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Health – Are World Pandemics Inevitable?

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The year 2020 will be recorded in history books as the year of the global Coronavirus pandemic. It is not the first pandemic the world has experienced, but consequences of pandemics are more disastrous today because of easy global travel.

Are such pandemics inevitable? While we may never find the exact origin of the 2020 pandemic, most pandemics in recent decades, if not centuries, seem to have a common denominator – they are zoonotic infections, i.e., viruses transmitted from animals to humans. The origins are not from just any animals, they are from the kind that we shouldn’t handle in the first place, let alone kill them for food. These pandemics happen as a result of direct violation of dietary and hygienic principles laid out in Leviticus 11.

When reading the book of Leviticus, one is in awe of the knowledge people had thousands of years ago. Yet here we are in the 21st century and we violate the basic rules of health left and right.

People point to some Asian countries with wet markets, which are breeding grounds for diseases of all kinds. True, the torture and slaughter of animals we shouldn’t even touch are happening there on a large scale. May these horrific places be a warning for our own violations of biblical health principles.

The Bible is very specific on how to avoid animal-borne diseases:

Land Animals

The beginning of Leviticus 11 clearly states which animals God allowed to be consumed: “You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud” (Leviticus 11:3 NIV). The following verses clarify that both of these requirements are to be met, not just one. There are animals that have split hooves such as the pig, but it does not chew cud. And vice versa; there are animals that do chew cud, but do not have split hooves such as rabbit. Animals who do not meet these two requirements are declared unclean and unfit for human consumption. Their carcasses are not to be touched.

Water Animals

“Of all the creatures living in the water of the seas and the streams you may eat any that have fins and scales” (Leviticus 11:9 NIV). The same rules apply as in land animals: creatures that do not meet both requirements are not to be consumed and their carcasses not to be handled.

Birds

Consumption of all vulture birds is forbidden. Eagles, kites, gulls, ravens, owls, bats – all these are specifically named in the Bible as unclean (verses 13–19).

Insects

We are forbidden to consume all flying and crawling insects. Some may be surprised that consumption of some insects is permitted. The rule: those that have jointed legs for hopping on the ground, such as the grasshopper (verses 20–23).

Biblical Rules on Handling Animals
There may be situations when people have to remove or handle a carcass of a dead animal. Whether the animal meets the definition of clean or unclean, in such case the person is to wash himself and his clothes and should quarantine himself for the rest of the day. This hygienic rule is not taken from any modern brochure on hygiene. It was recorded thousands of years ago in Leviticus 11:24.
Should any live animal categorized as unclean touch any object that people use, such object is to be thoroughly washed and is not to be used until the next day. The book of Leviticus specifically mentions rats and snakes. The biblical counsel goes to such details as clay pots. These can’t be properly cleaned because of their porous nature. Such pots are to be destroyed if any unclean animal touches them. Any food that has come into contact with such a pot or animal is to be discarded (verses 29–35).

What more to add? These rules are so simple, yet most world inhabitants ignore them despite the fact that we have had this knowledge for millennia. We could have avoided the majority of diseases and pandemics if we stuck to these principles. Further chapters of Leviticus 12–15 provide simple principles on how to prevent contamination and infecting others if someone does get sick. These are very simple rules, yet we prefer to ignore them as well.

Most Christians eat creatures that the Bible explicitly forbids to consume. Just to name a few: pigs, shellfish, rabbits, lobsters, crabs, and all kinds of unclean fish (Leviticus 11;5–11). Nothing is off limit, depending on the particular culture of a country.

Christendom had to invent excuses why these principles are no longer binding. A common excuse is that these rules were only for the Jews. If these rules are for our health protection, does the Jewish population have a weaker immune system or perhaps some superior digestive system? It’s simple biology, not religion. All races of people are biologically prone to the same infections and diseases.

These unclean animals have a very important role in nature. They keep the environment clean, which prevents the spread of infections and viruses. While doing this dirty job, these animals carry all kinds of viruses for which they’re equipped. Subsequently these viruses don’t hurt them. By God’s design, these animals are not to come into direct contact with humans, let alone butchered and consumed! Once we violate this God-given principle, we can expect to be afflicted with diseases that our body is not designed to handle.

On land we often think of vultures as the cleaning crew. Think also about the seas. How does the ocean maintain its sparkling-clean water if large animals die and pollute it with digestive waste? Most oceans aren’t sparking clean anymore because we humans have dumped thousands of tons of garbage there. But the ocean is equipped with a self-cleaning mechanism to clean up its own carcasses and animal waste. There are creatures on the bottom of the ocean floor cleaning up everything that falls down. These cleaning crews can be animals as large as sharks or as tiny as shellfish. These animals are not to be consumed because they’re toxic. Shellfish are particularly very toxic. Even people who are used to consuming them often get sick. All restaurants in the United States have a mandatory warning on their menus: “Consuming raw seafood may increase the risk of food-borne illness.” These animals are clearly categorized as unclean in the Bible and unfit for human consumption. If we violate these Biblical dietary guidelines, disease will prevail.

Many people have in-home pets such as dogs or cats. These animals are categorized as unclean in the Bible. Despite thousands of years of domestication, they maintain their original nature and can carry dangerous pathogens. Therefore, we immunize and treat them for all kinds of infestations. We also don’t consume them in the western culture. Yet still, not everyone can keep a cat or dog at home. Some people develop health complications if in close proximity to them.

Especially in third world countries, large populations have parasites. How does it happen? They consume home-grown pigs who have been raised without drugs. The locals proudly say that their pork is better because it’s organic. Little do they know that such meat is far more dangerous for human consumption than pork from commercial farms. These naturally grown pigs are full of pathogens and parasites that easily transfer to humans via pork consumption. Entire villages are malnourished, not for lack of food, but because of the presence of parasites in their systems. Many people die once these parasites get into their brain. Entire populations in many sophisticated Latin-American cities are encouraged to de-parasite themselves on a regular basis. These are often wealthy, educated people, yet somehow consuming pork seems natural to them, even while being aware of the risks and being prescribed regular de-parasitation.

Despite being chemically treated, the domesticated pig still maintains its nature and easily consumes its own waste! No matter the chemical treatment, pork has to be cooked at high temperature to prevent health problems in humans. It is dangerous to consume pork, especially when undercooked. Yet most people think nothing of consuming pork chops, pork loin, bacon, or pork ribs.

It should be obvious that God gave these health laws to His people to keep them healthy, not just in their wilderness wanderings, but for all time. Note that these laws were given long before God’s people were called Jews. They were simply His chosen people.

Those who claim to be modern Israel today are “His people” in a special sense. As such, these health laws apply to them as well.

The question is, Are we observing them as God intended? If not, we must suffer the consequences.

Question – …Is it okay for certain kinds of dancing?

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Question

The Bible says that David danced. Is it okay for certain kinds of dancing?

Answer

“And David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod” (2 Samuel 6:14).

“Again the long train was in motion, and the music of harp and cornet, trumpet and cymbal, floated heavenward, blended with the melody of many voices. ‘And David danced before the Lord,’ in his gladness keeping time to the measure of the song.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 707.

“David’s dancing in reverent joy before God has been cited by pleasure lovers in justification of the fashionable modern dance, but there is no ground for such an argument. In our day dancing is associated with folly and midnight reveling. Health and morals are sacrificed to pleasure. … God is not an object of thought and reverence; prayer or the song of praise would be felt to be out of place in their assemblies. This test should be decisive. Amusements that have a tendency to weaken the love for sacred things and lessen our joy in the service of God are not to be sought by Christians. The music and dancing in joyful praise to God at the removal of the ark had not the faintest resemblance to the dissipation of modern dancing. The one tended to the remembrance of God and exalted His holy name. The other is a device of Satan to cause men to forget God and to dishonor Him.” The Adventist Home, 517.

Speaking of the night of deliverance from Egypt, Ellen White wrote, “That vast helpless throng—bondmen unused to battle, women, children, and cattle, with the sea before them, and the mighty armies of Egypt pressing behind—had seen their path opened through the waters, and their enemies overwhelmed in the moment of expected triumph. Jehovah alone had brought them deliverance, and to Him their hearts were turned in gratitude and faith. Their emotion found utterance in songs of praise. …

“Like the voice of the great deep rose from the vast hosts of Israel that sublime ascription. It was taken up by the women of Israel, Miriam, the sister of Moses, leading the way, as they went forth with timbrel and dance. Far over the desert and sea rang the joyous refrain, and the mountains re-echoed the words of their praise—‘Sing ye to Jehovah, for He hath triumphed gloriously.’ ” Patriarchs and Prophets, 288, 289.

Children’s Story – Did Bob Think?

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Bob was an old horse on my great-grandfather’s farm. He was a very clever horse. But it is not so much for his cleverness as for one thoughtful thing he did that his name has been handed down to us who live so long after him and who never saw him.

Bob was very fond of children. The boys who lived near used to have many a pleasant game with Bob on sunny afternoons, when he was grazing in the fields.

Sometimes the boys chased Bob, and sometimes he chased them. It was a funny sight to see the old horse running after a troop of boys, uttering a peculiar whinny that plainly said, “Isn’t this real fun, boys?”

One day Bob was coming slowly through the one long street of the village, dragging a loaded cart behind him. There, right in the middle of the street, a little child was sprawling in the dust. No one noticed it until Bob and the cart were close upon it.

Was the child to be trodden under the horse’s feet or crushed beneath the broad wheels of the cart? No; for just as the mother rushed out of the doorway with a shriek, Bob reached down, seized the child’s clothing with his teeth, and laid the little one safely on the footpath. It was done tenderly, quietly, and it was over in a minute. Then the wise horse went on as if he had done nothing surprising.

Do you wonder that we keep Bob’s memory green? And isn’t his thoughtfulness a lesson for children whose excuse for carelessness that injures others is, “I didn’t think”? Bob thought, and his thinking saved the child’s life.

Balloons, True Education Series, ©1976, 48, 49.

“Think right thoughts, and you will perform right actions.” The Adventist Home, 54. If we have invited Jesus to live in our heart, we will think His thoughts. Then it will be natural for us to be kind and thoughtful, helping and encouraging others around us. He will help us to think and then do what He would do.

Inspiration – Walk in the Light

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I was shown that God’s people dwell too much under a cloud. It is not His will that they should live in unbelief. Jesus is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. His children are the children of light. They are renewed in His image, and called out of darkness into His marvelous light. He is the light of the world, and so also are they that follow Him. They shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. The more closely the people of God strive to imitate Christ, the more perseveringly will they be pursued by the enemy; but their nearness to Christ strengthens them to resist the efforts of our wily foe to draw them from Christ.

I was shown that there was too much comparing ourselves among ourselves, taking fallible mortals for a pattern, when we have a sure, unerring pattern. We should not measure ourselves by the world, nor by the opinions of men, nor by what we were before we embraced the truth. But our faith and position in the world, as they now are, must be compared with what they would have been if our course had been continually onward and upward since we professed to be followers of Christ. This is the only safe comparison that can be made. …

With some the knowledge of their true state seems to be hidden from them. They see the truth, but perceive not its importance or its claims. They hear the truth, but do not fully understand it, because they do not conform their lives to it, and therefore are not sanctified through obeying it. And yet they rest as unconcerned and well satisfied as though the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, as token of God’s favor, went before them. They profess to know God, but in works deny Him. They reckon themselves His chosen, peculiar people, yet His presence and power to save to the uttermost are seldom manifested among them. How great is the darkness of such! yet they know it not. …They mistake the form of godliness for the spirit and power thereof. …

There are some who profess to be Christ’s followers, yet put forth no effort in spiritual things. In any worldly enterprise they put forth effort, and manifest ambition to accomplish their object, and bring about the desired end; but in the enterprise of everlasting life, where all is at stake, and their eternal happiness depends upon their success, they act as indifferent as though they were not moral agents, as though another were playing the game of life for them, and they had nothing to do but wait the result. Oh, what folly! what madness! If all will only manifest that degree of ambition, zeal, and earnestness for everlasting life that they manifest in their worldly pursuits, they will be victorious overcomers. Everyone, I saw, must obtain an experience for himself, each must act well and faithfully his part in the game of life. Satan watches his opportunity to seize the precious graces when we are unguarded, and we shall have a severe conflict with the powers of darkness to retain them, or to regain a heavenly grace if through lack of watchfulness we lose it.

But I was shown that it is the privilege of Christians to obtain strength from God to hold every precious gift. Fervent and effectual prayer will be regarded in heaven. When the servants of Christ take the shield of faith for their defense, and the sword of the Spirit for war, there is danger in the enemy’s camp, and something must be done. Persecution and reproach only wait for those who are endowed with power from on high to call them into action. When the truth in its simplicity and strength prevails among believers, and is brought to bear against the spirit of the world, it will be evident that there is no concord between Christ and Belial. The disciples of Christ must be living examples of the life and spirit of their Master.

Young and old have a conflict, a warfare, before them. They should not sleep for a moment. A wily foe is constantly on the alert to lead them astray and overcome them. Believers in present truth must be as watchful as their enemy and manifest wisdom in resisting Satan. …

The life and spirit of Christ is the only standard of excellence and perfection, and our only safe course is to follow His example. If we do this He will guide us by His counsel and afterward receive us to glory. We must strive diligently and be willing to suffer much in order to walk in the footsteps of our Redeemer. God is willing to work for us, to give us of His free Spirit, if we will strive for it, live for it, believe for it; and then we can walk in the light as He is in the light. We can feast upon His love and drink in of His rich fullness.

Testimonies, vol. 1, 405–409.

Two Wise Men

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This is not the usual story about the three wise men that brought gifts to Jesus at His birth. This is a story of two wise men that I have learned about over many years and with whom I was personally acquainted.

H.M.S. Richards, Sr. This man was the first graduate from the grade school at Campion, Colorado, in 1909. After studying religion, he became what I consider to be one of the greatest preachers the Seventh-day Adventist denomination has ever produced. He ended up in California in the early 1920s and began his ministry as an evangelist. Back in those days, he would go to a particular town, set up a large tent, and hold a series of meetings every night for six months which equals 180 meetings. Those who stayed with the program also stayed with the church. Back then, there were none of the quick three-week then dunk them members who, in most cases, do not stay with the church.

In 1930 Elder Richards started a radio program called “The Voice of Prophecy” which he broadcast from a small studio that he had built on the rear of his home in Glendale, California. I have had the privilege of being in that small studio, which doubled as his study.

In 1968, I was in college at La Sierra in California, majoring in theology. At that time, I was taking a class by Professor Wilbur Alexander in homiletics, which is the preparation and delivery of sermons. Arrangements had been made for our class of 13 to spend a day with Elder Richards in his home, so early in the morning we all piled into the van and drove to Glendale. There were no freeways in those days and the trip took three hours to drive the 60 miles to his home.

Our class spent a very enjoyable day with Elder Richards, listening to him tell of his many years in the ministry. This was a man who lived what he believed. He shared a vision Ellen White saw in 1906 on a visit to Loma Linda which she never wrote down. The story went something like this.

Mrs. White had been visiting the site of Loma Linda, which she had previously seen in vision, and had said that the site had been chosen by God for the establishment of a medical school. While on her return to Elmshaven, near St. Helena, California, she was standing on the platform of the small train station at Loma Linda with two physicians who were to accompany her when she was suddenly taken off in vision. It was a short vision, lasting less than five minutes. When she came out of the vision, she relayed it to the two young physicians that were with her who wrote it down giving it the title, “A Storm is Coming.” One of these physicians lived until 1961 in Boulder, Colorado. He related this vision many times and the story never changed.

In the vision Mrs. White saw a large field of grain, ripe, ready for harvest. Suddenly the sky turned dark, the wind began to howl, and an enormous hailstorm followed. Every stalk of grain was flattened, and the entire crop was devastated with not one stalk remaining. As she continued to look, suddenly a stalk of grain popped up, then another and another until the field had many new stalks. When she asked the angel messenger what this meant, she was told that the field represented the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The angel said that “everyone who sought after a position in the organization will not be left standing.” The storm represented the time of trouble, and the new stalks represented the people who will step in to assume positions of leadership following the devastation of the church during that time. Only a small remnant will remain to carry on until the very end.

When our group was about to leave, Elder Richards said one thing that I remember clearly from that day with him. He turned to us theology students and said, “whatever you do—please do not degenerate into an administrator.” He may have said that as a result of his knowledge of that little vision of Ellen White in 1906.

Another short story about Elder Richards. One time he was asked about the use of makeup. He paused and then said, “If the barn needs painting, paint it!” Most people take that to mean that it is okay to use makeup. However, what Elder Richards really meant was that if you are so big and ugly as an old barn that you need to cover it up with paint, then you should really do something about getting yourself in shape so that you don’t need to cover it up with paint.

This is a story about Elder H.M.S. Richards, Sr. as told to me personally by his son H.M.S. Richards, Jr. when he was a speaker at the Ohio camp meeting in Mt. Vernon in the late ’70s or early ’80s.

When H.M.S. Richards, Jr. was 15, his father bought a new car, a big Chrysler. In those days, Chryslers had a straight-eight engine. For those who do not know what that is, it is an engine with eight cylinders in a straight line. To house the extra-long engine, the hood of the car was as long as the living room couch. Junior wanted to test drive that big car so badly he could taste it. However, he had been informed by his father that he was not to get behind the steering wheel until he had a driver’s license for which he had to wait one more year until he would be 16.

It came to pass that Junior’s parents were spending the day away from home with some friends. After they left, he thought this would give him a chance to test drive the new car. He would just take it around the block once and reasoned that no one would ever know. So, he got the keys and started very carefully backing out of the driveway into the street. What a thrill it was for him as he drove around the block. Returning to his house he recognized he had a problem; the Richard’s house had been built in the days when the only cars on the road were the size of a Model T Ford. The Chrysler was about twice that size and the driveway was very narrow.

On both sides of the entrance to the driveway were two brick pillars about two feet square and six feet high and as Junior navigated his way into the driveway, he managed to scrape a fender against one of the pillars. The damage was done, and nothing could reverse what had happened. He was literally sick!

Sometime later his parents came home and went into the house without saying a word. Father went into his study and began reading while mother began to prepare supper. After some time, mother called that supper was ready, and when all had sat down father asked the blessing. Still nothing was said about the car. All began eating except Junior who was literally sick to his stomach and unable to eat. After some minutes passed Junior finally blurted out what he had done asking his father if he could ever forgive him. Putting down his fork, his father looked over the top of his thick glasses and replied that he would forgive his son but there would be consequences—Junior would have to pay for the damage. Sin, even forgiven sin, has its consequences. True love is not unconditional.

Often in the churches today there is too much emphasis on love and forgiveness with no mention of consequences. This teaching is exactly what the Roman Catholic Church advocates. The priest in the confessional says, ego te absolve which is Latin for I absolve you. You have not been forgiven—you have been absolved of your sin—unconditional forgiveness with no consequences. It is a free pass to continue sinning. This is a big difference to the truth.

My father once told a story to illustrate this very lesson. My father was an atheist, but still had a very good conscience. Back in 1027 when he was 21 years old, he lived in Chicago and worked for a chain of restaurants by the name of Geiger’s. Each Friday morning, he would drive the company van over to a wholesale meat warehouse to pick up some necessary supplies for the weekend. In this warehouse were large bins full of various prepared meat products such as hamburger, sausages, wieners and the like. My father would load the required amounts on a large scale to be weighed and the appropriate bill was prepared for the purchaser.

Each Friday at the same time he saw another fellow who was there purchasing meat products for several Italian restaurants. It is well known that the majority of Italians are Roman Catholic. While the seller was making out the invoice for this man’s produce and not looking, the man would reach into the bin of sausages and throw another 40 or 50 pounds onto his already weighed amount. Bothered by what he witnessed each week, my father inquired of this Italian man, “Doesn’t your conscience bother you to be stealing every week?” His answer was, “Not in the least. I go to confession every Friday after work.” This gave him a free pass—unconditional forgiveness—no consequences—totally absolved of all responsibility.

However, “There are limits even to the forbearance of God.” The Review and Herald, August 14, 1900.

“The unconditional pardon of sin never has been, and never will be.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 522.

Every sin, no matter how small (there really are no small sins), has consequences. In the very least, each sin affects our estimation of the importance of not sinning. Unconditional forgiveness without consequences diminishes the holiness of God and how totally repugnant sin is to Him. It diminishes the enormity of the sacrifice of His Son on the cross. To make forgiveness into a free pass with no consequences is an abomination to God’s judgment. It presumes upon God’s grace. That is what has been seeping into our church and it is not just the camel’s nose that is under the tent flap—but the entire camel inside!

 Wilbur Alexander was my professor for a number of different classes in theology. Never a godlier man walked this earth than Dr. Alexander. He taught for a number of years at La Sierra/Loma Linda and then went to teach at the seminary at Andrews University. Wilbur grew up in a typical Adventist home. When he reached his teen years, he became restless and rebellious (his own words) with the church. His parents couldn’t reason with him and at age 17, he joined the navy to see the world and “sow his wild oats.” And sow them he did! He ended up in the submarine corps during the Second World War in the Pacific.

As was standard procedure for submarines, it would occasionally dock at a port to replenish supplies. Back then there were no atomic submarines that could stay at sea for months to years and when any naval vessel docks, the crew is given shore leave for a few days, known as “liberty,” and liberty is what the crew would take—all sorts of liberties in every aspect of living. Wilbur told his class that they could not name a liberty in which he did not indulge.

After ten years, the Lord finally got hold of him and he was discharged from the Navy at which time he decided to further his education. As such he became a professor of religion in the Adventist school system where I was privileged to meet him.

One time in our class of 13 as we sat in a circle discussing all sorts of things concerning the church, a student asked him about adornment. Wilbur went through the entire Bible showing us what the Scriptures had to say on the subject. Then it narrowed down specifically to the wedding ring. I am sure in his answer he reflected on his many years in the submarine service. He said that he had learned over many years that invariably in his experience anyone who insisted that they need a wedding ring had a deep-rooted spiritual defect. That defect may not be obvious to human discernment, but visible to God. He described it as a periscope of a submarine. When the periscope is seen sticking up out of the water, you may think that it is just a little thing, but, deep down underneath there is something big and rotten! His conviction was never baptize anyone who insisted on wearing a wedding ring.

Considering these men of God who had great wisdom and understanding, who had such an influence on so many lives, it reminds me that we all should endeavor to leave a legacy of faithfulness so that those within our sphere of influence, and whoever come after us, will be encouraged to follow in the way of Jesus.

The late Gene Swanson was a retired Adventist physician living in Montrose, Colorado, before his passing in 2019.

Heaven on Earth

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What Occupies Your Mind?

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In the space of one week there are one hundred and sixty-eight hours. If you sleep for eight hours each night you will be asleep for fifty-six hours, leaving another one hundred and twelve hours. God claims twenty-four of those hours to be kept as a Sabbath and that leaves you with eighty-eight hours of your own time each week to do as you will. Possibly half of that time is taken up with employment, but how do you spend that free time and what is it that you do to occupy your mind during those hours each week?

The world today, especially the Christian world, seems to be in a condition very similar to that into which Jesus came as a baby. The minds of the people were engrossed in the common place matters of daily life in this world. This was just as Satan had designed to keep people so busy in their temporal affairs that they would not notice the arrival of the One sent from Heaven, who alone could deliver them from sin. Satan well knew that sin and love of the world would have to be expelled from the hearts of the people in order for the love of God to accomplish its work and make a people ready for salvation. For this reason, all manner of distraction has been invented to blind the eyes of the people and for many centuries the devil has had overwhelming success in his evil deeds.

One of the chief purposes of Jesus in coming to this world was to remove from the heart of man his love for material things and his love of sensual pleasure and replace it with a heart of love for God, which had been lost since our first parents sinned in the Garden of Eden. But the world that Jesus came into did not receive Him because His teaching did not harmonize with that of their man-made religion.

The religion of the Jews in the time of Christ consisted of forms and ceremonies and the offering of sacrifices. These sacrifices, intended to prefigure the great sacrifice that would be offered on the cross of Calvary, were an abomination to God, because they had lost their meaning and were not offered with contrition and humility and in faith of the coming Messiah. Instead, their religion was useless. Jesus told them that their religion was in vain and that they taught for doctrines the commandments of men.

Jesus came to bring an adjustment, a transformation, and He foresaw that at the end of the world the situation would be very similar to the way it was at His first coming. He talked to His disciples about this: “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly, For it will come as a snare [a trap] on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth, Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:34–36).

Some manuscripts read in verse 36, “Watch therefore, and pray always, that you may have strength to escape all these things that are to come, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

So, what is it that occupies your mind? The choices you make on a daily basis will determine your eternal salvation. It is not enough to have a shallow experience, expecting your religious belief to save you. Unless your religion changes your heart into the likeness of Jesus, that religion will be a trap and a snare.

The Bible describes those at the end of time as having a marvelous religious experience and having the greatest revival of all time. But the majority will meet with a dreadful disappointment when Jesus comes.

Matthew 7:21 to 23 says,

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ ”

This passage of Scripture is describing religious people. Remember Cain. He was a religious person. In fact, it was religion that got Cain in trouble. In Genesis 4:3 and 4 it says, “In the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering.”

We read in Patriarchs and Prophets, 62, that Adam and Eve and their children came every Sabbath day, the seventh day, to the entrance of the Garden of Eden. There an angel guarded the way and they were prohibited from entering the garden because of sin. However, they came to the entrance where they conducted their worship service. It was on one of these Sabbath days that Abel brought a sacrificial offering and God had respect to Abel and his offering. However, though Cain brought an offering that was valuable, God did not have respect to his offering. It was easy for Abel to bring a lamb for his offering because he was a shepherd. His business was keeping sheep. But Cain was a tiller of the soil and he brought produce from his business.

The problem here was that Abel’s offering showed that he believed not only that he was a sinner, but that he needed a sacrifice, a blood atonement, to pay the price of his sin. The animal sacrifices all were a figure or type of the coming Saviour. Each time an animal was sacrificed at the hand of the penitent one, he saw that animal die at his own hand. The sacrifice was designed to teach the lesson that though we are all sinners and deserve to die, God has made a way that the price has been paid for us. Every animal sacrifice represented the fact that someday the real sacrifice, the Son of God, would pay the price for our sins.

It was known that animal sacrifices did not pay the price of sin. Our first parents knew the sacrificial lambs were just representative of the Savior to come. Cain’s offering made no confession of his sinful condition or acknowledgment that he needed the sacrifice of Christ for him to be given pardon and eternal life.

Cain determined to worship God in his own way, demonstrating his self-sufficiency. Throughout history, and even today, there are many people just like Cain who look and depend on their own achievements for salvation. The Bible teaches that we are helpless to do anything to save ourselves. Jesus said, “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Our eternal salvation depends on a sacrifice. Before Christ died, the people looked forward to the Saviour to come, Jesus, the true sacrifice. Today, we look back dependent on Jesus, the sacrifice that has been made.

What this sacrifice represents and has achieved and what it has established is a huge subject of study. Ellen White says in the first few pages of The Desire of Ages that both the unfallen angels and the redeemed will study the subject of the cross of Christ throughout all of eternity. In fact, she said that eternity itself can never totally reveal the immensity of this subject. Even though it will never be exhausted, we need to study to understand as much as we can because it establishes some things that we must learn if we are going to be saved.

The cross establishes an immutable accountability of the whole human race. Accountability is an unpopular subject in today’s society, but a necessary subject for those preparing for the kingdom of heaven. Because of Christ’s sacrifice, all have obligations that cannot be evaded. Paul wrote, “You were bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 6:20).

If we were bought at a price, we no longer belong to ourselves. The whole race was lost and has been bought from the bondage to Satan and sin. “For by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage” (2 Peter 2:19). “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men” (Romans 5:12).

Because of Christ’s sacrifice the human race no longer belongs to the devil. We are Christ’s possession even if we do not acknowledge the fact. He purchased us so we would no longer have to be slaves to sin. Accountability is needed in this generation. A whole generation of youth and young people are being raised without understanding the concept of accountability. As a result, our country and this world are headed toward a time of trouble like we have never seen or heard of before.

Ellen White wrote in The Review and Herald, September 22, 1891, a few things about accountability. She said, “The life He has given us is a sacred responsibility, and no moment of it is to be trifled with; for we shall have to meet it again in the record of the Judgment. In the books of heaven our lives are as accurately traced as in the picture on the plate of the photographer. Not only are we held accountable for what we have done, but for what we have left undone.” This should bring us to our knees to ask if there are things that have been neglected.

“We are held to account for our undeveloped characters, our unimproved opportunities.” Ibid. God provides people opportunities which He expects to be taken and used. Remember, “There is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known” (Matthew 10:26, last part).

Moses said, “But if you do not do so, then take note, you have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23). Never think you can sin without meeting it again. No, we are accountable. If you respond to the Holy Spirit and repent and confess your sins and be converted, Jesus Christ will forgive you and your sins will be covered. Later, at the cleansing of the sanctuary, your sins will be blotted out. No sin is ever committed alone in the depth of the night that nobody else in the world knows, for God knows. The wise man said, “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).

1 Timothy 5:24 says, “Some men’s sins are clearly evident, preceding them to judgment, but those of some men follow later.” Those sins that “follow later” are those that are not confessed, not repented of, and not forsaken. One of the biggest games in this world is the attempt to cover sin.

Sins that are not covered cannot be forgiven and will not be blotted out. They will be met again at the Judgment. That judgment of the lost will occur at the end of the millennium and those sins will be revealed. (See Revelation 20:11–15.) Those who are saved will have already been in heaven for a thousand years.

We have no idea what kinds of books or records God has. In this age we have electronic books ourselves. God’s ways are beyond our imagination, but we can be sure His records are exact and there is a time coming when those who have refused the gospel invitation will give an account. Then they will be without excuse, for the evidence will be overwhelming. Every thought and feeling, every motive and comment, every deed done will be laid bare.

Today is the day to learn the lesson of accountability and take hold of the invitation for salvation. We are not only accountable to God, but also to those whom we have wronged. For some reason to admit to our sins is a really hard lesson to learn.

“We must deny self, take up the cross, and follow Jesus. Not one of us can reach heaven, save by the narrow, cross-bearing way. …

“The cross is not to please self; it lies directly across the path of the pleasure-lover, and cuts through our carnal desires and selfish inclinations. The cross rebukes all unfaithfulness in your labors. If you bear the cross of Christ, you will not shun responsibilities or burden-bearing. If you are abiding in Christ, learning in His school, you will not be rude, dishonest, or unfaithful. The cross of Christ cuts to the root of all unholy passions and practices.” The Review and Herald, September 22, 1891.

Notice that those abiding in Christ and learning in His school will not be dishonest, or rude, or unfaithful. Unfortunately, often a person who finds it necessary to tell the truth about something that is unpleasant for a person to hear is considered rude.

The Bible talks about a person who rebukes sin being considered hateful or an undesirable person. However, the Bible teaches that if you are a follower of God, not only do you have love in your heart, but you will have a hatred for sin. Solomon said, “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate” (Proverbs 8:13).

“Whatever the nature of your work, you will carry the principles of Christ into your labor, and identify yourself with the task given into your hands. Your interest will be one with that of your employer. If you are paid for your time, you will realize that the time for work is not your own—but belongs to the one who pays you for it. If you are careless and extravagant, wasting material, squandering time, failing to be painstaking and diligent, you are registered in the books of heaven as an unfaithful servant.

“Those who are unfaithful in the least of temporal affairs, will be unfaithful in responsibilities of greater importance.” The Review and Herald, September 22, 1891.

Jesus said, “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much, and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own” (Luke 16:10–12)?

Our talents belong to God and should be devoted to His service. If we do nothing for our employer except that which is commanded, knowing that the prosperity of the work depends on extra exertion on our part, we fail in being faithful servants.

“There are many things not specified that wait to be done, that come directly under the notice of the one employed. Leaks and losses occur that might be prevented if painstaking diligence and unselfish effort were manifested.” The Review and Herald, September 22, 1891. Ellen White elaborates on this theme of honesty and how it carries over into a person’s service for God. Ephesians 6:6–8 about servants is quoted: “Not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.”

If you are a faithful worker, you will be rewarded by the Lord someday. The real reward is not the wages you may receive in this world, but eternal life. Never forget that you have been bought at an incredibly high price and have an obligation to be a faithful servant.

The question that comes to mind is how will you respond.

Paul’s prayer for the church was, “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power” (Ephesians 1:17–19).

“That He [God] would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:16–20).

God wants to do something in you that is beyond anything you can ask or think. Do you appreciate what has been done for you and are you willing to respond to His appeal?

It may not look like it at the present time, but the time is soon coming when the cross of Christ is going to triumph over every opposition in this world. When that happens, will you be a soldier of the cross and triumph with it? Notice what Paul says about this in Philippians chapter 2 verses 9 through 11: “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”

There is no neutral ground. Jesus said, “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad” (Matthew 12:30).

There is a war raging between good and evil—righteousness and wickedness. The war is between the government of God and the government of the devil. There are no fence-sitters. Either you are lending your time, your influence, and your money on the devil’s side or putting your energy to the Lord’s side. At the end of time many people will call themselves Christians who will find out when it is too late that they were on the wrong side of the great controversy. You either support God’s side or you are hindering it.

The Christian religion is not a pretend or fairy-tale religion. It deals with reality every passing moment every day of the week and not only the few hours of worship on Sabbath mornings and at prayer meeting. The religion of Jesus Christ permeates every decision you make and everything you do. When that is your experience you will look forward to the day when Satan, the “accuser of the brethren,” will be silenced and you will hear the words of Jesus, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord” (Matthew 25:23).

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

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

Editorial – I Am

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At the burning bush, Moses asked the Lord what he was to tell the children of Israel as to who had sent him for their deliverance from Egypt, the Lord said to say that “I AM” had sent him (Exodus 3:14).

The word Jehovah or Yahweh is a derivative of the expression “I AM.” What does the expression “I AM” signify? It was the name of God given to Moses to express the idea of the eternal presence of God (see The Desire of Ages, 469, 470). It also signifies that the person bearing this name is self-existent (Ibid).

Abraham wanted to see the promised Saviour of the world. “He offered up the most earnest prayer that he might see Him before he died.” The Signs of the Times, May 3, 1899.

His prayer was answered in a way he had not expected. He was asked to sacrifice his only son—a burnt offering to the Lord (Genesis 22).

“This terrible ordeal was imposed upon Abraham that he might see the day of Christ, and realize the great love of God for the world, so great that, to raise it from its degradation, He gave His only-begotten Son to a most shameful death.

“Abraham learned of God the greatest lesson ever given to mortal. His prayer that he might see Christ before he should die, was answered. He saw Christ; he saw all that mortal can see and live. By making an entire surrender, he was able to understand the vision of Christ, which had been given him. He was shown that in giving His only-begotten Son to save sinners from eternal ruin, God was making a greater and more wonderful sacrifice than ever man could make. …

“The incarnate I AM is our abiding Sacrifice. The I AM is our Redeemer, our Substitute, our Surety. He is the Daysman between God and the human soul, our Advocate in the courts of heaven, our unwearying Intercessor, pleading in our behalf His merits and His atoning sacrifice. The I AM is our Saviour. In Him our hopes of eternal life are centered. He is an ever-present help in time of trouble. In Him is the assurance of every promise.

“Jehovah is the name given to Christ.” Ibid.

He is the one referred to over and over again by Isaiah the gospel prophet, not only in Isaiah 53 but in chapters 9, 11, 12, 26, 32, 42, 43, 50 and 61.

Bible Study Guides – At Home with Our Deliverer

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June 21 – 27, 2020

Key Text

“Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise” (Isaiah 60:18).

Study Help: God’s Amazing Grace, 351–363.

Introduction

“The day is coming in which the battle will have been fought, the victory won. The will of God is to be done on earth, as it is done in heaven. Then the nations will own no other law than the law of heaven. All will be a happy, united family, clothed with the garments of praise and thanksgiving—the robe of Christ’s righteousness.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 42.

Sunday

REJOICING IN TRIALS

  • What attitude does God want us to have when things go wrong? Habakkuk 3:17, 18; Philippians 4:4.

Note: “The children of God may rejoice in all things and at all times. When troubles and difficulties come, believing in the wise providence of God, you may rejoice. You need not wait for a happy flight of feeling, but by faith you may lay hold of the promises and lift up a hymn of thanksgiving to God.” In Heavenly Places, 123.

“The Father’s presence encircled Christ, and nothing befell Him but that which infinite love permitted for the blessing of the world. Here was His source of comfort, and it is for us. He who is imbued with the Spirit of Christ abides in Christ. Whatever comes to him comes from the Saviour, who surrounds him with His presence. Nothing can touch him except by the Lord’s permission. 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.” The Ministry of Healing, 488, 489.

Monday

REJOICING IN GOD’S LEADING

  • What attitude did David have when he was in trouble? How did God deliver him? Psalm 40:1–3, 5.

Note: “The mercies of God surround you every moment; and it would be profitable for you to consider how and whence your blessings come every day. Let the precious blessings of God awaken gratitude in you. You cannot number the blessings of God, the constant loving-kindness expressed to you, for they are as numerous as the refreshing drops of rain. Clouds of mercy are hanging over you, and ready to drop upon you. If you will appreciate the valuable gift of salvation, you will be sensible of daily refreshment, of the protection and love of Jesus; you will be guided in the way of peace.” Messages to Young People, 409, 410.

“As we behold the beauty and grandeur in the works of nature, our affections go out after God; and though our souls are awed and our spirit subdued, our souls are invigorated by coming in contact with the Infinite through His marvelous works. Communion with God, through humble prayer, develops and strengthens the mental and moral faculties, and spiritual powers increase by cultivating thoughts upon spiritual things.” The Youth’s Instructor, July 13, 1893.

  • What does God give to those who make Him their hiding place? Psalm 32:7.
  • What spiritual covering does God provide His children? Isaiah 61:10.

Note: “The Lord Jesus Christ has prepared a covering—the robe of His own righteousness—that He will put on every repenting, believing soul who by faith will receive it.” The Upward Look, 378.

“If we constantly seek to follow Jesus, the blessed hope is ours of standing before the throne of God without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, complete in Christ, robed in His righteousness and perfection.” That I May Know Him, 361.

Tuesday

REJOICING IN VICTORY

  • How did Moses and the children of Israel express their gratitude to God for delivering them at the Red Sea? Exodus 15:1, 21.

Note: “This song and the great deliverance which it commemorates, made an impression never to be effaced from the memory of the Hebrew people. From age to age it was echoed by the prophets and singers of Israel, testifying that Jehovah is the strength and deliverance of those who trust in Him. That song does not belong to the Jewish people alone. It points forward to the destruction of all the foes of righteousness, and the final victory of the Israel of God. …

“In freeing our souls from the bondage of sin, God has wrought for us a deliverance greater than that of the Hebrews at the Red Sea. … The daily blessings that we receive from the hand of God, and above all else the death of Jesus to bring happiness and heaven within our reach, should be a theme for constant gratitude.” God’s Amazing Grace, 352.

  • What does God want us to do today when He gives us victory? Psalms 98:1; 146:2.

Note: “By beginning to sing songs of triumph and thanksgiving now, we may prepare ourselves to sing the song of Moses and the Lamb when we meet on the sea of glass.” The Upward Look, 306.

  • What song will the special class of the redeemed sing in heaven? What will this class have gotten the victory over? Revelation 15:2–4; 14:1–5.

Note: “It is the song of Moses and the Lamb—a song of deliverance. None but the hundred and forty-four thousand can learn that song; for it is the song of their experience—an experience such as no other company have ever had. … They have passed through the time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation; they have endured the anguish of the time of Jacob’s trouble; they have stood without an intercessor through the final outpouring of God’s judgments. But they have been delivered, for they have ‘washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb’ (Revelation 7:14).” The Great Controversy, 649.

Wednesday

PRAISING GOD FOR DELIVERANCE

  • What is one thing God gives deliverance from? Psalm 34:4–7. How? 1 John 4:18.

Note: “The Lord frequently permits His people to be brought into strait places, that they may turn to Him, their protector and deliverer, as a child would turn to his parents when in trouble and fear. It is no evidence that God is against us, because we are afflicted. … It is true that pain and death are the consequence of sin. But the Lord permits those He loves to be brought into trial, that they may learn the precious lessons of trust and faith. If trials are received aright, they will prove of the highest value to us in our religious experience. As they lead us to put our trust more firmly in God, we become better acquainted with His character.

“When the Lord has answered our prayers, and proved Himself better to us than our fears, we should not fail to express our gratitude for His mercies. Like the Hebrew host, we should praise Him for His wonderful works. Here many fail to glorify God. They do not tell of His goodness, making known to all around them that the Lord is to them a present help in every time of need.” The Signs of the Times, March 10, 1881.

  • Whom does the Lord look after? How will He protect His people in the last days? Psalm 33:18, 19.

Note: “From His resources He [God] can spread a table in the wilderness. By the touch of His hand He can increase the scanty provision and make it sufficient for all.” Conflict and Courage, 226.

  • How does God provide final victory to His people? Isaiah 25:8; 1Corinthians 15:57.

Note: “When Christ shall come the second time, to be ‘admired in all them that believe’ (2 Thessalonians 1:10), death shall be swallowed up in victory, and there shall be no more sickness, no more sorrow, no more death!” That I May Know Him, 362.

Thursday

REJOICING IN OUR NEW HOME

  • What future does God promise to His people? Isaiah 32:18; Revelation 21:4.

Note: “There are ever-flowing streams, clear as crystal, and beside them waving trees cast their shadows upon the paths prepared for the ransomed of the Lord. There the wide-spreading plains swell into hills of beauty, and the mountains of God rear their lofty summits. On those peaceful plains, beside those living streams, God’s people, so long pilgrims and wanderers, shall find a home.” The Great Controversy, 675.

  • What has God promised us today in preparation for a glorious future? 1 Chronicles 29:11.

Note: “Instead of mourning, weeping, and despairing, when troubles gather about us like a flood and threaten to overwhelm us, if we would not only pray for help from God, but would praise Him for so many blessings left—praise Him that He is able to help us—our course would be more pleasing to Him, and we would see more of His salvation.” Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 258.

“Eternal realities must be kept before the mind’s eye, and the attractions of the world will appear as they are—altogether profitless.” That I May Know Him, 357.

Friday

PERSONAL REVIEW QUESTIONS

1    How should I view the difficulties and trials that come my way?

2    How can I grow both spiritually and mentally?

3    What significance does the song of Moses and the Lamb have for me today? To whom will this song have special significance in the future?

4    How do we often fail to glorify God?

5    As we focus our eyes upon Christ and His mission to save us, what will we discover?

Copyright 2019, Reformation Herald Publishing Association, 5240 Hollins Road, Roanoke, Virginia 24019-5048, U.S.A.

Bible Study Guides – Deliverance from Destruction

by

June 14 – 20, 2020

Key Text

“Because he hath set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known My name” (Psalm 91:14).

Study Help: The Great Controversy, 613–634.

Introduction

“God will destroy the wicked from off the earth. But the righteous will be preserved in the midst of these commotions, as Noah was preserved in the ark. God will be their refuge, and under His wings shall they trust.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 110.

Sunday

A GROANING PLANET

  • What is the condition of the whole earth as a result of sin? Romans 8:22.

Note: “The sin of man has brought the sure result—decay, deformity, and death. Today the whole world is tainted, corrupted, stricken with mortal disease. The earth groaneth under the continual transgression of the inhabitants thereof.

“The Lord’s curse is upon the earth, upon man, upon beast, upon the fish in the sea, and as transgression becomes almost universal the curse will be permitted to become as broad and as deep as the transgression.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 1, 1085.

“As the ‘whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together’ (Romans 8:26, 22), the heart of the infinite Father is pained in sympathy. Our world is a vast lazar house, a scene of misery that we dare not allow even our thoughts to dwell upon. Did we realize it as it is, the burden would be too terrible. Yet God feels it all. In order to destroy sin and its results He gave His best Beloved, and He has put it in our power, through co-operation with Him, to bring this scene of misery to an end. ‘This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come’ (Matthew 24:14).” Education, 263, 264.

Monday

THE PLANNED RESTORATION

  • What is God’s plan regarding the earth? Revelation 21:5; Isaiah 65:17.

Note: “The earth promised to the meek will not be like this, darkened with the shadow of death and the curse. … ‘There shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him’ … (Revelation 22:3).

“There is no disappointment, no sorrow, no sin, no one who shall say, I am sick; there are no burial trains, no mourning, no death, no partings, no broken hearts; but Jesus is there, peace is there. There ‘they shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for He that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall He guide them’ (Isaiah 49:10).” Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, 17, 18.

  • How should we respond to God’s plans for the future? What is said about those who dwell there? 2 Peter 3:13.

 Note: “There will soon be a new heaven and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. The Lord has instructed me that our physical and mental and moral powers will, under the Holy Spirit’s guidance, be trained to carry on the work in all purity, in all goodness, without one thread of Satan’s science brought in to spoil the pattern Christ has given us. The powers and faculties that have been sanctified in righteousness will be employed, strengthened, and prepared to do the works of Heaven’s appointment.” The Upward Look, 97.

“As a people are we sufficiently considering this warning? If we neglect to take heed, if we regard the warning with indifference, if we allow earthly, temporal things to take our attention, and we lose our realization of the essential character of prayer, we shall be found among those who are not accounted worthy to escape. The righteousness of Christ should be our first consideration. The service of God should be our first business.” The Signs of the Times, December 5, 1895.

  • What further blessings will God bestow upon the faithful? Isaiah 65:21, 22, 25.

Tuesday

DESTRUCTION OF THE OLD

  • Before God can make things new, what must first happen to the old? 2 Peter 3:10; Isaiah 51:6.
  • What means will God use to destroy the world? 2 Peter 3:6, 7. Who will perish in this destruction? Luke 3:17.

Note: “The feet of the wicked will never desecrate the earth made new. Fire will come down from God out of heaven and devour them—burn them up root and branch. Satan is the root, and his children are the branches.

“The same fire from God that consumed the wicked purified the whole earth. The broken, ragged mountains melted with fervent heat, the atmosphere also, and all the stubble was consumed. Then our inheritance opened before us, glorious and beautiful, and we inherited the whole earth made new.” Maranatha, 351.

  • How should this knowledge of God’s plans of destruction affect our daily life? 2 Peter 3:11, 12, 14.

Note: “There are attractions on every hand to draw the mind away from the contemplation of the coming of our Lord and Saviour; but it is absolutely necessary to bear in remembrance that ‘the great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly’ (Zephaniah 1:14). The God of Heaven has multiplied warnings, entreaties, and instructions, that we may be prepared to stand in the time of the overwhelming destruction. We are not left in darkness. Those who meditate and act upon the instructions that God has given will cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit. They will keep in mind the command to ‘be diligent’ (2 Peter 3:14), to be holy in all their conversation and life. …

“We are approaching the time when the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and we must make haste to depart from all iniquity, that our calling and election may be made sure. We are looking for new heavens and a new earth wherein the righteous shall dwell throughout eternity.” The Signs of the Times, February 10, 1888.

Wednesday

ENTERING INTO GOD’S PAVILION

  • How will the righteous be protected during the time when God begins to pour out His judgments upon the earth? Psalm 27:5; 91:4; Isaiah 26:20.

Note: “There are troublous times before us; the judgments of God are coming upon our world. The nations of the earth are to tremble. There will be trials and perplexities on every hand; men’s hearts will fail them for fear. And what shall we do in that day? Though the earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and be removed like a cottage, if we have made God our trust, He will deliver us.” Sons and Daughters of God, 354.

“The eye of God, looking down the ages, was fixed upon the crisis which His people are to meet, when earthly powers shall be arrayed against them. Like the captive exile, they will be in fear of death by starvation or by violence. But the Holy One who divided the Red Sea before Israel, will manifest His mighty power and turn their captivity. ‘They shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him’ (Malachi 3:17).” The Great Controversy, 634.

“Before the Son of man appears in the clouds of heaven, everything in nature will be convulsed. Lightning from heaven uniting with the fire in the earth, will cause the mountains to burn like a furnace, and pour out their floods of lava over villages and cities, molten masses of rock, thrown into the water by the upheaval of things hidden in the earth. There will be mighty earthquakes and great destruction of human life. But as in the days of the great deluge Noah was preserved in the ark that God had prepared for him, so in these days of destruction and calamity, God will be the refuge of His believing ones.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 3, 309, 310.

  • What attributes of God can give us assurance for that time? 1 Timothy 1:17.
  • How do we know that God will always be ready to help His followers? Psalm 121:4–8.

Thursday

OUR REFUGE TODAY

  • Which promises show God to be a refuge for us today? Deuteronomy 33:27; Psalm 9:9.

Note: “In the Psalm David speaks of God’s being a refuge and a strong tower, a refuge and a fortress; unto Him we can run and we can be saved. How precious is the thought that God is our refuge and that He will be our helper in all times and in all places, and that in every emergency we have God with us. He says that He will give His angels charge over us to keep us in all our ways.” Sermons and Talks, vol. 2, 58, 59.

  • How can we have confidence in God? Psalms 62:7, 8; 46:1–3; 57:1.

Note: “No one need despond who commits his soul to Jesus. We have an all-powerful Saviour.” The Upward Look, 321.

“True prayer engages the energies of the soul and affects the life. He who thus pours out his wants before God feels the emptiness of everything else under heaven. …

“Your prayers may rise with an importunity that will not accept denial. That is faith.” In Heavenly Places, 73.

Friday

PERSONAL REVIEW QUESTIONS

1    What has God done to end the misery of sin on this earth? How can I do my part?

2    What will the new earth be like? What about its inhabitants?

3    What dual purpose does the fire have upon this old world?

4    As everything in nature is turned out of its course before Jesus’ second coming, what will happen to God’s people?

5    In what situations will God be a refuge and help to His people?

Copyright 2019, Reformation Herald Publishing Association, 5240 Hollins Road, Roanoke, Virginia 24019-5048, U.S.A.