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False Revivals – Angels of Light Personated

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The enemy is preparing to deceive the whole world by his miracle-working power. He will assume to personate the angels of light, to personate Jesus Christ.” Maranatha, 207.

“Satan…comes as an angel of light…by means of false reformations. The churches are elated, and consider that God is working marvelously for them, when it is the work of another spirit.”
Early Writings, 261.

“God’s people will not endure the test unless there is a revival and a reformation.” Testimonies, vol. 7, 285. “The Lord calls for a revival among His people, an acknowledgment of the peculiar obligations He places upon them.” Review and Herald, August 5, 1909.

“Christians should be preparing for what is soon to break upon the world as an overwhelming surprise, and this preparation they should make by diligently studying the Word of God and striving to conform their lives to its precepts. . . . God calls for a revival and a reformation.” Prophets and Kings, 626.

God sends a Revival of Primitive Godliness The Holy Spirit is Poured Out

“Before the final visitation of God’s judgments upon the earth there will be among the people of the Lord such a revival of primitive godliness as has not been witnessed since apostolic times. The Spirit and power of God will be poured out upon His children.” Maranatha, 33. “The baptism of the Holy Ghost as on the day of Pentecost will lead to a revival of true religion and to the performance of many wonderful works.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 57.

The Old Truths, the Law of God is Restored

“God’s remnant people, standing before the world as reformers, are to show that the law of God is the foundation of all enduring reform.…” Conflict and Courage, 269. “It is only as the law of God is restored to its rightful position that there can be a revival of primitive faith and godliness among His professed people. ‘Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein…’ Jeremiah 6:16.” The Faith I Live By, 326. “In the last days knowledge shall be increased. There are new truths to be revealed to the humble seeker. The teachings of God’s Word are to be freed from the errors and superstition with which they have been encumbered.” Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, 186. “Great reforms are to be made. Many changes will be required as we strive to advance the cause of reform.” The Health Food Ministry, 50.

True Worship is Restored

“A great religious awakening…is foretold in the prophecy of the First Angel’s Message of Revelation 14.” The Great Controversy, 355. “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” Revelation 14:7.

“The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him.” John 4:23. “Unless correct ideas of true worship and true reverence are impressed upon the people, there will be a growing tendency to place the sacred and eternal on a level with common things, and those professing the truth will be an offense to God and a disgrace to religion.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 500.

“[After] the Babylonish captivity the Israelites…gave much attention to religious instruction and to the study of that which had been written in the book of the law and in the prophets concerning the worship of the true God.” Prophets and Kings, 705.

Satan Counterfeits the “Work” of Christ

“Whenever and wherever the Lord works in giving a genuine blessing, a counterfeit is also revealed, in order to make of none effect the true work of God.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 142.

“Satan has ever been ambitious to counterfeit the work of Christ, and establish his own power and claims. He does not generally do this openly and boldly. He is artful, and knows that the most effectual way for him to accomplish his work is to come to poor fallen man in the form of an angel of light.” Messages to Young People, 57. “The devil has as much power to imitate and counterfeit the work of God as he did in Moses’ time.…” Ellen G. White: The Early Years, vol. 1, 77.

“…pray for divine enlightenment …that when the wonderful miracle-working power of Satan shall be displayed, and the enemy shall come as an angel of light, you may distinguish between the genuine work of God and the imitative work of the powers of darkness.” Review and Herald, December 24, 1889.

A False (Counterfeit) Revival Comes First

“At every revival of God’s work the prince of evil is aroused to more intense activity; he is now putting forth his utmost efforts for a final struggle against Christ and His followers. The last great delusion is soon to open before us. Antichrist is to perform his marvelous works in our sight. So closely will the counterfeit resemble the true that it will be impossible to distinguish between them except by the Holy Scriptures.” The Great Controversy, 593.

“Before the final visitation of God’s judgments upon the earth there will be among the people of the Lord such a revival of primitive godliness as has not been witnessed since apostolic times.…The enemy of souls desires to hinder this work; and before the time for such a movement shall come, he will endeavor to prevent it by introducing a counterfeit. In those churches which he can bring under his deceptive power he will make it appear that God’s special blessing [Holy Spirit] is poured out; there will be manifest what is thought to be great religious interest.…There is an emotional excitement, a mingling of the true with the false, that is well adapted to mislead. Yet none need be deceived. In the light of God’s Word it is not difficult to determine the nature of these movements.” Ibid., 464.

False Revival—Reforms of Error not Truth

“I saw that the mysterious signs and wonders, and false reformations would increase, and spread. The reformations that were shown me, were not reformations from error to truth; but from bad to worse.…” Review and Herald, August 1, 1849.

“In many of the revivals…There is an emotional excitement, a mingling of the true with the false, that is well adapted to mislead. Yet none need be deceived.…Wherever men neglect the testimony of the Bible, turning away from those plain, soul-testing truths which require self-denial and renunciation of the world, there we may be sure that God’s blessing
is not bestowed.” The Great Controversy, 464.

False Revival (Celebration)—Counterfeits True Worship

“An enemy has been at work to destroy our faith in the sacredness of Christian worship.” Child Guidance, 541. “Whenever and wherever the Lord works in giving a genuine blessing, a counterfeit is also revealed, in order to make of none effect the true work of God. Therefore we need to be exceedingly careful, and walk humbly before God, that we may have spiritual eyesalve that we may distinguish the working of the Holy Spirit of God from the working of that spirit that would bring in wild license and fanaticism.” Review and Herald, February 6, 1894.

False Excitement, Strange Forms of Worship

“New and strange things will continually arise to lead God’s people into false excitement, religious revivals, and curious developments.…Fanaticism will take the place of well-regulated, well-disciplined, heaven-ordained efforts to carry forward the work to its completion.…” “People should not be educated to think that religion of an emotional order, bordering on fanaticism, is the only pure religion.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 17, 21.

Strange Performances—Drama, Theatrics

“I am instructed that we shall meet with all kinds of experiences and that men will try to bring strange performances into the work of God.…In my very first labors the message was given that all theatrical performances in connection with the preaching of present truth were to be discouraged and forbidden.…The light given me was, ‘Give this no sanction.’ These performances, which savored of the theatrical, were to have no place in the proclamation of the solemn messages entrusted to us.” Evangelism, 137.

Satan (Counterfeits) Personates the Holy Spirit

“I saw a throne, and on it sat the Father and the Son.…Before the throne I saw the Advent people—the church and the world. I saw two companies, one bowed down before the throne, deeply interested, while the other stood uninterested and careless. Those who were bowed before the throne would offer up their prayers and look to Jesus; then He would look to His Father, and appear to be pleading with Him.…I saw the Father rise from the throne, and in a flaming chariot go into the holy of holies within the veil, and sit down. Then Jesus rose up from the throne, and most of those who were bowed down arose with Him. I did not see one ray of light pass from Jesus to the careless multitude after He arose, and they were left in perfect darkness.…I turned to look at the company who were still bowed before the throne; they did not know that Jesus had left it. Satan appeared to be by the throne, trying to carry on the work of God. I saw them look up to the throne, and pray, ‘Father, give us Thy Spirit.’ Satan would then breathe upon them an unholy influence; in it there was light and much power, but no sweet love, joy, and peace.” Early Writings, 55, 56.

They Believe the Holy Spirit is Blessing Them

“The things you have described as taking place in Indiana, the Lord has shown me would take place just before the close of probation. Every uncouth thing will be demonstrated. There will be shouting, with drums, music, and dancing.…And this is called the moving of the Holy Spirit.…the Lord showed me that erroneous theories and methods would be brought into our camp meetings, and that the history of the past would be repeated.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 36, 37.

Signs and Lying Wonders

“Like the Jews, who offered their useless sacrifices, [they who reject the First Angel’s Message] offer up their useless prayers to the apartment which Jesus has left; and Satan, pleased with the deception, assumes a religious character, and leads the minds of these professed Christians to himself, working with his power, his signs and lying wonders, to fasten them in his snare.…He also comes as an angel of light and spreads his influence over the land by means of false reformations. The churches are elated, and consider that God is working marvelously for them, when it is the work of another spirit.” Early Writings, 261.

“I saw that God has honest children among the nominal Adventists and the fallen churches…and before the loud cry of the Third Angel is given, he [Satan] raises an excitement in these religious bodies, that those who have rejected the truth may think that God is with them. He hopes to deceive the honest and lead them to think that God is still working for the churches.” Ibid.

Rejecting the Cleansing (Sanctuary) Message Prepares the Way for the False Revival

“Those who rejected the first [angel’s] message could not be benefited by the second; neither were they benefited by the midnight cry, which was to prepare them to enter with Jesus by faith into the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary. And by rejecting the two former messages, they have so darkened their understanding that they can see no light in the Third Angel’s Message, which shows the way into the most holy place.…Therefore they have no knowledge of the way into the most holy, and they cannot be benefited by the intercession of Jesus there. Like the Jews, who offered their useless sacrifices, they offer up their useless prayers to the apartment which Jesus has left; and Satan, pleased with the deception, assumes a religious character, and leads the minds of these professed Christians to himself, working with his power, his signs and lying wonders, to fasten them in his snare.…He also comes as an angel of light and spreads his influence over the land by means of false reformations. The churches are elated, and consider that God is working marvelously for them, when it is the work of another spirit.” Early Writings, 260, 261.

“If we are firmly fixed upon the present truth, and have our hope, like an anchor of the soul, cast within the second veil, the various winds of false doctrine and error cannot move us. The excitements and false reformations of this day do not move us, for we know that the Master of the house rose up in 1844, and shut the door of the first apartment of the heavenly tabernacle; and now we certainly expect that they will ‘go with their flocks,’ ‘to seek the Lord; but they shall not find Him; He hath withdrawn Himself (within the second veil) from them.’ The Lord has shown me that the power which is with them is a mere human influence, and not the power of God” The Present Truth, March 1, 1850.

False Revival—Moves the Emotions Not the Heart

“The character and tendency of modern revivals…have given no evidence of the work of the Spirit of God.…Popular revivals are too often carried by appeals to the imagination, by exciting the emotions, by pandering to the love for what is new and startling. Converts thus gained have no more desire to listen to Bible truths, no more interest in the testimony of prophets and apostles, than has the novel-reader. Unless a religious service has something of a sensational character, it has no attractions for them.” Spirit of Prophecy, Book 4, 294.

“There are two extremes to be avoided: one is the shunning to declare the whole counsel of God, and running into the spirit of revivalists in this age…and weaving into the labors an element which moves the feelings but leaves the heart unchanged. A sensational religion is to be dreaded, for it is hard work…to ever make the individuals feel that they must go deeper than mere emotional exercise; that they must practice true godliness.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 17, 101.

False Revivals—Produce False Conversions

“How much I have thought upon the popular revivals.…Advantage is taken of the impulses of the moment…Reformation in life is needed, but the reformation made under excitement will seldom outlast the excitement in which it originated. Conversions made by moving the feelings by the relation of anecdotes and sensational stories, do not bear the impress of Heaven. Heart work is needed. The sinner needs to have a clearly defined understanding of what sin is, and that he must repent of sin, which is the transgression of the law of God. When this is understood the seed is sown for a true and thorough conversion.” Signs of the Times, August 12, 1875.

“Some open revival meetings, and by this means call large numbers into the church. But when the excitement is over, where are the converted ones? Repentance and confession of sin are not seen. The sinner is entreated to believe in Christ and accept Him, without regard to his past life of sin and rebellion. The heart is not broken. There is no contrition of soul. The supposed converted ones have not fallen upon the Rock, Christ Jesus.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 3, 27.

“The reason there are so many spurious conversions in these days is that there is so low an appreciation of the law of God. Instead of God’s standard of righteousness, men have erected a standard of their own by which to measure character.…The kindest thing that can be preached to the sinner is the truth of the binding claims of the law of God.” Faith and Works, 96.

True Success is in Preaching the Word of God

“‘Preach the word.’ Compared with the Word, everything else is weakness itself. The Word of God is the weapon of our warfare. Educate, train the people to be doers of the Word.…” Manuscript Releases, vol. 14, 188. “In the truth there is a power which no outward appearance or display can give, which no worldly suppositions or opinions can change or alter.” Medical Ministry, 161. “We do not want a sensational religion; but we want a religion founded on intelligent faith. This faith plants its feet on the eternal rock of God’s word.” Review and Herald, April 9, 1889. “We must not have a sensational religion, which has no root in truth.” Gospel Workers, 228.

Those Who Feed on the Sensational are Led Away by Satan’s Temptations

“Educate the people to have a sound, solid experience, and do not create in them an appetite for something new and strange and startling. These are the very things which those who are weak in moral power crave as the liquor drinker craves liquor, and the result is that they are not sound in the understanding of the Word. They have not root in themselves, and when the masterly working of Satan shall be made manifest, and he shall perform miracles to testify that he is Christ, those who have been controlled by feeling, who have fed on the sensational, and have been seeking for strange things, will be carried away, because they are not feeding on Christ.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 14, 188.

“The season of distress before God’s people will call for a faith that will not falter. His children must make it manifest that He is the only object of their worship, and that no consideration, not even that of life itself, can induce them to make the least concession to false worship. To the loyal heart.…truth will be obeyed though the result be imprisonment or exile or death.” Prophets and Kings, 512.

[All emphasis supplied.]

From Death to Life

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I do not know how often I have searched the Spirit of Prophecy to find answers, but it has been many. I have never been disappointed. In fact, it has been a treasure. One of the most revealing excerpts I found focused on tobacco.

Looking for Answers

I was not looking for a specific answer the day I scanned the health magazine, but it came, for a question I had asked five years earlier. At the time, I lived in the world, and my entire behavior exposed a careless mind. I was the father of a new baby boy, and I took him for granted. I smoked the toxic weed, even while I assumed the role of parent.

Then, on Father’s Day, I awoke to find my son, Isaac, had died. I tried to breathe life into his little body, but it did not help. He was only six weeks old. Apparently he had died of crib death or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, also known as S.I.D.S. The reason for his passing could not be explained, but I always wondered why.

Ironically, tragedy became the pivot of my search for life in Jesus Christ. I did not know how Isaac had become a key toward true surrender to God, nor did I realize how soon my question of “Why, God, why?” would be answered.

Brought to My Knees

I wish I could say that these horrifying circumstances meant instant conversion, but God knew the hardness of my heart. However, in a short time, providence brought me to my knees in prayer, and I claimed the promises of His Word. Within a year I gave Him my so-called life, and He removed my desire for all chemicals, including tobacco.

Only afterwards did I discover the true health message in Testimonies to the Church and in Counsels on Diet and Foods. Cooperating with Jesus meant a clean mind, which paved the way to endless knowledge. Through my surrender and my diligent reading of Scripture, He kept His promise, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” Matthew 5:6. I became a new man, always ready for more wonderful truth. That is why I was reading the health magazine.

Slow Poison

The article made reference to Selected Messages, Book 2, 467. “The infant lungs suffer, and become diseased by inhaling the atmosphere of a room poisoned by the tobacco-user’s tainted breath. Many infants are poisoned beyond remedy by sleeping in bed with their tobacco-using fathers. By inhaling the poisonous tobacco effluvia, which is thrown from the lungs and pores of the skin, the system of the infant is filled with poison. While it acts upon some as a slow poison, and affects the brain, heart, liver, and lungs, and they waste away and fade gradually, upon others it has a more direct influence, causing spasms, fits, paralysis, palsy, and sudden death. The bereaved parents mourn the loss of their loved ones, and wonder at the mysterious providence of God, which has so cruelly afflicted them, when Providence designed not the death of these infants. They died martyrs to the filthy lust of tobacco. Their parents ignorantly, but none the less surely, kill their infant children by the disgusting poison.…”

I read it several times and realized the grim responsibility of my actions. At that moment, the impact and consequences of my ignorance loomed in my mind. My selfish, narrow existence and temporary gratification carried an enormous price. I knew what I was, and the proof lay in the grave.

Dear readers, I still tremble, because it is only part of a bigger story. The only way I can tolerate such failure is to remember God’s mercy and His promise: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteous-ness.” 1 John 1:9.

If You Want Freedom

I know that there are many others searching for answers. If you want freedom, do not wait for tragedy to happen before you fall down to your knees in prayer. “Ask, and it shall be given you…” Matthew 7:7. Then remember, “The Scriptures are the great agency in the transformation of character…If studied and obeyed, the Word of God works in the heart, subduing every unholy attribute.” The Faith I Live By, 116.

Reaction and the Promises of God

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Jesus is going to come, and He will take the true and faithful home. As we watched the new millenium, as it has developed with all of the articles that were printed, the televised programs, and the debates that went on of the complex situations that could occur, it made us stop and think, did it not? Some of you did more than think. You began to react. Some of you put some water back. Some of you stored a little bit of food. Some of you stored a whole lot of food.

Preparing for the Worst

Something could have happened, and we were trying to make necessary preparations for this event that could change the whole world, as we know it. Some said such action showed a lack of faith. Oh, they said, we are not going to put anything back, we are just going to go for it. Then, when nothing happened, they probably strutted around and said, See, I told you so.

But I am telling you, it gave us food for thought. More than food for thought, it drove some of us into starting to do something about the time in which we live. We began to react. Let us consider reaction and the promises that God gives us.

Hebrews 9:28 says, “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”

Here is a promise that is sure. This is positive. This is better than any savings and loan bank. This is better than anything the world has to offer.

Are You Preparing for Jesus?

What is the key? For those who are looking for Him, He is going to appear the second time. Now that is a promise! The Bible is strong! There are promises about Jesus coming back, but we have to do more than just say an event is about to take place. Many of us made more preparation for the millennium than we are making for the coming of Jesus. As time counted down to the year 2000, we made great preparation. Means, time, and energy were spent in preparing. How much more important it is to prepare for Jesus’ soon coming!

He said, I am going to come back again, if you are looking for Me you will see Me. Oh, it is sad to say that the majority of the world really is not looking for Him to come. They are talking about it, but who will make the necessary preparation? There is preparation needed, by the way.

I love these promises in God’s Word. I cannot think of any subject that should be more appealing to Christians around the world today than the coming of Jesus. People should be getting excited when they think about how near it is. There are things happening all over the world that tell us Jesus is coming soon.

Promises! We live in a world of promises. Every individual has had people make promises to them. They promised you that they would do this. They promised you that they would do that. And you have made promises, have you not?

How Binding is a Promise?

Let us make this personal. You have made promises to family; you have made promises to friends; your friends have made promises to you. Practically total strangers have made promises to you. We promise to pay back money we are loaned, or we borrow something, and we promise to return it. When those kinds of promises are made, what does that do in your heart and in your life?

Jesus promises, “I will come again.” (See John 14:3.) What does that do for you? It has to be more than just reading that He is coming. What does it do in your life? What effect does it have on you?

There are people who have made promises to me that, if I was judging, I would say, because of past experience, they probably would not honor. But do you know what? It gave me a little bit of hope, even if they had failed me times before, that they would follow through with their promise.

So promises then, whether we give them or receive them, somehow lend a little glimmer of hope inside of us. We live in an hour when we need that hope, because there is no hope outside of Christ. There is nothing sure outside of Jesus Christ. (See That I May Know Him, 80.) If we have not made that choice, that decision to follow Jesus all the way, let me tell you dear friends, fence riding will not get it done.

Riding the Fence

The best fence riders, in my opinion, are in Adventism. Yet we are the ones who should not be fence riders. We know that we have to quit straddling the fence and get on one side or the other. We have to begin to make choices and decisions.

We are at a time of year when you hear people say that they made their New Year’s resolutions. They talk about it.—I think they really mean it right then.—I promise you that I am going to do better in school. I am going to watch my diet. I promise you, things are going to be different. I am going to quit drinking. I am going to quit smoking. I am going to quit doing this. I am going to change things around. I promise it is going to happen.

Hope Springs Forth

When you hear those words, hope automatically springs forth inside of you. It does! So when Jesus says, I am going to come back, we say, Man, there is some hope here.

What do we really understand about a promise? I do not claim to know about everything that is involved in a promise. I do know this ( it may not make any sense to you, but it makes sense to me, and believe it or not, I learned it from my mother). She defined a promise this way: A promise is a promise.

A promise is a promise! When it is said like that, it is a must that you do whatever it is you said you would do! Now it is not a Webster’s definition of what a promise is, but it was my mother’s. Sometimes that far outweighs old Webster, does it not? Do we really understand what is involved in promises and the possibilities and the circumstances and the things that could change to prevent your keeping a promise?

There once was a young lady who lay in a coma, in a hospital. She was in the Emergency Room; she had swallowed a large number of pills. If her stomach was not pumped quickly, and the medications put into her system, she would die.

She meant to take her own life. She wanted to die. But after she took the pills and she began to feel her body changing, she became afraid. She picked up the phone, before she became unconscious, and dialed 9-1-1. She said, I took some pills; I need help, then she passed out. The first thing they wanted to do at the hospital was to get rid of the pills that were causing the problem. Having your stomach pumped is not a pleasant experience. But it is a lot better than leaving that poison in the system and dying with it. She thought that taking pills would be the answer to her problems, the answer for a broken promise.

When she recovered, she was asked, Why did you do this thing? She looked up from the hospital bed and said, Because my boyfriend and I broke up. He promised that he would never leave me. He promised that we would be together. He promised me engagement. He promised me marriage, and now he is gone. That is why I did it!

Promises are important. Commitment is important. But you know, I have come to this conclusion, and I think you will also come to this conclusion,—I need more than just promises of family and friends and people that I know and love. It is nice to have those. But in our society today, with the world like it is, I need something stronger than that, because I have seen so many promises that have not been kept. I have seen so many broken commitments.

Everyone is Looking for a Cure

We have to look beyond the situations of life right now, and God is calling us to do that. Did you ever wonder why God gave us so many promises in His Word? Many people have tried to count them. Some say 2,500, and others say over 3,500. Why, in God’s Word, do we have all these promises? Do we really need them?

You will very seldom if ever, find an individual attempting suicide whose life is full of promise. It is when there is nothing there, nothing to live for, no hope anymore, that some individuals want to die.

Do you realize you are here to give hope to the world? This message of hope is to go unto the whole world. You are to give the message of righteousness by faith. You are to give the Third Angel’s Message to give people hope and encouragement, something for which to live. We need hope today.

Depression is a real thing. Someone who is depressed cannot see through the darkness of despair to a future of hope. They think there are no answers to a lot of the questions they have, that there is no place for them to go. They do not know what to do, so they get into a bigger dilemma. Why does God have so many promises? He gives us all of those Bible promises to lift us up.

The Hardness of the World

He knew that we would need encouragement. He knew that things would beset us if we walk in His footsteps. He said things are going to be tough. (See Matthew 5:11; John 15:20, 21.) He knew that we would need to be encouraged, because the world, as we read in inspiration, is going to rub hard against us. If you have not yet experienced that rubbing, that hardness of the world against you, you will. (See In Heavenly Places, 151.)

You should be sensing it right now. The world is getting ready to rub hard against those who love Jesus with all their hearts. You sense it; you see it; you know it. God’s Word has said it. I believe that God put the promises there to encourage me, and I know that He put them there to encourage you.

Some of the most precious promises I have ever read in God’s Word have to do with His Second Coming. He says He is going to come and restore us. I am going to put things back right, He says. That is what you want, is it not? You want things to be right; you want them to be like they are supposed to be.

Isaiah knew about this, and he wrote about these precious promises some 700 years before Christ. He wrote one of the most familiar passages that we, as Seventh-day Adventists, quote: “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth.…” Isaiah 65:17. That means something is wrong with this earth.

Former Things Forgotten

Why would He re-create it if it was fine, if everything was all right? That sure slows the speculation and the theories that men are putting out nowadays that everything is all right. I am so thankful that He tells me that “the former [things] shall not be remembered, nor [even] come into mind.” Ibid.

Who would want them to come to mind? In the bliss of heaven, do you want to have to think about all the things that used to be? Absolutely not! Everything is joy and peace forever more in the presence of Jesus. Why a new heaven? Why a new earth? the Bible tells us in
2 Peter 3:9–13. It says this old world is going to be burned up, it is soon to dissolve. It is contaminated. It is diseased. There is something dreadfully wrong with it. And Jesus says He is going to create all things new. (See Revelation 21:5.) How wonderful that is!

Well, you ask, what is so good about the earth burning up? It is wonderful, because when the earth burns up, the enemy will be gone. Sin is going to be gone. There is not going to be a reminder of sin anymore. The old things are passed away, and everything has become new! (See 2 Corinthians 5:17.) Does that give hope? Yes, it does!

A New Earth

I know you do not like growing old. Do you know how I know that? Because I do not like it! We do not want to grow old, but it happens to everyone. We may adjust to it, because we cannot do anything else about it now, but I like the promise that I am going to have a new body. It gives me hope. It gives me encouragement. These Scriptures are specifically for God’s last day people. God is saying to us, and He is promising us, that these things are going to soon pass away. They are all going to be gone, and He is going to make all things new again, and when He does, He is doing it just for us. Thank you, Lord! Six-hundred years before Jesus came, the prophet Daniel received a dream, about the events that would take place. Recorded in Daniel 2 are the events in history all the way from Nebuchadnezzar to the end of the world. It says in verse 44, “In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed.” In the days of these kings, the God of heaven is going to take charge again. He is going to set up His kingdom. You will not be in the minority anymore; you are going to be in the majority. Is that good news? His kingdom is never going to be destroyed. It is going to last forever. There will be no enemy, no group that can overthrow it.

We live in a society today where we have to be careful about what is happening. All nations are getting ready to turn on each other. The Bible says there will be wars and rumors of wars before Jesus comes. (See Matthew 24:6.) We need encouragement right now when we realize these things are before us. We have to catch a vision of these things that are before us that enable us to maintain, by the Spirit of God, our walk with Him day by day. I am glad that these words were penned. How do you see this passage of Scripture? How do you see what Isaiah had to say about the earth burning up and all the sins and everything all gone? How do you see the vision of Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar down to the end of the world? Do you see it as good news, or do you see it as bad news? I see it as good news.

The Lord is King

We see the events unfolding now, and they tell me one thing beyond a doubt, things cannot continue the way that they are. That means some changes will take place. How or what does that have to do with you? What does it have to do with me? It is going to have a lot to do with us. I am thankful that the Bible gives encouragement to me to say that God is going to sit on the throne. (See Revelation 4.)

Everything is going to be wonderful then. Zechariah 14:9 tells us simply that the Lord will be King over all the earth. We are talking about the universe here. The Lord is going to be in charge. “In that day shall there be one Lord.” There are too many false lords around today, too many false prophets, too many mixed messages that are going out, too many people who are confused, too many people who do not know what is truth and what is right, too many people trying to run things and rule things.

When God is back on the throne, no one is going to remove Him. I am thankful that God wanted us to know about His plan for the universe. He wants us to know these things, because it gives us hope today.

In fact, He gave us good instructions. There is a passage of Scripture I am sure you have put to memory. It says, “She shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21. Does that not encourage you? We know that Jesus has come! The world may not know it, but we know that He has come. We did not see it; we were not there, but by faith we know it. We know that He has come because of the promises of God’s Word! We have got to hold on to those promises; then we will know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that He came and that He lived a victorious life.

Saving His People

Do you know where Jesus is right now? Do you know what He is doing right now? John 14:1–3 tells us He has gone to His Father’s place to prepare a home for us, and He will return to take us there.

There are several things that He said were going to take place. As we read the Beatitudes of Matthew 5, He simply says the meek “shall inherit the earth.” (Verse 5.) The meek! It does not say the powerful. It does not say the rich. It does not say the educated. It does not say those with all the advantages. The meek are going to inherit something that has been made new and clean and right again. That is the inheritance that God wants for us. I am thankful for that.

Can You Hear Me, God?

Heaven seems a long way off at times. Sometimes it seems like our faith wanes a little bit, and we ask, is heaven a reality? Is it too far? Is God not big enough? Why does He not hear when I cry for help? Does He not understand what I am going through?

These are legitimate questions, especially for the non-believer. But even as a believer many of us go through times of doubt. When does heaven really begin? It begins, the people say, when Jesus comes. I am telling you it can begin right now, but, dear friends, instead of heaven, there seems to be a lot of hell going on in this earth.

That is what life seems to be like today. Many people, who do not know the Scriptures, who do not understand what happens when you die or what hell fire is, see the world getting worse, and they look around and say, This must be hell.

Christians, if you know your Bible, you understand better, but when is heaven to begin? Testimonies, vol. 7, 131, says it like this: “He will plane and polish the material for His temple, preparing each piece to fit closely to the other, that the building may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Heaven is to begin on this earth.”

Are you “material”? You can be if you want to be. It says that the material that inherits eternity has to have a little bit of planing. He is going to do a little polishing. When you talk about cleaning and polishing, dear friends, you are talking about things changing. You are going to fit somewhere in heaven, but you are not going to be there all by yourself. You would not want to be. He is taking every piece, that is you and me, and He is shaping us so that we fit closely together. That is His desire for us even now so that we might experience heaven here on this earth. Oh, what a challenge. That means we may have to make some changes. Have you acted today like you are in heaven?

Heaven Begins Right Here on Earth

If heaven begins here on this earth today, do we find that we have the peace that passeth all understanding? (See Philippians 4:7.) Do we find the faith and the love of Jesus, and all of the fruits of the Spirit, manifested in our lives today, as we deal with others? Here is the key! “When the Lord’s people are filled with meekness and tenderness, they will realize that His banner over them is love.” Testimonies, vol. 7, 131.

He is looking for a people who are meek, because the meek shall inherit the earth. Oh, how hardhearted we have become, because we live in a hard world. We are letting the world mold us, rather than us molding the world. That is why we become hardhearted. That is why we do not care about our brothers or sisters, or about the needs of others.

Jesus says that the meek are going to inherit the earth when the Lord’s people are filled with meekness and tenderness. Then they are going to realize that His banner over them, that which protects them, that which builds them up, that which finishes them off, is love. How wonderful that is! Do you sense it? Do you realize that His banner of love is over you? His protection is over you. He is taking care of you. He is meeting your needs every day of your life. What hope and encouragement that should give us.

There are people who think that one day Jesus is going to come, and they are going to say, I am ready. Really, without any kind of effort at all? You are going to have to do your part, and you must understand that. Testimonies, vol. 5, 345, says, “Character will be tested.…Each one has a personal battle to fight. Each must win his own way through struggles and discouragements. Those who decline the struggle lose the strength and joy of victory. No one, not even God, can carry us to heaven unless we make the necessary effort on our part.”

Is that not amazing? Every one of you has a character. The only way you can win a battle, the only way you can be a child of God, the only way you can enter into the kingdom, it says here, is to struggle through your own discouragements. We usually give up before it ever begins. We say, Well, if that is the way it is, I am out of here.

Struggle Through

When the discouragement comes, you must struggle through with God’s help. That is how you are going to win your place in heaven. That is how you are going to shine. That is how you are going to be tested to see whether you are good material for the kingdom. God is not taking any bad material. He is not taking any cracked material. He is not taking any kind of material that is not perfected. If we give ourselves totally to Him, He is going to finish that job.

If, by the grace of God, you get into the kingdom, you do not want some sin to come out there. It is not going to happen again, but you would not want it to, would you? You want forever peace and joy, do you not? Do you have some fight in you? Spiritual fight? When the battle rages and all around you seems to be lost, can you stand and fight? Can you go right to your knees and know that God is going to hear you? Then, when you get up off your knees, do you march forward like everything is done already? Is that not what God wants you to do? Yes, it is! That is why He gives you these promises. That is why He makes these promises to you.

You pray, and you believe, and you claim His promises, and you move on. If you do not have any fight left in you, if you decline the struggle, you are going to lose strength and the joy of victory.

Have you seen your family change, your own life change, and circumstances change that you thought were unchangeable? That is victory! You tasted that victory, and oh, it is good. It is wonderful! You love that victory. But Mrs. White says that if you lose that struggle, if you lose that spiritual fight, if you do not want to fight anymore and you are backing away from it, she says that you “lose the strength and [you lose] the joy of victory.” She goes on to say, “No one, not even God can carry us to heaven unless we make the necessary effort on our part.…Christ is our model; imitate Him, plant your feet in His steps.” Ibid. Is there victory? Put your feet by faith in the steps of the Master. Oh, dear friends, victory is going to be sweet.

Satan Uses the Indolent

There are going to be some people who are not safe to take to heaven. They can claim they belong to this group and that group and say they followed this one and they have done this, and they have gone to church, and they paid their tithe
and on and on.

“By withholding that which God has given us to use in His service, be it time or means or any other of His entrusted gifts, we work against Him. Satan uses the listless, the sleepy indolence of professed Christians to strengthen his forces and to win souls to his side.…We can never be saved in indolence and inactivity. There is no such thing as a truly converted person living a helpless, useless life. It is not possible for us to drift into heaven.…Those who refuse to co-operate with God on earth would not co-operate with Him in heaven. It would not be safe to take them to heaven.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 280.

Do we work against God? You know what you are doing. The Bible tells us that is a losing cause. (See Joshua 23:16; Deuteronomy 8:19.) Withholding anything which God has given us, whether it is time, means or any other entrusted gift or talent we have is working against God. (See Matthew 25:14–30.) Satan likes nothing better than to use professed Christians. The devil wants to enlist you into his service. Why? So he can laugh in the face of the Master, pointing out our failures as His failure.

Let me tell you, dear friend, we are a pathetic mess without Jesus. The sleepy, indolent, professed Christian, Satan puts on his side. We can never be saved in indolence and inactivity. We need to be active in the service of God, according to our age and ability. You can be active. Perhaps you cannot do anything physically, dear friends, but you can pray up a storm. I do not know anything more valuable. Prayer is the key. As long as we have our mind, we can pray. We may not be able to get out of the house. We may not be able to pass out books. We may not be able to give Bible studies, but we can be a prayer warrior. God says inactive people will not make it to the kingdom of God. (See My Life Today, 276.)

Cooperating with God

Dear friends, are you cooperating with God now? If you are fully cooperating with God right now, you are safe to take to heaven. If you are not, and you are rebelling against God, then you are not safe to take, and He will not take you into heaven.

Some of us have gone into the listless, lazy state, because we have passed the year 2000, and we just wonder how long it is going to be. Dear friends, do not worry about it! Just make sure that you are ready! Are you ready to meet Jesus right now? Have you really given Him your all? Have you really grasped His promises and know that they are sure and as steadfast as God Himself?

He said, “I will come again.” He says, I want to receive you unto Myself, so where I am ye may be also. (See John 14:3.) That sounds like He is almost pleading, does it not? What is there in this life that is holding you back? What is taking your time and your talents? What has lulled you into a sleepy state? Is it a brother? Is it a sister? Has something happened in your life? Now is the time to give it to God, get past it, and rededicate your life to Jesus.

If there are changes that need to be made, and we are not really grasping those pure promises of God, we do not realize that things are soon to pass away and everything, as we know it, has changed. The world is a different place today. These are very trying times in which we live, and evil will magnify, the closer we get to Jesus. Jesus says, He is coming. He will come again, and I cannot miss that. I do not want anything in my way that might cause me to miss that.

He knows your heart and your life. There is nothing this world can offer worth missing out on heaven. We cannot afford to miss the calling that God has on our lives. God has a calling on you, do not disappoint Him in that calling. He has people that only you can reach. He is trusting you to do it. He is trusting you and me to rightly represent Him. When we say, I am a Christian, I am a child of God; He is trusting us to represent Jesus to the world. Do they see Jesus in you? If not, let us make sure to grab hold of those promises today. This can be the most beautiful spiritual time of your life.

Finishing the Reformation

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Have you ever considered how the Reformation would be finished? It would be finished by people who had the same experience as the man who got the ball rolling in the beginning.
I believe that the people who will finish the Reformation, and who will receive the Latter Rain, will embrace Christ, as did Martin Luther.

A Great Desire

This was the great desire, the great goal of the man who started the Protestant Reformation: “An earnest desire to be free from sin and to find peace with God led him [Martin Luther] at last to enter a cloister and devote himself to a monastic life.” The Great Controversy, 123. That should be the great desire of everyone who finishes it; they should cry out to God as did Jacob and say, I will not let You go unless You bless me.

Martin Luther had a great desire, and it was his only desire. “As his convictions of sin deepened, he sought by his own works to obtain pardon and peace. He led a most rigorous life, endeavoring by fasting, vigils, and scourgings to subdue the evils of his nature, from which the monastic life had brought no ease. He shrank from no sacrifice by which he might attain to that purity of heart which would enable him to stand approved before God.” Ibid.

Is that your heart longing, to have purity of heart, to have purity of mind, for that old man of sin to die so that Christ can be formed within? That was Martin Luther’s great desire. That was his great goal, the focal point of his life and his eventual ministry. He said, “‘I was indeed a pious monk,…and followed the rules of my order more strictly than I can express. If ever [a] monk could obtain heaven by his monkish works, I should certainly have been entitled to it.’” Ibid.

But he then goes on, “‘If it had continued much longer, I should have carried my mortifications even to death.’” Ibid. Ellen White says that from those painful supplications, from those agonizing efforts to save himself, Martin Luther physically never fully recovered. But, “When it appeared to Luther that all was lost, God raised up a friend and helper for him.” Ibid.

Listening to God

God will raise up a friend and a helper for you. God will provide a way of escape for whatever your situation may be. “The pious Staupitz opened the Word of God to Luther’s mind and bade him look away from himself, cease the contemplation of infinite punishment for the violation of God’s law, and look to Jesus, his sin-pardoning Saviour. ‘Instead of torturing yourself on account of your sins, throw yourself into the Redeemer’s arms. Trust in Him, in the righteousness of His life, in the atonement of His death.…Listen to the Son of God. He became man to give you the assurance of divine favor. Love Him who first loved you.’” Ibid., 123, 124.

“After many a struggle with long-cherished errors, he was enabled to grasp the truth, and peace came to his troubled soul.” Ibid., 124.

The great truth that Martin Luther found was justification by faith. Did he keep it buried in the monastery cell? No! Anyone who has had that truth burn in their hearts, wants to share it all around the world.

I think Pope John Paul believes that, too. We will look at a statement a little farther on that will prove that point.

Exposing the Errors

Martin Luther accepted the marvelous message that the just would live by faith, and he began preaching it in Wittenberg. After he had been preaching for a few years, a gentleman named Tetzel came to Germany to raise money to erect the faith healers’ church at Rome. He was an agent of the Catholic Church. Tetzel started selling indulgences. He repeated the most glaring falsehoods and related marvelous tales to deceive an ignorant, credulous, and superstitious people.

It was then that phase two of Martin Luther’s work came into being. He not only had been called to preach justification by faith, but he was now called upon to expose the errors of the mother church. So he nailed the 95 theses on the church door at Wittenberg on the day before the feast of All Saints day, and the Reformation began. (See Ibid., 127–129.)

Then came the Diet of Worms. Charles V convened it, but he certainly was encouraged by his friends in Rome. Eight years later, in 1529, the Diet of Spires convened, and a year later the Diet of Augsburg convened. One Diet after another convened for one purpose—to stamp out the Protestant Reformation. (See Ibid., 145–170, 197–210.) But they could not stop it because the gospel messages burned in the hearts of the people, and they were going to give those messages, come what may. They were living the messages, and they wanted to share them with everybody around them.

The Council of Trent

In 1546, the Vatican asked, How are we going to stop this Reformation? The Council of Trent was convened. Its only purpose was to destroy the Protestant Reformation. Vatican II was called by Pope John XXIII to absolutely demolish and destroy living Protestantism today.

To show you how successful the Catholic Church was in stopping the Reformation, the church at this very time period was identified in Revelation 3, as the church of Sardis. This was the church of the Reformation.

When the 95 theses were nailed to the door at Wittenberg, the Reformation began, as did the church of Sardis. “Unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith He that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.” Revelation 3:1.

What brought life to the Reformation church? It was the preaching of the message of justification by faith. Sola Scriptura, the Bible and the Bible only, and Sola Fide, by faith alone. As the reformers died, the church died with them, because the traditions that the papacy had planned began to infiltrate the churches that had been raised up in the Protestant Reformation. The Reformation died.

Was The Council of Trent successful? Yes, it was. When some Millerite preachers in the 1830s and the early 1840s, and then the early Adventists, began to preach Revelation 14, they said the Reformation churches had become so bad that by 1844 they were called Babylon.

Called to Restore the Truth

“And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” Revelation 14:8. God started the Protestant Reformation. God raised up a people, and as certain churches fell, God had somebody else to take their place. So He raised up the Adventist people in 1844. They began to preach and add to the messages that Martin Luther preached, and to carry them to every nation, kindred, tongue and people. God’s people could then go home.

They were called to restore the great message of Christ’s ministry in the Most Holy Place. They were called to restore the Law of God that had been trampled in the dust. In fact, they had been called to raise up and restore everything that pagan and papal Rome had tried to destroy from the earth for over 1,800 years.

That very work is outlined in Daniel 8:9–12: “And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land. And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. [Both pagan and papal Rome were persecuting powers.] Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host.…”

And who was the prince? Jesus! So pagan Rome thought to destroy Christ; it was a pagan Roman governor that gave permission to crucify Christ. But the little horn also identifies the papacy. They sought to attack Christ in many ways,—through His ministry in the sanctuary above and to destroy Him as the Word of God.

“By him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.” Ibid. Pagan Rome destroyed the sanctuary in 70ad and the papacy sought to destroy the sanctuary message throughout the entire period of the Dark Ages. Verse 12 continues, “And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered.”

Pagan and papal Rome attacked the truth, and the truth, of course, is Jesus. He said, I am the way and the truth, but He also said His Word and His Law are truth. (See John 14:6; John 17:17.) Pagan and papal Rome would attack Christ; they would attack the Word of God, and they would attack the Law of God. So, through Daniel 8:9–12, we see a power that would attempt to destroy everything for which God stands and that wanted to be exalted in the earth.

That is Not the End of the Story

In Daniel 8:13 it says, “Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?” How long shall the law of God be trampled upon the earth? How long will it be before God’s people will be vindicated?

The answer is in verse 14: “And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” Adventists understood, after the great disappointment in 1844, that Jesus had begun the Investigative Judgment. They understood that prophecy had been fulfilled.

There is something else that Daniel 8:13, 14 is telling us. That is that God would raise up a people, in and around 1844, to restore everything that the papacy had sought to destroy. God would raise up a people who would again exalt the Law of God. God would raise up a people who would give the message that Christ was ministering in the sanctuary above.

God is in Control

What would the papacy do? They would seek to turn every den of hell against this Advent people. The papacy would come against God’s last day people, at the end of earth’s history, with unbridled fury. (See Ellen White, in The Review and Herald, March 18, 1884.

God is responsible for the Protestant Reformation, and God is responsible for the finishing of the Reformation. God will have a people who will carry His messages to victory.

The Reformation today, is in the process of being finished. It is not something to which we look forward, something that will happen down the road. It is going on right now! People’s lives are being reformed because they are embracing the truth, and those people are on fire!

Renailing the 95 Theses to the Wittenberg Door

The pope knows that the Reformation is being finished. In Exportation Article 73, entitled “The Challenge of the Sects,” he wrote, “The proselytizing activity of the sects and new religious groups of America is a grave hindrance to the work of evangelization. The success of proselytism by the sects and new religious groups in American cannot be ignored.”

Who is he talking about? Is he talking about a church that was started up 400 years ago? Is he talking about a church that was started over 100 years ago? Who could possibly get in the way of the papacy’s drive to take over this world? God’s people. We are identifying here God’s people with those who have the Advent message and are preaching it. We are not talking about those who had the Advent message and failed to share it.

“The proselytizing activity of the sects and new religious groups of America is a grave hindrance to the work of evangelization.” What does grave mean? It means serious. In Malachi Martin’s book, The Keys of This Blood, he makes it very clear that when Russia and the United States are in subjection to the Vatican, John Paul should be the only game in town. Does John Paul recognize that there is another game in town? John Paul recognizes that there are people who are still nailing the 95 theses on the door of Wittenberg.

In the early 1900s, the leaders of Seventh-day Adventism, including Stephen Haskell, W. W. Prescott, Willie White, and A. G. Daniels, began discussing the daily in Daniel 8. That became their focus, and that was all they could see.

Ellen White, with Christian graciousness, integrity, and firmness, told them to stop discussing this issue. She said they were getting distracted on something that was not important to salvation and was taking time from God’s work. (See Selected Messages, Book 1, 167.) Evangelize, put all our energy and all our talents into reaching lost people who do not know what Jesus can do for them. Jesus is coming soon. Do not get sidetracked, brethren.

Stopping the Message

John Paul said the papacy is going to figure out, in every country, how to stop this Advent message. He goes on to say to that, “there is need for an appropriate coordination of initiatives among diocese aimed at bringing about a more effective cooperation to shared projects which will produce better results.”

Now what in the world do all of those five-syllable words mean—appropriate coordination of initiatives, “effective cooperation,” producing better results? The papacy is saying that the Advent message from ministries and people all over this earth is pushing forward and it is hurting their efforts to take over the world. So they are going to have to figure out how to finally stop this message.

A Message of Judgment

Jeremiah 1:13, 16 tells us, “And the word of the Lord came unto me the second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a seething pot; and the face thereof is toward the north.…And I will utter My judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken Me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.”

The Message Will Not be Stopped

A family of 11 from Detroit, Michigan, received a copy of The National Sunday Law. They read through the book. As a result, the parents are now keeping the seventh-day Sabbath in their home.

It is their desire that their nine children will embrace the message of the Sabbath truth. The Reformation is being finished!

Do Not Go to Rome!

In North Carolina, a gentleman saw the “Earth’s Final Warning” ad in the USA Today newspaper. He read it and then contacted the Eternal Gospel Church for materials. After reading The National Sunday Law, he said he was in a state of shock for two weeks. He saw, for the first time in his life, that he had been duped, and he praised God that he saw God’s truth.”

At the time he was reading this book, his parents were on a world cruise that was to arrive in Rome on Easter Sunday. It broke this young man’s heart, so he e-mailed his parents a half dozen times, pleading, “Mom and dad, the pope is the antichrist. The papal power is running away from God. They are deceiving the world. Do not go to Rome!” This young man wants to tell everybody this message. The Reformation is being finished!

Out of Jacksonville, Florida, several people who have received materials and books have started keeping the Sabbath right in their home. Praise God, the Holy Spirit is working. The Reformation is being finished!

A Roman Catholic priest from Ghana in West Africa recently wrote to me. He said, “I went through Roman Catholic seminary. I was a priest. I was given one of the National Sunday Law books. He said that after reading it he could not be a priest anymore; he had to follow the truth of the Word of God.

Do you believe that the Reformation is being finished? A man from Nigeria wrote that they held an effort where they handed out truth-filled books. The people studied the books, and after reading them and attending the meetings, over 1,000 people embraced the Advent message. The Advent message is going forward!

Visions and Dreams

A very influential, Catholic gentleman in Uganda, who is quite well to do, received the little book, The National Sunday Law. That night he was deeply disturbed; he did not know what to do. But God knew his heart, and He knew what he was going through. That night the man had a dream. In his dream he saw his house burning, and he saw his entire village being destroyed.

As the man was watching this in his dream, he began to scream and to cry out, and his wife came running to him. She shook him and asked him what was wrong. He told her about the dream and about a voice that told him that the people who had come into the village that day were preaching the truth of heaven, and that the book he was reading had light from heaven that he must listen to.

This gentleman and his entire family read the whole book, and they went to the preacher who was sent into the village to preach. They are now Sabbath-keepers, and they are going everywhere through Uganda handing out books, tapes, and videos door-to-door. The Reformation is being finished!

The Many and the Few in Adventism, Part I

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We are living in a world in which the real facts are not the same as what appears to be the truth. Ellen White says, “We are living in a most solemn time.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 608, 609. Do you believe that? I personally believe that it is even more solemn than when she wrote it.

We are living in that period of time that the Bible calls the time of the end. We have been in that period now for over 200 years, so people have become used to it. But we are not just in the time of the end now; we are in the end of time. We are living in a most solemn time, because we are living in that period of time when the plan of salvation is going to be completed.

A Solemn Time to be Living

It has always been very serious and very solemn to be alive in this world, because no one ever knows how long they are going to live. If you had talked to any one of the people who have died in recent tragedies, an hour and a half beforehand, they would have had no idea that they were going to die. When Ellen White says we are living in a most solemn time, she is talking about the time of judgment. When judgment is over and probation closes, your eternal destiny is fixed, and it cannot be changed.

In view of that fact, Ellen White said, “In the last vision given me, I was shown the startling fact that but a small portion of those who now profess the truth will be sanctified by it and be saved.” Ibid.

Who are the people who profess the truth? Seventh-day Adventists.

“Many will get above the simplicity of the work. They will conform to the world, cherish idols, and become spiritually dead. The humble, self-sacrificing followers of Jesus will pass on to perfection, leaving behind the indifferent and lovers of the world.” Ibid.

There are several interesting points in that statement. She said that she was shown the startling fact that but few who profess the truth would be sanctified by it and be saved.

But now she talks about the many, the many who will not be saved among those who profess the truth. Well, what is the matter? You know the message of truth, you know the truth for the last days, you know what the Three Angels’ Messages are, you know the Sabbath, you know about the law of God, you know that it is binding on all generations, and you know the times in which we are living.

Will You be Deceived?

A young man from a Seventh-day Adventist home said, “Oh, I will not be deceived! I know that when Christ comes, it is going to be a public event that everybody will see. I will not be deceived by a false coming beforehand.” Listen, even if you know the truth, if you are not sanctified by it, you are going to be deceived. You will be one of the many.

I want to come back to why and how it is that people who know the truth can be deceived. You would think that if you knew the truth, you could not be deceived. But it is not enough to know the truth, you have to be sanctified by it.

As we look at a few of these statements about the many, we find that the many, the majority of those who know the Three Angels’ Messages, will be lost. That is whom she is talking about. She says they will get above the simplicity of the work, and they will conform to the world. Conformity to the world is one of our most dangerous practices in Adventism today.

The Bible gives very specific instruction about this. It says, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Romans 12:2.

The Bible says that people are like sheep. (See 1 Peter 2:25.) I knew a minister one time who said if one sheep finds the hole in the fence, the whole bunch will go through that one hole. People are like that. That is how people become conformed to the world. It is amazing what people will do if they believe that everybody else is doing it. Have you ever noticed that?

If everybody were not doing it, they would say, Well, I would never do a thing like that; I would be embarrassed to do a thing like that. But if everybody else is doing it, they will do it, and they will not even be embarrassed. People are like sheep, and people watch to see what other people are doing. Now, of course, this can be both good and bad. This is the way a child learns. Everything a child learns, he learns first by imitation. That is how a baby learns to talk. That is why, in just a few years, a baby can learn any language in the world. It just imitates what it hears. So this process of imitation is very, very strong through childhood.

Who Controls You?

When people get to be teenagers, they love to think that now they are grown up and they are independent, but they are not nearly as independent as most of them think. They are much more controlled by peer pressure than they have any idea. I have never seen a teenager who was totally independent. I am not saying that there are not any, but teenagers are controlled, to a very great degree, by what they see other people doing around them. The danger is, if everybody around you is doing something that is not right, then you become conformed to what everybody is doing. One time while talking with my son about a certain matter, he said, “But, Dad, everybody is doing it.” He was attending a Seventh-day Adventist school at the time.

I said to him, “If all the people who are doing that burn up in hell someday, do you want to burn up with them?

He said, “No.”

“Well,” I said, “then you had better not do it.”

The Bible tells us to not just look around and become conformed to what everybody else is doing. (See Romans 12:2.) This is what has happened to the morality of the society in which we live, even in the United States. There used to be a time when we demanded that civil servants, the leaders of the people, tell the truth. Not too many decades ago, we forced a President of the United States out of office because it was said that there was proof that he had committed perjury. What is perjury? It is telling a lie. Of course, it has a special definition. When you have given an oath that you are going to tell the truth and then you tell a lie, you have committed perjury. But have you noticed, we do not think perjury is nearly as bad today as we did 25 years ago. What has happened? Everyone is looking at each other, and they are becoming conformed to the world. Wickedness is increasing, and as wickedness increases, people become used to a lower standard of morality.

How Bad Can it Get?

I do not believe that any human being knows how bad it can, or will, get, but I know that Ellen White said that just before the end there are only going to be two kinds of people in the world. (See Mind, Character, and Personality, vol. 1, 29.) There are going to be people who perfectly reflect the image of Jesus Christ, and there are going to be people who perfectly reflect the image of the devil.

They are going to be filled with demons, inspired by demons, speak, talk and act like demons. That is one of the reasons, Paul says, why the righteous are going to rejoice so much when they see the Lord coming to deliver them out of this evil world. (See Testimonies, vol. 9, 11; Great Controversy, 638.)

When Ellen White talks about the many who know the truth, who will not be sanctified by it, who will be lost, one of the first things she mentions is that they will conform to the world.

Becoming Conformed

Maybe you think you are totally independent, but you are not. You are becoming conformed, day by day, to something. You are either becoming conformed day by day to the world, or if you are spending enough time with Jesus, your mind will become conformed to something else. Notice what it says in 2 Corinthians 3:18. “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

What is this talking about? Ellen White mentions this in many places. One place is Patriarchs and Prophets, 91, but there are several other references where she said the same thing. She says that it is a law of the mind, that by beholding we become changed. (See Ibid., 596.) How can you be undeceived and understand the truth?

Let me tell you, friends, if we are spending our time studying, looking, watching, and listening to what is going on in the world, we are going to become conformed to it, because it is a law of the mind. By beholding we become changed. I am frightened, as I visit among God’s people, to find out how much time they are spending looking and watching what is going on in the world, in comparison with how much time they are studying their Bibles and religious books.

I am frightened because I know something. I know it is a law of the mind that by beholding you are going to become changed—period! God is not going to work a miracle to keep His law of the mind from operating. Have you noticed that God does not annul His laws, even if you get hurt by breaking them? He does not do it.

You cannot jump off a cliff and, on the way down, pray hard enough so that you will not get hurt. The law of gravity will still operate. God does not annul His laws. God does not change His laws. When He makes a law, it is in force, and it is a law of the mind that by beholding you will become changed.

Growing Up in Disorder

Why does Ellen White give us so much counsel about country living, about not living in the cities? (See Country Living, 5.) Why does Ellen White say that, if we have children, it would be good for us to have flowers around our home? Why is it important for a child to learn to keep his room neat? Why is it important for us to look trim and neat in our dress? (See Ibid., 531.) Why are all those things important?

One of the main reasons it is so important is because of this law of the mind. If your child grows up in the midst of disorder, what is going to happen when that child is grown? He is going to be used to disorder and not think anything about it. That is what he has beheld in his parental home all the time he was growing up. But it has a lot more parameters than just simple things like that.

I suppose most of you are aware of the fact that there are people in public life in the United States today, who, as a result of what happened in Littleton, Colorado, and in some other places recently, are very concerned about that which our young people are watching and looking. Let me tell you, if you are a young person and you would like to get out of this world and become a part of the 144,000, you are not going to be living the way everyone else lives.

Living Like the World

The 144,000 are going to have a completely opposite character from the characters that are being developed by the multitudes of this world. If you are going to have an opposite character, you have to be looking at something other than they are. What everybody is doing around you does not count. Let us face the absolute, painful truth. The painful truth is, that the people who are around you, doing all these different things, might all burn up in hell fire. That is the truth.

I remember several years ago when I was in the church in Keene, Texas, I was standing out in the hall, and I heard some of the leaders in the church talking about the young people and young people’s activities. I do not even know what they were talking about, except I did overhear a comment made by a very godly woman with whom I am acquainted. She said to the other church leaders in the group, “But, after they do these things, what good is it going to do if they burn up when Jesus comes? I believe that we are living in this most solemn time and we need to think very, very clearly about why we are doing what we are doing and what kind of lives we are living.

We have been told that the great majority, even of Seventh-day Adventists, are going to lose out. Why? Because they are going to be deceived.

I will introduce one of the most basic principles in regard to deception for you to think about.

Remember, the devil is a master deceiver. The focal point of the devil’s deceptions, today, is not the world at large. He already has them. Today, the focal point of the devil’s deceptions is Seventh-day Adventists and historic Seventh-day Adventists.

Deceived and in Darkness

There is one basic, fundamental, elemental truth about deception that you must understand, and that is that when you are deceived, you do not know it. Do you understand why that is true? Because, just as soon as you know it, you are not deceived anymore. Am I deceived about anything? Whatever I am deceived about, I do not know it. Are you deceived about something? Well, whatever you are deceived about, you do not know either, because as soon as you know, you are no longer deceived.

We are living in a time when the great majority of Seventh-day Adventists, right now, are deceived about a number of things. I am not talking about in the future—I am talking about right now!

It is not because I can read their minds. I am not saying what is in the heart or what is the motive and character. I am not judging that. I do not have to. All I have to do is look at the fruit of the tree. Jesus said, by their fruits you can tell.
(See Matthew 7:20.) The fruit shows that the majority of our people are deceived, and they are deceived about some very basic issues.

There are people who think they can look at anything, read anything, watch anything, listen to anything, and still be all right. They say it is just entertainment. By beholding, the mind becomes changed. It does not matter whether it is entertainment or not, it is worldly conformity.

Now just so nobody will misunderstand, let me clarify one thing. We do not attempt to be different from the world on any point just to be different. If there is nothing wrong with something that the world is doing, we can do it too. If it is righteous, if it is in harmony with the Law of God, we can do it, and if the rest of the world is doing it, that is fine.

The Things on Which We Feed

The problem is, that is not the way it is. This is especially the case with young people—the younger you are, the faster your mind becomes changed into conformity with whatever you are viewing. Are you spending enough time studying inspired writings so that your mind is becoming changed into the image of Jesus Christ?

The Bible is the Word of God, the whole book. The last book in the Bible is called “The Revelation of Jesus Christ,” but the whole book is a revelation of Jesus Christ. Are you spending enough time in this book so that something is being changed in your mind?

You say, Pastor John, you do not realize how busy I am. Maybe I should say to you, You do not realize how busy I am. Did you know that the preachers and church elders also have to struggle to get time to study the Word of God? Did you know that we have to do the same thing you have to do? We are living in busy times.

At the beginning of every day I take a pen or pencil, and I write down on paper a list of the things that I need to get done that day. I almost never get them all done. We are all busy, but no matter how busy a person is, everybody takes time to eat, because they know that if they do not eat, they will die.

Spiritual Death

That is the way it is with your spirit. It is not enough to listen to the preached word on Sabbath morning or even in prayer meeting. It is not enough to simply hear the Word of God through the medium of a preacher or teacher. As good as that is, and God ordained that it should be done, that is not enough. If you do not take time to study the Word of God, you will die spiritually. Ellen White stated over and over again that it was God’s will for every single person to study the Bible for himself. (See Sabbath School Worker, December 1, 1892.)

There are so many aspects of world conformity that are happening in Adventism today. Let me just mention one. We are not even going to get into the things that are often mentioned in regard to diet, dress, entertainment, recreation and many things like that. Those things are all applicable. But we are living in a world where worldly philosophy is taking hold of a large number of God’s people, and the Bible has something very specific to say about this.

“Beware lest anyone cheat you [that is, plunder you or take you captive] through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” Colossians 2:8. It says, Watch out lest you be cheated. Cheated out of what? Cheated out of your eternal inheritance, because you have been learning the basic principles of the world—empty deceit and philosophy and the traditions of men.

What is this philosophy, the traditions of men, the teachings of the world? What is this? It has many aspects and, of course, it changes with time, to some extent.

We are living in a world today where, more and more, it is becoming the philosophy that nobody should say anything bad about anybody, no matter what they do. Reproof or rebuke is totally out of vogue today. Nobody is supposed to be rebuked or reproved for anything, and anybody who does this is told that they are not Christ-like. I have often thought, as I have heard such talk, if Jesus were here in person, He would be told that He is not Christ-like.

Are You Politically Correct?

Of course, that is precisely what He was told when He was here. They told Him, We know that you have a devil. (See John 8.) Let us think that principle through just a little bit. “I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.” 1 John 2:21.

Notice, the Bible teaches that there is such a thing as the truth and there is such a thing as a lie, and you cannot mix them together. So if I am deceived on some point, it does not matter what it is, when I hear the truth, it is not going to agree with what I formerly thought.

We are living in a time when we are not to hurt anyone’s feelings by telling them something that is different than what they think or believe. We even have laws and treaties about that. The day is coming, I believe very soon, when governments of the world, by means of these treaties, will make it illegal to preach the Three Angels’ Messages, because you are not supposed to say anything to which anybody could take offense.

This sort of thinking has greatly affected Seventh-day Adventists. I remember the first time I ran into this was over 20 years ago. A Seventh-day Adventist preacher and I were talking about Revelation 14:9–11.

He said, “Well, I just cannot preach that. Do you know what those verses say?”

I thought, this is very interesting. You are an Adventist preacher, and you cannot preach the Third Angel’s Message. That is the truth for which we stand. That is what we are all about. We are living in a time when, to be conformable to this world, we must not say anything that might hurt someone’s feelings.

Now, please do not misunderstand. Jesus was a Person who never gave needless pain to a sensitive soul, and we should practice that same principle. We should be sure that we have no unsympathetic spirit or hardness in our character or our voice when we teach people the truth, especially when it is a testing truth that is going to determine their eternal salvation. We should pray and ask the Lord for tact like the apostle Paul and Jesus had when we tell people the truth, so they will be attracted to the truth because of the way it is presented. We should do all of those things, but after we have done them, that does not give us permission to not tell the truth.

Unwilling to Proclaim the Message

We are living in a time when more and more Seventh-day Adventists are being conformed to the world to an extent that they are not willing to proclaim the Three Angels’ Messages anymore. Those who still have a conviction that they must proclaim these messages to the world are being persecuted by the organized Seventh-day Adventist Church today. It is quite a time in which to be living, when God’s professed people are persecuting the true church.

I started asking myself many years ago, Where is this going to end? I do not claim to be a prophet. I am not here to tell you exactly how it is going to end, but, if you want to be one of the few who is sanctified by the truth, who is ready to meet Jesus, and not lose your soul with the many in the Adventist Church, whom Mrs. White wrote about, you need to be studying day by day. You need to pray, Lord, help me not to be conformed to this world. When people become conformed to this world, they are afraid to proclaim the Three Angels’ Messages anymore. It is worldly conformity that has silenced the voice of the church so that the messages of the Three Angels are not being proclaimed with a loud voice to all the world, like the prophecy says is to be done. I want to tell you, friends, if we do not do it, the rocks will cry out, and the Lord will finish the work with somebody else. (See A New Life: Revival and Beyond, 62.) Worldly conformity has silenced the voice of the great majority of Seventh-day Adventists today.

When the papal visit occurred in St. Louis a few years ago, there were some people who were very upset that there were groups of Seventh-day Adventists going there to hand out literature. One of them sent a letter appealing to the General Conference to some way force the groups not to do what they were doing—a very interesting thing to do for someone who claims to be an historic Seventh-day Adventist. I was interested to find out what this person thought should be done. He thought the groups ought to pass out Steps to Christ, The Desire of Ages, or Ministry of Healing, but not The National Sunday Law or The Great Controversy.

I do not understand the human heart. I do not understand how people get all the different ideas about how to do what they think should be done. Incidentally, this same person was not in St. Louis passing out The Desire of Ages, Ministry of Healing or Steps to Christ. He thought that the people there should be doing that, but he was not there to do it.

Setting Up the Image

Friends, do you believe that the image to the beast is being set up in the United States today and that we are very close to the end of the world? Do you think that Seventh-day Adventists have more to do than teach people how to fix a good breakfast? I believe in good, healthful breakfasts, and I have taught a lot of people how to fix one, but that is not the sum and substance of our work. It is very similar to what happened in the days of Christ and the apostles. You can read about it in books like Sketches from the Life of Paul.

In the apostolic church there was a large Judaizing party. This party even had an influence with 11 of the 12 apostles. The one person they were never able to influence was the apostle Paul. It says in Acts of the Apostles, 199, 200, that the apostle Paul often had to stand alone. Mrs. White is talking about standing alone in relation to the other apostles. Now that is quite a position to be in, is it not?

Editorial – The Overwhelming Surprise, Part III

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“God has revealed what is to take place in the last days, that His people may be prepared to stand against the tempest of opposition and wrath. Those who have been warned of the events before them are not to sit in calm expectation of the coming storm, comforting themselves that the Lord will shelter His faithful ones in the day of trouble. We are to be as men waiting for their Lord, not in idle expectancy, but in earnest work, with unwavering faith. It is no time now to allow our minds to be engrossed with things of minor importance. While men are sleeping, Satan is actively arranging matters so that the Lord’s people may not have mercy or justice. The Sunday movement is now making its way in darkness. The leaders are concealing the true issue, and many who unite in the movement do not themselves see whither the undercurrent is tending. Its professions are mild and apparently Christian, but when it shall speak it will reveal the spirit of the dragon. It is our duty to do all in our power to avert the threatened danger. We should endeavor to disarm prejudice by placing ourselves in a proper light before the people. We should bring before them the real question at issue, thus interposing the most effectual protest against measures to restrict liberty of conscience. We should search the Scriptures and be able to give the reason for our faith. Says the prophet: ‘The wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.’” Testimonies, vol. 5, 452.

“Many who are working for Sunday enforcement have never understood the claims of the Bible Sabbath, and the false foundation on which the Sunday institution rests. And they are blinded to the results of Sunday legislation. They do not see that it would be a blow against religious liberty. But any movement in favor of religious legislation is really an act of concession to the Papacy, which for so many ages has steadily warred against liberty of conscience. Sunday owes its existence as a so-called Christian institution to the ‘mystery of iniquity;’ and its enforcement will be a virtual recognition of the principles which are the very corner-stone of Romanism. When our nation shall so abjure the principles of its government as to enact a Sunday law, Protestantism will in this act join hands with the Papacy; it will be giving life to the tyranny which has long been eagerly watching its opportunity to spring again into active despotism.” Signs of the Times, November 28, 1900.

“The important future is before us. To meet its trials and temptations, and to perform its duties, will require great faith, energy, and perseverance. But we may triumph gloriously; for not one watching, praying, believing soul will be ensnared by the devices of the enemy. All heaven is interested in our welfare, and waits our demand upon its wisdom and strength. Every opposing influence, whether open or secret, may be successfully resisted, ‘not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.’ God is just as willing now as anciently to work through human efforts, and to accomplish great things through weak instrumentalities. We shall not gain the victory through numbers, but through full surrender of the soul to Jesus.” Southern Worker, December 25, 1906.

Food for Life – Remedies For Winter

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“If February gives much snow A fine summer it doth foreshow.” —English Rhyme

“A brother was taken sick with inflammation of the bowels and bloody dysentery. The man was not a careful health reformer, but indulged his appetite. We were just preparing to leave Texas, where we had been laboring for several months, and we had carriages prepared to take away this brother and his family, and several others who were suffering from malarial fever. My husband and I thought we would stand this expense rather than have the heads of several families die and leave their wives and children unprovided for.

“Two or three were taken in a large spring wagon on spring mattresses. But this man who was suffering from inflammation of the bowels, sent for me to come to him. My husband and I decided that it would not do to move him. Fears were entertained that mortification had set in. Then the thought came to me like a communication from the Lord to take pulverized charcoal, put water upon it, and give this water to the sick man to drink, putting bandages of the charcoal over the bowels and stomach. We were about one mile from the city of Denison, but the sick man’s son went to a blacksmith’s shop, secured the charcoal, and pulverized it, and then used it according to the directions given. The result was that in half an hour there was a change for the better. We had to go on our journey and leave the family behind, but what was our surprise the following day to see their wagon overtake us. The sick man was lying in a bed in the wagon. The blessing of God had worked with the simple means used.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 299.

“‘My herb drink.—We need not go to China for our tea, or to Java for our coffee. Some have said: ‘Sister White uses tea, she keeps it in her house,’ and that she has placed it before them to drink. They have not told the truth because I do not use it, neither do I keep it in my house.…If you will come to my house I will show you the bag that contains my herb drink. I send to Michigan, across the mountains, and get the red-clover top.…

“I did not use tea when you were with us. I have always used red-clover top, as I stated to you. I offered you this, and told you it was a good, simple, and wholesome drink.…

“I do not preach one thing and practice another. I do not present to my hearers rules of life for them to follow while I make an exception in my own case.…

“I am not guilty of drinking any tea except red-clover-top tea, and if I loved wine, tea, and coffee, I would not use these health-destroying narcotics, for I prize health and I prize a healthful example in all these things. I want to be a pattern of temperance and of good works to others.” Ibid., 301, 302.

RECIPE – French Fruit Toast

¾ cup date rolls (chopped)

2 bananas

½ cup chopped coconut

¼ cup cashews (chopped)

1 teaspoon vanilla (non-alcoholic)

1 tablespoon whole wheat flour

¼ teaspoon sea salt

20 oz. can of crushed pineapple

1 loaf homemade bread

Place all ingredients (except bread) in blender and beat until smooth. Add any liquid, if mixture is too dry. Dip bread in the above mixture and place on a non-stick cookie sheet. Bake at 300–325 degrees for 30–45 minutes until lightly browned.

Children’s Story – The Birthday Card, Part I

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Pam pushed her chair back from the table. She was glad it was Helen’s turn to help with the dishes. But Helen stood up and said, “Come on, Mother. We have to go or we will be late.”

“Go where?” Daddy asked.

“It’s Helen’s orchestra practice tonight,” Mother told him.

Mr. Young looked at his wife with concern. “You’re tired enough now to call it a day,” he said. “If I didn’t have that man coming—”

Mother got up from the table and picked up a few of the dishes. “No, I can take her,” she said. “I’ll go on to Aunt Nona’s and wait there until Helen is through.”

Pam slipped out of her chair and went quickly to her room while the rest of the family was talking.

The next day was Mother’s birthday, and Pam was painting a card for her. She had finished the design in art class at school. It was a picture of a vase of beautiful red roses, Mother’s favorite flower. Tonight Pam must do the gold lettering.

As Pam worked in her room, she heard the car go out of the driveway. Mother must have stacked the dishes in the sink. She and Helen hadn’t had time to wash them. Pam shrugged and turned to her painting. The dishes were not her responsibility for that night. It was Helen’s turn to help with them. “I LOVE” painted slowly and carefully.

A tapping on the window startled her. But it was only her girl friend, Leslie, who lived across the driveway.

“Come on out,” she urged when Pam opened the window. “I have something to show you.”

“I can’t. I have to finish the card I’m painting for my mother’s birthday tomorrow.”

“Please, Pam. Just for a minute,” Leslie pleaded.

“W–well—just for a minute,” Pam finally consented.

Leslie had a new bike. She let Pam ride it to the end of the block. When Pam came back, they sat on the front steps and talked until Pam said she must go in and finish her card.

She was settled at her desk again when the doorbell rang. “Not another interruption,” she thought impatiently. “I’ll never get this card finished.”

But this time it was only the man who had come to see her father.

“YOU” she painted. Then she held the card at arm’s length from her to be sure it looked right. She wished the man visiting her father would go home so she could show the card to her father. She had to sign her name, and then the card would be finished. She shouldn’t have talked to Leslie so long. She was really getting tired and sleepy. Maybe a glass of orange juice would wake her up.

Pam went to the kitchen. In the sink and on the stove were the unwashed dishes and pans. She really had forgotten about them. Of course Mother would do them when she got home, for she would not leave them until morning. There was always too much of a rush then. Instead of getting the orange juice, Pam turned and went slowly back to her room.

At her desk she picked up the card for her mother and read the words she had painted, “I LOVE YOU.” Her mouth drew into a troubled pucker, and she frowned as she read the words again, aloud, “I LOVE YOU.”

To be continued…

Restoring the Temple – To Arms with Your Immune System, Part II

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“Both riches and honour come of Thee, and Thou reignest over all; and in Thine hand is power and might; and in Thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.”—1 Chronicles 29:12.

How important is your immune system? Consider this scenario. A woman with the flu boards a plane. During the flight from New York to London, 150 passengers are exposed, and 80 of them consequently come down with the flu. What was the difference between the people who got the flu and those who did not? Strong immune systems.

After years of the public’s overuse of antibiotics, many strains of bacteria have mutated and become resistant to those same antibiotics, which makes it ever so much more important to strengthen our immune systems. Here we briefly examine what we can do to make a more powerful army. The key is that immune-boosting must be an ongoing process, not merely popping a few extra vitamin C tablets when a cold hits.

As we learned in Part 1 of this article, our bodies are constantly on the watch, ready to squelch any invasion. How can you make your immune system more powerful and vigilant? Let us explore what you can do to help yourself.

Nutrition

Nutrition is what fuels our fighter cells. Fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and legumes are all part of a diet complete in essential vitamins and minerals. Since pesticides and fungicides can inhibit immune function, try to choose organic foods whenever possible. Nutrient-dense, pure foods are important for us all, but are especially essential for growing children.

Vegetarians do not have to worry about one health-damaging food—animal products. Meat and dairy products carry residues of antibiotics and steroid hormones that can weaken immunity (not to mention diseases that tax the immune system). Dairy products also contain milk protein which is a common irritant of the immune system. Milk products are especially harmful to an individual who is prone to allergies or autoimmune diseases such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis. Daniel understood that eating the king’s meat and other rich foods would weaken his physical powers and decrease his mental capability. (Daniel 1:8–20).

Recent research has found that plant fats, particularly sterols, help immunity. Plant sterols help perform a balancing act by boosting an underactive immune system and decreasing an overactive one. Sterols increase the amount of natural killer cells and reduce cortisol, the stress hormone. A vegetarian diet contains more plant fats than does the average American diet.

Interferons (IFNs) are important chemicals our bodies produce that play a complex part in our immune systems. IFN stimulates a cell to resist viral invasion, induces production of antibodies, and makes infected cells more recognizable to leukocytes (white blood cells). IFN is also very important in keeping a healthy cell from turning into a cancer cell. Recent research has shown that certain mushrooms—particularly reishi and shiitake—help the body with IFN production. Health care practitioners in China and Japan have been aware of the immune-enhancing properties of these mushrooms for a long time. Western medicine is focused on development cell-killing drugs to fight cancer—hoping that more tumor cells will be destroyed than healthy cells. Western scientists are just beginning to research other models of medicine in exploring therapies that work by strengthening the host’s defenses instead. What a novel concept!

Vitamins A, C, E, and B complex are among the immune-enhancing nutrients. Vitamins C and E are antioxidants that work by protecting against infection and neutralizing free radicals that damage cells. A diet low in vitamins A and E increases the risk of infection.

Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids are known to enhance the immune system. Zinc increases the size of the thymus gland, an important immune organ, and improves the function of certain immune cells. When a diet is low in zinc, wounds take longer to heal. Low iron intake increases the risk of infection and disease, so it is important to eat foods with lots of iron. A mineral deficiency will suppress the immune function.

A Positive Mental Attitude

Our emotions play a critical part in immunity. As noted in Part 1, stress increases the likelihood that we will become ill. Our attitudes alone may mean the difference between getting sick twice a season and four times a season. Healthier people have been found to have a positive mental attitude, being health-focused—and seeing illness as merely a hitch in an otherwise healthy life—than being illness-focused. “All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.” Proverbs 15:15. Both rest and exercise work toward keeping the mind relaxed. Ellen White stated:

“By the beauty of flower and field, their minds will be diverted from themselves, from their aches and pains, and they will be led to look from nature to the God of nature, who has provided so abundantly the beauties of the natural world. The convalescent can lie in the shade of the trees, and those who are stronger can, if they wish, work among the flowers, doing just a little at first, and increasing their efforts as they grow stronger. Working in the garden, gathering flowers and fruit, listening to the birds praising God, the patients will be wonderfully blessed. Angels of God will draw near to them. They will forget their sorrows. Melancholy and depression will leave them. The fresh air and sunshine, and the exercise taken, will bring them life and vitality. The wearied brain and nerves will find relief. Good treatment and a wholesome diet will build them up and strengthen them.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 1, 255, 256.

Inspiration – Conversation, Part II

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“Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:13–16.

“The apostle Peter here gives instruction for believers to gird up the loins of their minds. We are to have special care over the thoughts of the mind. We are not to allow our minds to be diverted and allured by different things, because there is something more important for us. If we would allow the mind to take its natural turn, it might dwell upon unimportant things and we receive no benefit thereby.

“Here is presented before us the one great event—the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, when the graves are to be opened and the dead be raised, and we are to be changed. This event should fill our mind and crowd out everything else. We want to make the most of the privileges and opportunities we have to prepare for the future immortal life.

“The truth of God has taken us out of the quarry of the world to fit us up for the heavenly temple of God. We may look upon one another and think, ‘There is a great work to be done for that brother and for that sister,’ but we may not take into consideration the work that is to be done for ourselves. And if Satan can get in among the people [and produce] a spirit of criticism, then he is satisfied, for a root of bitterness springs up in these [members] wherewith he will be satisfied. We are not all of the same character, but we are brought together in church capacity and we count ourselves as children of God, and we talk of having a home in the city of God.

“Our faith is that if we perfect a Christian character we shall be numbered as the family of God in the mansions that He has gone to prepare for us. Now, our heavenly father brings us together in church capacity that we may gain in knowledge and be fitting up for the community of heaven. ‘Well,’ some may say, ‘All I want is that everyone should see eye to eye.’ But there are those who want everyone to see just as they do. They do not consider that they have traits of character that must be changed. Then, what is the work before us in order to be ready to be among those who are waiting for their Lord to come in the clouds of heaven? It is for us to be in a position of humility before God. ‘Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.’

“The Lord has not placed before one individual the trade of becoming a church tinker, but we want individually to feel that we have a responsibility before God to be a blessing to everyone with whom we associate. And we are to consider that every brother and sister is the purchase of the blood of Christ. Here we are, living stones out of the quarry, and we are to be chiseled and fitted for the new Jerusalem. Do not let any of us think that we are all right. As soon as we are taken out of the quarry, we have a work to do for ourselves. ‘The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh,’ and we want to be considering those things that will give us solidity of character. We do not want to have a high estimate of ourselves, but we want to esteem others better than ourselves. We want that our souls shall be uplifted to God every moment for help, for fear we shall fall. And while some are so diligent to look after others, they will forget the work there is for their own soul.

“We are to heed the exhortation of the apostle, that we are to be holy in all manner of conversation. And as we separate those things from us which will be a hindrance to our advancement, the Holy Spirit will come in. We want to be filled with the spirit of Jesus, and if you are not closely connected with Christ, then the thoughts of your mind will be upon unimportant things; but if you are connected with Jesus, you will just as surely be a channel of light as Jesus is light, for Jesus has said to His followers, ‘Ye are the light of the world.’

“Now, we are by living faith to keep our eyes fixed upon the Author and Finisher of our faith. ‘As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.’

“Before we become acquainted with Jesus, the conversation is upon the dress, and what shall we eat, and what shall we drink, and what shall we wear? And we find fault with one another. But as soon as we become acquainted with Christ, our conversation changes.

“Here we are, objects of His love. Has the change taken place in us? Namely, have we passed from death unto life? Have we died indeed to self? Have we fastened our hearts and affections upon the great God? He is all light and power.

“Every provision has been made for us that can be made by our precious Saviour, that we may have that abundant grace so that we may overcome every defect in our character. And we cannot afford to satisfy ourselves in this life, but we want the fullness that is in Jesus, and we must train ourselves to talk of those things which will bring to us peace and light. As we have our conversation upon heaven and heavenly things, the angels of God are all around us; and when we are, in our thoughts and with our hearts, drawing near to God, then He is drawing nigh to us. His love is in our hearts, and then we speak it from our lips.

“It is not only our duty to train our minds upon heavenly things, but we are to talk of these things, for it is our duty to bind about our mind, to gird up the loins of our mind, and say, ‘I will not think of these things.’ Then it is our duty to guard our conversation.

“We would think, from the shadow that many walk in, that they had no Saviour. But I want to speak to those, and say ‘Christ is risen! He is not in Joseph’s new tomb, but He has arisen and has ascended up on high to make intercession for us!’ We have a risen Saviour interceding for us, and we must walk in harmony with God. He is seeking to ‘purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.’ If we seek with all our hearts to be obedient children, conforming our will to the will of God, then the work can go forward in us without interruption. Let us not forget for one moment that we are living for the future immortal life, and let us put away from us everything like complaint and faultfinding. Let our words, our conversation, reveal to the world that we have a hope that is big with immortality.

“We want that His will shall be our will. We do not want that our will shall be such that it will control all that around us.…

“God wants us to go through the mill. Here this man’s sharp character must be burnished off, and here is one who has taken hold of the truth who has always been coarse in his conversation, and he must overcome that. This is the very thing the apostle means when he says, ‘You must overcome in order to have a home in heaven.’ Jesus must be in my whole work to transform my character. We must accept the truth as it is in Jesus, and then how kind will we be to one another, how courteous, for this was the work of my Master. We shall see the precious mold of Jesus upon the character, and when we learn the precious lessons He has for us to learn, we will be like Jesus. ‘Come unto Me,’ says He, ‘all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.’

“Here you are with your variances and differences. Now, ‘Come to Me,’ says He, ‘and learn of Me.’…”

Sermons and Talks, Book 1, 40–43.