laws, laws that relate to the relationships between human beings—the second table of the ten commandments.

Paul makes this very plain in Romans 13. Peter also makes it plain in 1 Peter 2. For example, the Bible supports the death penalty for those who commit murder (Genesis 9; Romans 13).

But the first four commandments—the first table of the ten commandments—relate to our relationship with God; and concerning these commandments, no government has the right to interfere.

In 1 Peter 2, Peter encourages submission to government, but he himself said when the religious authorities commanded him to violate his conscientious convictions toward God, “We ought to obey God rather than men.” Acts 5:29, last part

In Romans 13, Paul states explicitly the authority of the state to enforce the commandments relating to murder, adultery stealing, and lying (Romans 13:9). But Romans 14 tells us, in the most explicit language, that there is no civil or religious authority that has the authority to enforce the first four commandments in the law:

“One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind.

“He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord, and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.

“For none of us lives to himself, and no man dies to himself.

“For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.

“For to this end Christ died and rose, and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and living.

“But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

“For it is written: ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.’

“So, then each of us shall give account of himself to God.” Romans 14:5–12

Concerning religious laws, the Bible says, we have one Lawgiver, one Judge and one King (Isaiah 33:22).

The Sudden Change Coming

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“There will soon be a sudden change in God’s dealings. The world in its perversity is being visited by casualties—by floods, storms, fires, earthquakes, famines, wars, and bloodshed. The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power; yet He will not at all acquit the wicked. ‘The Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet.’ O that men might understand the patience and longsuffering of God! He is putting under restraint His own attributes. His omnipotent power is under the control of Omnipotence. … But His forbearance will not always continue. Who is prepared for the sudden change that will take place in God’s dealing with sinful men?” Fundamentals of Christian Education, 356

God called the second advent movement into existence to warn the world that the judgement of this world had come. Do not let any misguided person cause you to forget that we are living in that time when all its inhabitants will be judged by the God of heaven and the millions of angels at His court (Daniel 7:9, 10) First the righteous will be judged (1 Peter 4:17) and then the unrighteous—those who have not accepted the gospel and endured to the end (Matthew 24:13).

The judgment of the righteous will end at midnight—the darkest period of human history (Matthew 25:6) And a short time after this, the Lord Jesus will appear in the clouds of heaven (Mark 4:29; Revelation 14:15).

Christ’s first advent to this world was not to judge but to save the world (John 3:17). At His second advent, He will come to judge its inhabitants (2 Timothy 4:1; Acts 10:43).

“People are now settling to rest, imagining themselves secure under the popular churches; but let all beware, lest there is a place left open for the enemy to gain an entrance. Great pains should be taken to keep this subject before the people. … The day of the Lord will come suddenly, unexpectedly. The fearful warning of the prophecy is addressed to every soul. Let no one feel that he is secure from the danger of being surprised. Let no one’s interpretation of prophecy rob you of the conviction of the knowledge of events which show that this great event is near at hand.” Ibid., 336

A True, Sincere Christian

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A man teaching a class on how to become a salesman stated that 85% of the decisions people make are based on emotion or feeling. A decision based on feeling led to Lucifer’s fall in heaven, and will, no doubt, result in millions of souls in this world being lost.

“His [Lucifer’s] disaffection was proved to be without cause, and he was made to see what would be the result of persisting in revolt. Lucifer was convinced that he was in the wrong. He saw that ‘the Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works’ (Psalm 145:17); that the divine statutes are just, and that he ought to acknowledge them as such before all heaven. Had he done this, he might have saved himself and many angels. … He nearly reached the decision to return, but pride forbade him. It was too great a sacrifice for one who had been so highly honored to confess that he had been in error, that his imaginings were false, and to yield to the authority which he had been working to prove unjust.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 39

Feelings were the problem for Judas. “He saw his faults, but instead of correcting them revenged himself by picking flaws in others around him. … You can gain no spiritual strength by talking about the defects of those around you; but if you continue to do this, like Judas you will eventually separate yourselves from God and His work.” The Review and Herald, August 18, 1885

Making decisions based on feelings is one of the biggest problems in Christendom today.

“Look at men who are professedly converted under the excitement of feeling. They are not brought to face the great moral mirror, the law of God, which discovers to them the defects in their character. … They feel no binding claims of the law of God … they have not a sensitive conscience toward sin. They have not a fixed principle. … They are unsound at heart. … [T]hey will follow inclination [and] you will see that there is not firmness when it is really needed.

“Oh, how much to be admired is a true, sincere Christian! Such a one will be loyal to God and true to his Saviour, living a life of purity, cultivating habits of the strictest temperance, making the word of God his daily study, earnest and faithful to duty, not wearying in well-doing, growing up into full stature in Jesus Christ, his Head.” Manuscript Releases, Vol. 4, 186

Inheritance

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Inheritance is a wonderful thing. Some people are geniuses because of what they inherited. Inheritance is also an awful thing. Some people must be taken care of like infants for their entire lifetime because of what they inherited. Some babies die before or shortly after they are born because their inherited physical or mental defects make it impossible for their body to survive.

Not only do we inherit physical and mental qualities but we inherit spiritual qualities. This is something that many Christians, including many theologians, seem not to understand. However, Job understood something about this subject and he discusses it in some detail in Job 13 and 14. He said, “Man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. … Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one!” Job 14:1, 4

“The law of God is the standard of character; it is the expression of the character of God Himself. It was given to Adam and Eve in Eden. God planted for them this beautiful garden, and supplied their every want. Was it too much to ask them to respond to all His love and care by obedience to His righteous law, which, if kept, would have secured to them happiness, peace, and joy forever?

“God gave our first parents a pure and upright character, in harmony with His law; and had they remained obedient, they would have bequeathed the same character to their posterity. But they listened to Satan’s specious temptations, and transgressed this holy law, and the result was death. And the sons and daughters of Adam, instead of coming into the world, as God first made man, righteous and heirs of eternal life, have been the victims of sin and death and woe. This is the result of the transgression of God’s law in Eden.” The Bible Echo, July 29, 1895 [Emphasis supplied for clarity.]

The common use of the word bequeath is “to give or leave to another by last will and testament. Example: to bequeath an estate.” But this is not the only definition of bequeath. It also has the following dictionary definition and is used in this sense by Ellen White in the above paragraph—“to hand down, to give by inheritance.”

If Adam and Eve had never sinned, all of their posterity would have inherited a perfect body, mind, and character. However, because of their sin in Eden, all of their posterity are born in sin, and they are doomed to die by inheritance. They are also the inheritors of many other woes that are common in mankind today. Mrs. White writes, “Sorrow filled heaven, as it was realized that man was lost and the world that God created was to be filled with mortals doomed to misery, sickness, and death, and that there was no way of escape for the offender! The whole family of Adam must die.” Early Writings, 127

Your Nature Can Be Changed

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It is only the overcomer who at last will receive a crown and eternal life.(See Revelation 21:5-7; 1 John 5:4, 18.)

All must overcome sin if they are to have eternal life, but there are many who become discouraged, believing they cannot overcome because they inherited evil tendencies (propensities) from Adam; tendencies they cannot change. Consequently, overcoming is not possible for them, or so they say. However, Inspiration tells us it is possible.

“You may claim much leniency because of your human nature, of your temptations and trials, and seek to excuse yourself for sin because of inherited tendencies, but Christ gave Himself in behalf of humanity, and there is no reason for failure. Christ bore temptations such as you will never be called upon to bear. He suffered as you will never suffer. He knew all your griefs, He has carried your sorrows. He has made it possible for you to be an overcomer. Do not say it is impossible for you to overcome. Do not say, ‘It is my nature to do thus and so, and I cannot do otherwise. I have inherited weaknesses that make me powerless before temptation.’ We know you cannot overcome in your own strength; but help has been laid upon One who is mighty to save. When God gave His only begotten Son, He provided everything essential to your salvation. … The resources of heaven are open to us. We should believe this precious truth. And when the enemy comes in like a flood to discourage and to dishearten, the Spirit of the Lord will raise up a standard against him. … All heaven was poured out to us in Christ, and He that spared not His own Son will not withhold any good thing from those who walk uprightly.” The Upward Look, 154

The true child of God will be made free of every defect of character by the blood of the Lamb and the transforming power of God. And it is the privilege of every believer to possess Christ’s nature. Jesus spoke of this change in the human heart when He said to Nicodemus, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see (discern) the kingdom of God.” John 3:3

“The blessings of salvation are for every soul. Nothing but his own choice can prevent any man from becoming a partaker of the promise in Christ by the gospel.” Conflict and Courage, 297

A Good Conscience

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In a letter written during his imprisonment in Rome, the Apostle Paul asked the Christian Jews to “Pray for us; for we are confident that we have a good conscience, in all things desiring to live honorably.” Hebrews 13:18

To a wicked Roman governor Paul wrote, “This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.” Acts 24:16

Human authorities that make laws to restrict religious liberty assume a right that belongs to God alone. (See The Desire of Ages, 630.) “The precepts of the Scriptures, conveyed through the understanding, are to rule the conscience; … God speaking in the Bible, and not the church speaking through the priesthood, is the one infallible guide.” The Great Controversy, 102

The way to have a good conscience is to become, by the grace of God, a holy person:

“The true Christian obtains an experience which brings holiness. He is without a spot of guilt upon the conscience or a taint of corruption upon the soul. The spirituality of the law of God, with its limiting principles, is brought into his life. The light of truth irradiates his understanding. A glow of perfect love for the Redeemer clears away the miasma which has interposed between his soul and God. The will of God has become his will, pure, elevated, refined, and sanctified. His countenance reveals the light of heaven. His body is a fit temple for the Holy Spirit. Holiness adorns his character. God can commune with him, for soul and body are in harmony with God.” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Vol. 7, 909

If we are to be ready for the Second Coming of Jesus, our conscience must be cleansed, just as the sanctuary had to be cleansed.

“For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” Hebrews 9:13, 14

“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:22, 23

Do You Always Tell the Truth?

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When Jesus described Satan’s character, He specified two chief characteristics—he was a murderer and a liar.

“You [the Jewish leaders] are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.” John 8:44, 45

Lying has become so commonplace that people do not believe those in high positions in the church, in business, or in government because they have been lied to so many times. You may have caught someone in your family, church, school, or workplace in a lie.

Lying isn’t always telling a “whopper,” an outright, bald-faced lie—like the man or woman involved in an adulterous relationship, and when suspicion falls on them they deny, deny, and deny. That’s an outright lie. But there is also the “little white lie” that intends to deceive. “The check’s in the mail,” but it hasn’t been written.

Before you succumb to this most successful temptation of the devil, read Revelation 21:8, 27; 22:15. The Lord warns us that no liar will be in the kingdom of heaven.

God hates lying. Satan deceived one-third of the angels in heaven by lying, causing the first war—in heaven (Revelation 12:7-9). And by telling a series of lies, Satan deceived Eve, bringing sickness, pain, suffering, and death to the inhabitants of this world.

In Proverbs 6, we find the seven things that God hates. Two specifically involve lying, while the other five are almost always involved with lying.

“An intention to deceive is what constitutes falsehood. By a glance of the eye, a motion of the hand, an expression of the countenance, a falsehood may be told as effectually as by words. All intentional overstatement, every hint or insinuation calculated to convey an erroneous or exaggerated impression, even the statement of facts in such a manner as to mislead, is falsehood. This precept forbids every effort to injure our neighbor’s reputation by misrepresentation or evil surmising, by slander or tale bearing. Even the intentional suppression of truth, by which injury may result to others, is a violation of the ninth commandment.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 309

One of the greatest joys of following Jesus is that He always tells the truth, for “it is impossible for God to lie.” Hebrews 6:18

All That Is Hidden Will Be Revealed

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Today, because of increased technology, we can locate, apprehend, and prosecute criminals who, even 50 years ago, would have remained at large for years. DNA, fingerprint, gun databases, facial recognition software, and behavioral analysis, combined with the worldwide web, are used by law enforcement agencies around the globe to catch criminals guilty of any number of crimes. However, in spite of all this knowledge and technology, some of the greatest crimes, to this day, remain unsolved.

What is possibly the greatest crime in America during the 20th century was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. This crime was committed in public, in broad daylight, with thousands of people watching—some lining the cavalcade route, others watching on television. The press took pictures and filmed the event; citizens lining the street took home movies and snapshots. Yet, still to this day, the truth regarding this assassination remains hidden. How does this happen?

In his book, JFK Conspiracy of Silence, Charles A. Crenshaw, M.D., one of the attending physicians on duty on November 22, 1963, at Parkland Hospital in Dallas when President Kennedy arrived in their emergency room, writes the following:

“ ‘I have nothing to add. Now, if you would excuse me.’ With that, I turned and threaded my way through the crowd of people toward the emergency room. At that moment, I entered the conspiracy of silence. I wasn’t asked or told to do so, nor was any overt pressure ever placed upon me. I was acting from an instinctive survival feeling … . To do otherwise would equal saying … ‘Oswald didn’t shoot him in the head because the President was shot from the front.’ None of us doctors were willing to do that. … I reasoned that anyone that would go so far as to eliminate the President of the United States would surely not hesitate to kill a doctor.” Conspiracy of Silence, 152–154

Whether this crime remains unsolved or has been solved and the details merely kept hidden from the public, a day is coming when everything hidden will be revealed.

So here is the question we must ask ourselves: “Is there anything I have hidden away that must be confessed?” If so, I must make it right before probation closes. Otherwise, it will be publically revealed when it is too late for me to be forgiven, and I will be doomed, lost forever.

Now is the time to make things right, friend. Don’t wait until it is too late.

How Can These Things Be?

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What does it mean to be born again? Christians often ponder this question, seeking a deeper understanding. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” John 3:5. He also told him not to be surprised by His words, but Nicodemus still wondered, “How can these things be?” Verse 9

When born into this world, we are born of the flesh—our natural, carnal nature (the will of man). As a result, every human being has failed to keep the law of God (Romans 3:23). And because of this inheritance, we are sold under sin (Romans 7:14), are at enmity with God (James 4:4), and cannot keep the law of God, even if we wanted to because our carnal nature prevents it. However, obedience is a requirement for receiving the gift of salvation.

The Holy Spirit speaks to my carnal heart, enabling me to see my unfaithfulness and disobedience to my heavenly Father. This personal journey of realization and repentance is a deeply introspective and contemplative process. I can see that Christ came to this world to bear my sins on the cross, and I can see just how sinful I am and how much I have hurt my Best Friend. Sorrowful and remorseful, I cry out, as did Paul, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Romans 7:24

“Such is the cry that has gone up from burdened hearts in all lands and all ages. To all, there is but one answer, ‘Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.’ John 1:29.” The Faith I Live By, 96

The first step in the Christian life is repentance, which allows the Holy Spirit to produce in me a new life that is obedient to God, believes in Jesus as my personal Saviour, and commits my life to His sovereignty (The Desire of Ages, 175). Only then am I truly born again.

“I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart.” Psalm 40:8