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Children’s Story – The Big Six

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Bill pounced on his friend the minute he stepped into the yard. “Hi, Jack,” he said. “You got my test ready?” Bill’s face was red, and his heart was thumping like the bass drum in the school band. This was the day he had been waiting for.

The Big Six were about the best group of boys in Grant School. They had finally asked him to join them. Now, if he passed the “test” that the fellows had decided on, he would be a member in good standing of the Big Six.

Jack leaned lazily against the garage wall and grinned at him. “Sure, I’ve got your test ready, but let me give you a word of advice. Use your head, Bill. The test isn’t as easy as it sounds.”

“What do I have to do?” Bill gulped.

“See that basket?” Jack said as he pointed to a picnic basket swinging from the handlebars of his bike. “We’re going to Mrs. Barker’s house, down the street. You are to catch her small cat, Tiger, put him in the basket, and take him out on Willow Road and dump him.”

“Dump the cat?” Bill thought he had heard wrong.

“What did you think you would dump? The basket?” Jack frowned at him. “You’ve heard that old saying, ‘A cat always comes back,’ haven’t you? We want to prove it one way or the other today.”

Bill pedaled along to Mrs. Barker’s, feeling as if he were in a bad dream. He had thought of lots of tests, but nothing like this. Climbing a tree, or doing a lot of push-ups—that was the sort of test he’d been expecting.

Outside the neat, white fence that enclosed Mrs. Barker’s house and garden, Jack stopped and shoved the basket at Bill. “Go on,” he ordered. “You’re on your own now.”

With dragging feet, Bill crept along behind the tall bushes of lilacs that shut off the view of anyone in the house. When he reached the last clump of shrubbery, he was still several feet from the small, striped kitten. Tiger was curled up in a tight little ball under a big rose bush.

“Here, kitty, kitty,” he called softly, but in his heart he was begging the kitten to run away. Tiger pricked up his sharp black ears and stared at Bill with eyes as yellow as the roses on the bush over his head. He must have liked what he saw, for he began walking daintily across the grass to Bill.

Bill wiped the sweat from his forehead and groaned. His stomach felt sick. This little kitten would never find his way home from Willow Road! Never!

But if Bill failed his “test” the Big Six would ask some other boy to join them. He wouldn’t get to go camping with them next summer. He wouldn’t get to play in the big tree house in Jack’s backyard. Bill’s thoughts raced like the horses on a merry-go-round. With a quick grab he picked up Tiger and popped him into the basket. “Shame on you,” a little voice seemed to say. “That kitten trusted you.”

It was awfully still in the basket. Could Tiger be smothered? Bill pressed his ear to the side of the basket and listened. What he heard made him feel worse yet. The kitten was purring happily.

“Come on! Hurry up!” Jack was impatient.

Bill didn’t even answer. He lifted the lid of the basket and set Tiger gently on the grass. “I’d never have any fun with the Big Six, remembering what I had done to you,” he told the kitten.

Slowly Bill plodded out to the alley where Jack was waiting. What a day this had turned out to be!

“Why did you take the kitten out of the basket?” Jack asked, with a funny smile on his face.

Bill’s face burned with anger. “I don’t treat animals that way,” he shouted. “I don’t care if I did fail the test! I don’t want to belong to a group with boys like you in it!”

“Atta boy, Bill!” Jack began slapping him on the back. And then they were all there, all the members of the Big Six, tumbling out from behind the garage where they had been hiding.

“Good old Bill,” they were shouting. “We knew you’d pass the test!”

“What’s going on?” Bill asked. “I flunked the test, didn’t I?”

“You passed with flying colors,” Jack told him. “If you had taken the kitten, then you’d have failed! Don’t you remember my telling you to be sure to use your head?”

“You didn’t want me to dump Tiger?” Bill still couldn’t understand what had happened.

“Of course not,” said Jack. “If you had taken Tiger out of the yard, I would have taken him away from you and told you that you failed the test.”

Bill smiled slowly into the five faces beaming at him. He felt good. His friends were the kind of boys he had thought they were, and he had passed his test.

Restoring the Temple – Spring Fever

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Ah, Spring. The newly formed flowers, the trees bursting with buds, the smell of freshly mowed grass. The sneezing, the post-nasal drip, the itching and watery eyes. In the United States, where we have four seasons, allergy season starts in the spring and can extend through the fall. In those regions where the only seasons are Wet and Hot, allergies may know no season. Certainly, the unfortunate among us also can have year-round allergies. Respiratory allergies, also called allergic rhinitis, cause 10 million trips to the doctor every year in America and are big business for pharmaceutical companies. Allergic rhinitis is caused by either environmental pollutants, such as smoke or fumes, or by seasonal conditions, including increased dust, pollens, and spores. Allergies have worsened in recent years; a trend that experts attribute to the massive growth of the petrochemical industry since World War 11. Many of the more than 50,000 chemical products produced worldwide cannot be properly broken down by the body, causing toxin accumulation.

Respiratory allergies, also called allergic rhinitis, are a response by the immune system to agents it perceives as dangerous. In some people, the immune system misreads the signals and responds to substances that are benign but that are perceived as harmful. These immune reactions involve an interaction between an allergen (the substance that induces the allergy) and a specific antibody that the immune system made. The intensity of an allergic reaction varies: the more antibodies present, the stronger the reaction. People can develop an allergy they have never had before after repeated exposure to something. An example of this is the latex allergy which has caused severe reactions in medical workers.

Why can some people relax in a field of daisies while others succumb to a sneezing fit when their coworker has a single rose on their desk? A famous poet once wrote, “Any nose / May ravage with impunity a rose.” For some, any rose may ravage a nose! Although there is a hereditary factor, other causes may exacerbate the condition. These causes may include excess mucous, waste accumulation, adrenal exhaustion, hypoglycemia, free radical damage, and stress. Excess mucous works against us by providing an environment which traps and harbors allergens and irritants and also provides a home in which bacteria can grow, causing a sinus infection which can be a complication of allergic rhinitis. The other causes work by lowering our defenses, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the immune system.

Over-the-counter allergy medications can sometimes make a person feel better temporarily, but they have side effects which can include severe drying of the mucous membranes, drowsiness, hyperactivity or agitation and should not be used by people who have high blood pressure. These medications can have a rebound effect—the more you use, the more you need. The medications that come in the form of nasal sprays or drops are addictive and can lead to mucous membrane damage. Some people who have severe allergies, have to use steroid medications to get relief, but these medications should not be used for long periods, because they can worsen the situation by suppressing the immune system and impeding allergen elimination. “Medicine deranges nature’s fine machinery, and breaks down the constitution. It kills, but never cures.” Healthful Living, 244.

The most beneficial factors in treating environmental allergies are avoiding the source, changing to a therapeutic diet, and keeping the “internal environment” cleansed. When possible, start treatment before the allergy season hits. For those whose allergies know no seasons, treatment can be started at any time. Begin with a three to seven day cleanse. A cleanse will prepare the body by helping to remove excess mucous which will release allergens and allow the next portions of the treatment to have optimal effect.

Make sure to drink lots of pure water. Water thins secretions and helps move foreign substances and toxins out of the body easier and more quickly.

Lifestyle Changes

As always, following the laws of health is an essential part of any treatment. Make sure you are getting adequate exercise. Couple exercise with deep breathing to increase oxygen saturation in your red blood cells. Exercise indoors on dry, windy days when pollen counts are higher. Weeds pollinate at sunrise and sunset as air currents turn over, and grasses pollinate between 6 and 10 a.m., so you may find that outdoor activities are best done in the early afternoon. If you have access to the Internet, there are several sites that have pollen counts for many regions. The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (www.aaaai.org) has a link to a national (U.S.) pollen count. Knowing the pollen count on a given day can help you decide on when and where to schedule outdoor activities.

Equally important to exercise is taking the time to rest and to get sufficient sleep. We know that stress can make us susceptible to illness, so it comes as no surprise that it is also a significant immune suppressor and can aggravate allergies. In The Place of Herbs in Rational Therapy, page four, Ellen White suggests the use of hops tea as a sleep aid. Relaxation is an activity that we all often wish for. Even David said; “Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.” Psalms 55:6. We concur!

If possible, invest in an air filtration unit. Turning on the air conditioning will also help filter out allergens indoors. You may want to drive with the windows up and the air conditioning on for the same reason. If you live in an area with high humidity, it will help to use a dehumidifier if you can. Wall to wall carpet makes a great home for dust mites, dust, and dander, so if you have trouble with allergies, you may want to consider using area rugs instead. It is, of course, essential not to smoke, but take care to also avoid second-hand smoke.

Supplements

There are several supplements that are useful for allergic rhinitis prevention and maintenance. Some of the herbs include bee pollen and royal jelly (best when from bees in your particular region, if you can get it); gingko biloba, which helps to inactivate allergens; evening primrose oil; nettles, and eyebright. Quercitin, bromelain, CoQ10, vitamin C (preferably ester C), and B complex are also useful for allergy sufferers.

We must do our best to help ourselves on this earth, even though we will be bombarded continually by microscopic invaders. “But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the Lord your God giveth you to inherit, and when He giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety . . . ye shall rejoice before the lord your God” Deuteronomy 12:10. I look forward to lying in those heavenly daisy fields, don’t you?

Inspiration – The Bible Our Guide

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Those who boast of wisdom beyond the teaching of the Word of God, need to drink deeper of the fountain of knowledge, that they may learn their real ignorance. Men boast of their wisdom, when it is foolishness in the sight of God. Let no man deceive himself. “If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God; for it is written. He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.” The greatest ignorance that now curses the human race is ignorance of the binding claims of the Law of God; and this ignorance is the result of neglecting the study of the Word of God. It is Satan’s plan to so engage the mind that men shall neglect the great Guide Book, and thus be led into the path of transgression and destruction.

The Bible is not exalted to its rightful place among the books of the world, although its study is of infinite importance to the souls of men. In searching its pages the imagination beholds scenes majestic and eternal. We behold Jesus, the Son of God, coming to our world, and engaging in the mysterious conflict that discomfited the powers of darkness. O how wonderful, how almost incredible it is, that the infinite God would consent to the humiliation of His own Son that we might be elevated to a place with Him upon His throne! Let every student of the Scriptures contemplate this great fact, and he will not come from a study of the Bible without being purified, elevated, and ennobled. The truth will be opened to the mind, and applied to the heart by the Spirit of God. (Through connection with God, the Christian will have clearer and broader views, unbiased by his own preconceived opinions. His discernment will be more penetrating, his faculties better balanced. His mind, exercised in the contemplation of exalted truths, will be expanded, and in obtaining heavenly knowledge he will better understand his own weakness, and will grow in faith and humility.) When there is little attention given to the Word of God, divine counsels are not heeded, admonitions are in vain, grace and heavenly wisdom are not sought that past sins may be avoided and every taint of corruption cleansed from the character. David prayed, “Make me to understand the way of Thy precepts; so shall I talk of Thy wonderful works. . . . Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law.”

There is a great work to be done by the earnest Bible student; for gems of truth are to be gathered up, and separated from the companionship of error. Though the Bible is a revelation from heaven, yet many do not comprehend its divine teaching. We are to discover new aspects of truth in both the Old and the New Testament, to behold the exceeding breadth and compass of truths which we imagine we understand, but of which we have only a superficial knowledge. He who earnestly searches the Scriptures will see that harmony exists between the various parts of the Bible; he will discover the bearing of one passage upon another, and the reward of his toil will be exceedingly precious.

All over the field of revelation are scattered glad springs of heavenly truth, peace, and joy. These fountains of joy are within the reach of every seeker. The words of Inspiration, pondered in the heart, will be as living streams flowing from the river of the water of life. Our Saviour prayed that the mind of His followers might be opened to understand the Scriptures. Whenever we study the Bible with a prayerful heart, the Holy Spirit is near to open to us the meaning of the words we read. (The man whose mind is enlightened by the opening of God’s Word to his understanding, will not only feel that he must more diligently seek to understand that Word, but that he must have a better understanding of the sciences. He will feel that he is called to a high calling in Christ Jesus. The more closely connected man is with the Source of all knowledge and wisdom, the more he will feel that he must advance in intellectual and spiritual attainments. The opening of God’s Word is always followed by a remarkable opening and strengthening of man’s faculties; for the entrance of His words giveth light. By contemplation of great truths, the mind is elevated, the affections purified and refined; for the Spirit of God, through the truth of God, quickens the lifeless, spiritual faculties, and attracts the soul heavenward.)

Then take your Bible and present yourself before your Heavenly Father, saying, “Enlighten me; teach me what is truth.” The Lord will regard your prayer, and the Holy Spirit will impress the truth upon your soul. In searching the Scriptures for yourself, you will become established in the faith. It is of the greatest importance that you continually search the Scriptures, storing the mind with the truths of God. You may be separated from the companionship of Christians, and placed where you will not have the privilege of meeting with the children of God. You need the treasures of God’s Word hidden in your heart, that when opposition comes upon you, you may bring everything to the test of the Scriptures.

Truth is eternal, and conflict with error will only make manifest its strength. We should never refuse to examine the Scriptures with those who, we have reason to believe, desire to know what is truth as much as we do. Suppose a brother holds a view that differs from yours, and he comes to you, proposing that you sit down with him, and investigate that point in the light of the Scriptures; should you rise up filled with prejudice, and condemn his ideas while refusing to give him a hearing? The only right way would be to sit down as Christians and investigate the position presented, in the light of God’s Word, which will reveal truth and unmask error. To ridicule his ideas would not weaken his position, though it were false, or strengthen your position, though it were true. If the pillars of our faith will not stand the test of investigation, it is time that we knew it; for it is foolish to become set in our ideas, and think that no one should interfere with our opinions. Let everything be brought to the Bible; for it is the only rule of faith and doctrine.

We must study the truth for ourselves; no man should be relied upon to think for us, no matter who he may be or in what position he may be placed. We are not to look upon any man as a perfect guide for us. We are to counsel together, and be subject one to another; but at the same time we are to exercise the ability God has given us to learn what is truth. Each one of us must look to God for divine enlightenment, that we may individually develop a character that will stand the test of the great day.

We are living in the last days, when error of a most deceptive character is accepted and believed, while truth is discarded. Many are drifting into darkness and infidelity, picking flaws with the Bible, bringing up superstitious inventions, unscriptural theories, and speculations of vain philosophy; but it is the duty of every one to seek a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. The importance and benefit of Bible study cannot be overestimated. In searching the Scriptures our minds are led to dwell upon the infinite sacrifice of Christ, on His mediation in our behalf. As we see His love, as we meditate upon His humiliation and sufferings, the same spirit of self-denial and sacrifice for the good of others will be kindled in our hearts. As we behold Jesus by the eye of faith, we shall be “changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

The Bible Echo, October 15, 1892.

The Consecrated Way – Knowledge – Part II

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We are continuing on in our series entitled, “The Consecrated Way,” which is really a climb up Peter’s ladder. 2 Peter 1:3–5 says, “According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge.”

Gaining Knowledge

The second rung of Peter’s ladder, as we begin to reach toward heaven in our consecrated way, is knowledge. Last month we looked at the first rung of virtue, having been reinforced by faith. In the process of sanctified living there needs to be a continual process. One of the greatest dangers that Christians face is to reach a point in life where there is a sense of self-satisfaction—a sense of having arrived.

We see this even manifested in certain church doctrines, such as once saved always saved. Some churches teach that once you accept Jesus as your Saviour, that is all you need to do. But that is not correct, as far as the Bible is concerned. There is the walk. Indeed, there is the climb that takes place. Jesus addressed this in the Sermon on the Mount when He said that there is the narrow path. There is the uphill walk. He did not say that it was a broad road; He said it was a narrow, uphill path. (See Matthew 7:13, 14.)

That means that some effort needs to be put forth as we walk with Christ day by day, making those decisions that will establish us in the faith more than ever before. We need to walk in that respect and never come to a point where we are self-satisfied in our process of Christian living.

Having All the Answers

It is not like the world in terms of achievements and education. In the world of education, we think when you have received your Ph.D. that you have arrived; there is no higher level of education that you can reach.

I met a man one time who had five doctorate degrees. I was studying with some people who felt they had to call in some reinforcements, and this was the man they called.

My Bible students felt that, because of his level of education, he could answer all the questions. He told me he had decided that maybe he would go for an M. D., because he did not have one of those. He was attending Loma Linda University at that time. He said, “Some people collect stamps; I collect sheepskins [degrees].”

Never Stop

When you reach that level, do you think you have finally arrived?

Dear people, as far as the Christian process is concerned, we never stop learning. It is a continual process, learning more and more all the time. Indeed, throughout all eternity we will learn. A lot of people have the idea that when we arrive in heaven there will be a cloud, a harp, and a halo, and we will just sit around all day eating from the Tree of Life.

No! God has a better plan than that. We will continue to research and to learn the intricacies and to probe the wonders that God has created for us. And each one of those will share something more about the great God that we serve. We will be learning throughout all eternity.

“Having received the faith of the gospel, the next work of the believer is to add to his character virtue, and thus cleanse the heart and prepare the mind for the reception of the knowledge of God. This knowledge is the foundation of all true education and of all true service. It is the only real safeguard against temptation; and it is this alone that can make one like God in character.” Acts of the Apostles, 530, 531.

Learning to Know Him

We have discovered, in the past, that it has been helpful for us to define our terms so we are able to see the intent of what Peter is saying to us in this passage of Scripture. We have an idea of what the word knowledge means, but let us define it a little more carefully.

The Dictionary of New Testament Words says that this word, used by Peter, has a greater meaning than to just know something. It means exact or full knowledge, discernment, recognition; a greater participation by the knower in the object known, thus more powerfully influencing him. Knowing that definition, it is not surprising that Peter used this word in illustrating the growth of the Christian in character perfection. To be satisfied with anything less than exact or full knowledge about spiritual things is a sin.

There are too many who are satisfied with only a superficial knowledge, either as it comes from the preacher or as it comes from some other person. They will depend upon someone like that for their knowledge about the truths of God, and they make that the foundation of their faith. Indeed, if that is the case, they have already gotten off the track.

The Bible says, “Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth.” John 17:17. That leaves no room for human speculation, as we find going around today. The devil is a deceiver. If you do not know that, I am telling you that he is a deceiver, and he has been trying, for years, to undermine those truths that have been established by God in His Word.

At this late date in earth’s history, we cannot afford to listen to what false knowledge is proclaiming—a knowledge that, when examined in the light of the Word of God and of the Spirit of Prophecy, only leaves us chaff and no grain.

The Attack of Evolution

One of the attacks, one of the inroads that is being made against the Bible today is evolution. It has been sounding for a long, long time, but it is reaching a crescendo.

Evolutionists say man has been on this earth three million years plus, and that the universe is the result of a big bang. We find that these concepts of evolution are designed, by the deceiver of our souls, for only one reason: to strike right at the very heart of the Ten Commandment moral law—the Sabbath. Because if the earth took long eons of time to be created and to come into being, then what need is there of the Sabbath as the memorial of the rest that God took when it was all finished at the end of six days? We need to be very careful that we are not listening to the serpent, as did Eve, when we hear something that does not match up with the Word of God.

God’s Word is True

We can know that God’s Word is true, through prophecy, which establishes it without question. We can depend upon it. When we hear something strange that does not match up, we need to flee from it. The highest and supreme end of all knowledge, of course, is the knowledge of God and of His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus said, in John 17:3, “This is life eternal.” Evolution does not promise that. God’s Word does.

“This is life eternal,” Jesus said, “that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” The prophet Jeremiah declares, “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.” Jeremiah 9:23, 24. It appears to me that these are the things that we need to know.

In the book Ministry of Healing, 409, we are told, “Like our Saviour, we are in this world to do service for God. We are here to become like God in character, and by a life of service to reveal Him to the world. In order to be co-workers with God, in order to become like Him and to reveal His character, we must know Him aright. We must know Him as He reveals Himself.”

God’s Character Attributes

Going back to what we just read from Jeremiah, if we are to glory in anything, we should glory in the fact that knowing God is knowing His character attributes and those which He outlines are very specific here. Knowledge, the second rung of this ladder, is to lead us to know these character attributes of God: loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness.

I believe if there is anyone whom we could trust to tell us about the loving kindness of God, it would be the apostle John. John was called the beloved disciple, and he tells us in 1 John 4:7, “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.” If you do not love, you do not know God, but if you love, then you know God. “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” Verses 8–11.

That is pretty good counsel, don’t you think? This is the process of character development—learning about God, and then putting that knowledge into operation as we live day by day. You see, knowledge cannot be all theoretical. It also has to be practical. There is a great difference between the two.

Learning is not Knowing

A person who has theoretical knowledge has only heard or read or studied, but that is as far as it goes. We call them “armchair theologians.” To give a little clearer illustration of the theoretical, we could consider learning how to bake a loaf of bread, perhaps in a cooking class.

We can learn about all the different measurements of ingredients, about what a teaspoon is, a tablespoon, and a cup. We can learn about all the ingredients, whether the flour is bleached or whether it is whole grain. We can learn about the stove, about the manufacturer, and about the temperature settings. We can learn how to use the stove, and yet never bake a loaf of bread.

What profit is there in all of this? Absolutely nothing! Knowledge only becomes useful as it is put into operation, into practical use. You need to take the ingredients down off the shelf. You need to turn the stove to the proper temperature; you need to mix those ingredients together in the proper amounts; put it into the oven, and then you have results that are beneficial, not only to you, but to others as well.

All too often those who call themselves Christians today do not put their knowledge into practice. They still have the ingredients on the shelf. It does absolutely no good for them, or for others, to know that “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16), unless we are taking that knowledge, utilizing it in our own life, and sharing it with others, sharing the loving kindness of God with those who do not know it. That is where real value is found.

Use It or Lose It

Knowledge becomes like manna that fell in the wilderness. If it was laid up, not used, it began to stink and to breed worms. Kind of an awesome thought when you think about knowledge that is not put into practice; it is totally useless! What am I saying in all of this? Just this, God expects something from you. He expects you to learn; He expects you to develop a knowledge of Him—that He is a God of love. And then He expects you to share that love with other people, following the example of the Lord Jesus Christ when He was on this earth.

“Taking humanity upon Him, Christ came to be one with humanity, and at the same time to reveal our heavenly Father to sinful human beings. He who had been in the presence of the Father from the beginning, He who was the express image of the invisible God, was alone able to reveal the character of the Deity to mankind. He was in all things made like unto His brethren. He became flesh even as we are. . . . He shared the lot of men; yet He was the blameless Son of God. He was a stranger and sojourner on the earth—in the world, but not of the world; tempted and tried as men and women today are tempted and tried, yet living a life free from sin. Tender, compassionate, sympathetic, ever considerate of others, He represented the character of God, and was constantly engaged in service for God and man.” The Ministry of Healing, 422, 423. To engage in service is really to put into practical operation the knowledge that we learn.

A True Court of Justice

Another aspect, concerning the knowledge of God that Jeremiah talks about, is judgment. Psalm 9:16 says that “The Lord is known by the judgment which He executeth.” Revelation 16:7 says that the judgments of God are true and righteous.

Do you not wish that could be said of the courts of the land today? Part of the process of knowledge, concerning the great God of heaven, is that we know that He is the God who judges with equality. He is no respecter of persons, and we see this in the life of Jesus when He was here on this earth. He was not impressed with one person over another, like we are, so often, today.

He dealt fairly with everybody, Jew and Gentile. If we add to our faith virtue, and to our virtue knowledge, it is going to lead us to judge fairly among our fellow human beings, just as Jesus did, because we are learning of Him. If we are learning of Him, we are going to become like Him, for by beholding we will indeed become changed. (See 2 Corinthians 3:18.)

People will be blessed by our lives, because they will know that we have been with God. One of the great tragedies of Christianity is that there are those who say one thing, they have all the theory, but they do something different. There are probably more people who will be shut out of heaven because of this one factor than anything else.

Self-deceived Christians

I am sure you have all heard someone say, “Oh, I know about Christians. Do not get involved with them; they will rip you off every time.” I suppose we all have known people who have represented that kind of life. Then you could multiply that by the hundreds of people whom they have driven away from Christ because of it. What a terrible tragedy that is!

It is a double tragedy! Do you know why it is a double tragedy? There is a tragedy on both sides, not only for the perpetrator but for the one who has been perpetrated upon. The one who is the perpetrator is self-deceived. He does not have knowledge. He has an armchair knowledge; he does not understand what it means to be honest and true in all his dealings. And for the person who has suffered at his hands, it is a tragedy, because it becomes even more difficult for God to reach his heart again. It is like putting a steel band around the heart so that it cannot be penetrated. What a sad thing that is.

Are Christians perfect? No, they have their failings, but when people purport one thing while stabbing you in the back, that is quite another thing. I think we need to realize that we all are subject to failing. We need to behold Jesus, because by beholding Jesus we become changed, and we do not get involved in situations where judgment is perverted; where situations are taken advantage of; where discrimination is taking place and oppression is being exercised.

We are still faced with these problems today, and we need to get beyond that. God never perverts judgment. He does not say one thing and do another. His theory and His practice are always the same, and He expects that of every one of us. If we are learning of Him, if we are adding the only knowledge that is worthwhile, then our theory and our practice are going to match His.

The Righteousness of Christ

The last area to consider is our understanding of the knowledge of Christ’s righteousness. No knowledge of God would ever be complete without that part which reveals the righteousness of Jesus Christ, for it is the righteousness of Christ which is able to save man. It is the righteousness of Christ which can give power to stem the tide of evil that wants to flood over the life. It is the righteousness of Christ which can make a sinner acceptable to God, and it is the righteousness of Christ which fits us for a place at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

It is only the righteousness of Christ which, when properly understood, brings us to understand the law and the gospel. How thankful I am for the Spirit of Prophecy which has been given to us to convey the proper concept of the righteousness of Christ. These words of inspiration help us define those special areas of potential problems that we will be facing in the last days of this earth’s history.

There are those who, again, are trying to tear down this gift, trying to get it out of the church, supposing that somehow the philosophy of man can replace the words of inspiration with something better. But woe to the one who falls for such deceitful flatteries as this. You see, without the knowledge of the righteousness of Christ, in its full meaning, as it has been given through the words of inspiration, we are in trouble.

There is no such thing as once saved, always saved. There is no such thing as accepting Jesus and that is all you have to do. “The knowledge of God as revealed in Christ is the knowledge that all who are saved must have. It is the knowledge that works transformation of character.” The Ministry of Healing, 425. How important is knowledge? Knowledge is tremendously important, because it is the grease on the wheel that transforms our character, as it were.

Ignorance is Not Bliss

If you do not know, you are not going to do. It is just as simple as that. There are people who have the philosophy that ignorance is bliss, but the time is coming when bliss is going to burn awfully hot. Ignorance is not bliss! Ignorance will lead you straight to hell fire, because you will have a character that will not be fit for heaven.

The knowledge of God received, will recreate the soul in the image of God. It will impart to the whole being a spiritual power that is divine. Does this sound something like what Peter wrote? It gets awfully close, does it not? That is what righteousness is; it is spiritual power that is divine. We need it; we desire it; we seek for it, and indeed, the promise is, we shall find it.

“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge.” 2 Peter 1:4, 5.

This, dear people, is the ladder that God has called us to climb. It is a ladder where each rung, as we place our foot upon it, has transforming divine power to take the character that we possess and change it, modify it more and more and more, until we reflect the character of Christ in our lives.

May the Lord challenge us. May the Lord continue to bless us, as we climb that ladder.

To be continued . . .

The Seed – Part I

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Jesus talked a lot about seeds, and in this article, we will look at seeds, especially The Seed.

Jesus tells all humanity what their priority in this life should be. Jesus says, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness.” Matthew 6:33. That should be the priority of every human being on the face of this earth, an earth that has been in turmoil and trouble for 6,000 years, because of sin.

Setting Priorities

Jesus said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness.” We must have both. We must have His righteousness in order to some day enter into His kingdom.

God says, Put that at the top of the list every day, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness.” It is the priority that God wants for us. We make out lists all the time. My wife is well known for lists. She will make lists, and the first thing on a list is the priority. She works herself down the list, and if the last things do not happen, it is all right.

I want to look with you at the first thing, the top of the list. That is what Jesus is saying: I want you to put this on the top of the list, Seek ye first the kingdom of God. It is a wonderful thing to be able to study the Word of God and see harmony coming through. That harmony is the result of divine Providence guiding in producing the Holy Bible. It is a tremendous work of God. The Pharisees in Jesus’ day were seeking the kingdom of God. “And when He was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, He answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo, here! Or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 17:20, 21.

Seeking the Kingdom of God

The Children of Israel in Jesus’ day, even in the midst of their apostasy, were seeking the kingdom of God, but they were looking in a direction other than God would have them look. They wanted something they could see, something they could feel, something with substance. They were looking for a physical kingdom on this earth. Jesus told them the kingdom of God was within them, and they did not want to hear that. It was totally opposite of the theology of the day.

Have you ever heard theology that is totally contrary to the Word of God? It is all around us in Christendom today. It was all around them in Jesus’ day also. God was revealing His kingdom in their midst, but they did not see it.

In John, we find an interview that Jesus had with one of the leaders of Israel. His name, we are told, was Nicodemus. He came to Jesus by night, because he did not want his peers to see him with Jesus. Jesus was not a popular figure, and interestingly enough, Jesus has never been a popular figure, even though it appears that He is, because He makes known the truth to people. Jesus spoke these words to Nicodemus, words that reveal what is necessary in regard to the kingdom of God.

“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3.

Jesus now said, Unless you are born again, you cannot even see the kingdom of God, let alone be in it. What did Jesus mean when He said be “born again?” What is the inference? Here is a mature man standing before Him, a man who was already born.

Putting on a New Nature

What is He telling Nicodemus? He is saying, You must have a whole new nature, before you are able to see the kingdom of God. Why is that necessary? God makes it very clear.

God uses Paul the apostle to tell us why it is necessary, and He is not just talking to the Jews. He is telling the Jews and the Gentiles—all humanity—why it is necessary to be born again.

“You hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” Ephesians 2:1–3.

You and I come into this world as every human being has since the fall of Adam, with a fallen nature, a nature that is not in harmony with God’s kingdom. It is totally out of harmony with His righteousness, and if we choose to retain that nature, God has left on record the consequence: “The wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23. That is not merely physical death; it is not being physically laid out in a cemetery because you died.

No, God is making it clear that there is a second death, a total extinction of life where you will never again be, and you will be as though you never were. So God says, in His mercy and in His compassion to all of us, You need to be born again. You need to have a new nature before you are able to even see My kingdom.

God says it even more clearly in 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10. He tells us why this nature, that is based on the flesh and not on the Spirit of God, cannot inherit the kingdom of God. He uses Paul again to make the issues clear to us. “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?”

What does it mean to be unrighteous? Paul defines unrighteousness: “Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” It is just not going to happen. God does not want us in that context, but He does want us in His kingdom. For God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9.

Being Born Again

Let us go back to Nicodemus’ response. He said, Wait a minute! How can a man that is old, be born again? And that is the question that we need to ask. How is it that we can be born again?

There is a lot of theology in Christendom today that will give you an answer, but it is not in harmony with God’s Word. They are dealing with being born again on an outward basis—what they can see, what they can feel, what they can do. What did Jesus tell the Pharisees when they demanded to know when the kingdom of God should come?

He pointed them to within themselves. If it happens at all, it is going to happen within you. To understand what it means to be born again, look at the first parable regarding seeds. When Jesus was growing up, before He left home to begin His ministry at the age of 30, He spent time in a garden. He planted seeds just like we do. He learned lessons from His experience in the garden, and that is why He shares with us these parables.

The Seed—The Power

“He said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it?” He looked around in the society of men, in the nations, and in the kingdoms of men and He could find no comparison whatsoever. He could only find a comparison in the garden. “It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.” Mark 4:30–32. How small God’s kingdom has appeared to men in 6,000 years.

God tells us, in His Word, there will only be one kingdom. (See Daniel 2.) So this small beginning is going to eventually encompass the whole world with people who have been born again. With what does He compare the kingdom of God? A little seed that looks like nothing could ever grow from it.

“There is life in the seed, there is power in the soil; but unless an infinite power is exercised day and night, the seed will yield no returns. The showers of rain must be sent to give moisture to the thirsty fields, the sun must impart heat, the electricity must be conveyed to the buried seed. The life, which the Creator has implanted, He alone can call forth. Every seed grows, every plant develops, by the power of God.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 63.

This does not happen apart from God in the physical world. When you plant that cucumber seed and the plant eventually emerges out of the ground and produces cucumbers, it is the direct result of God’s work.

Directly From God

Let us look at the parable in verses 26, 27 of Mark 4: “And He said, ‘So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.’” So what power produces the germination of that seed? It is God’s power.

Notice: “The germ in the seed grows by the unfolding of the life-principle which God has implanted. Its development depends upon no human power.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 77. If it grows, it grows as a result of God and of His power and of His intercession. It is His sun that shines warmth down. It is His water or rain that waters that plant. It is His air, that He has created for life, that gives life to that seed. All the three essentials are directly from God.

Are we talking about growing seeds in the garden, or are we talking about being born again? Are they synonymous?

“So it is with the kingdom of Christ. It is a new creation.” Ibid. This was not something hidden, before the days of Christ, from the Children of Israel. This was known to Nicodemus; it was not anything new. “Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” Zechariah 4:6.

It is My Spirit, My power that gives life, God says. It is only His power that can bring a new nature out of a fallen nature.

The Blessing of the Seed

Jesus tells us clearly that the seed is able to produce a new creation, acceptable in the kingdom of God. “Now the parable is this: [Jesus says] The seed is the word of God.” Luke 8:11. We hold the seed each time we hold our Bibles. God’s seed catalog describes the seed, describes what it will do, and also contains the seeds! The whole package is there. No mail order is necessary. He sent it to us. It was not even C.O.D.!

I want you to notice something very interesting. The seed that God has given to us, in this natural world, is most powerful. It has various abilities:

  1. A seed can produce a living thing. That little, dormant seed looks dead, but it can produce a living thing. It can produce a new creation. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17.
  2. Every seed that germinates, eventually grows up, and it also grows down. There is a balance in everything that God does. Working the kingdom of God in us, He works a balance. It will be inside first, within us, but it will eventually be seen outside in what we do, in the kind of person we are. Some drunk, in the gutter, who found a piece of the Word of God, or was invited to a mission to hear the Word of God, was changed completely. Were you to see that man a month later, you would not recognize that he was the same man. Why? Because he had allowed God to do something on the inside that eventually was revealed on the outside. Do you see that? The seed germinates down, puts its roots down, and the plant goes up. It is an inside/outside work that God wants to do, a balanced work.
  3. This seed can reproduce its own kind. It can produce a new life, but more than that, it can reproduce itself. A cucumber seed will reproduce itself. And interestingly enough, it will not reproduce anything else but its own kind.
  4. It can grow thousands of times its size in its lifetime. It is going to germinate. It is going to bear; it is going to bring up a blade, then the ear and then the full corn in the ear. It continues to grow and develop. Have you ever heard of indeterminate plants, especially among tomatoes? They just keep growing. This seed can actually reproduce itself thousands of times its size. A redwood tree seed is small, yet it produces a tree hundreds of feet in the air and many times around in diameter. Tremendous growth! God tells us our potential character development is limitless in regard to becoming more and more like Him. If we choose to receive the kingdom of God within us, by receiving the seed, which is the Word of God, our potential character development is limitless. We can grow and grow and never stop.
  5. The seed can produce roots that are actually powerful enough to break through rock, granite, anything. In the natural world, it is true. Brothers and sisters, it is also true in the spiritual world. This Word, allowed to have good ground, can make us more powerful than sin. It can give us power over sin, power over the great deceiver, and power over everything that is contrary to God. This seed has the power to do that!

I want you to notice that as it is in the physical, so it is in the spiritual. The three essential ingredients for a physical seed to grow, and which come only from God, are sunlight, water, and air.

You have sunshine—the righteousness of Christ, in the spiritual. You have water—the Spirit of God. Water is the latter rain, the former rain, the Spirit of God. And you have air—the grace of God. In Steps to Christ, 68, we are told that His grace encircles this earth just as much as the air we breathe.

What Can I Contribute?

They all come from God, in regards to the physical and to the spiritual. Those are necessary items for the growth of the seed. There is one more thing that is necessary however, if the seed is going to germinate, grow, and develop into a plant that bears fruit. God has not yet told us about this, and it has to do with you and me.

Jesus talks about seeds again in another parable. (See Matthew 13.) It is about a sower who went out and cast seed here and there. As he was sowing, some of the seed fell by the wayside. The wayside was a path that was trampled upon; people walked on it all the time. Seed fell there, and the birds came and took it away before it had time to do anything.

The second place the seed fell was on stony ground, on the rocks. The seed had enough soil to be able to germinate, to root down, to pop up, but when it got hot, the roots were not deep enough; the plant fell over and withered. It needed water, and it needed removal of stones to get the heat away from it.

The third place that the seed fell was into a bunch of thorns. You never want to plant a garden where there is a bunch of weeds. You want to take the weeds out and then plant the garden. But here you have seed falling in the midst of thorns, or weeds, and eventually being choked out. Even though two or three seeds germinated and grew, none of them lived. That should alarm us.

Another thing that should alarm us is where this is taking place. Where do people go to hear the Word of God spoken? In the church. This is not being spoken of in the world. Jesus is referring to those who would hear the Word of God, as His professed people, in His house. That should alarm us, because if it is true, if you took this literally, the percentage of those who respond correctly to the Word of God and have the kingdom of God growing within them is only 25 percent. That means that 75 percent reject it.

Should that alarm me sitting in a church? Oh, yes, it should cause me to examine myself, whether I am receiving the Word of God or whether I am just hearing it.

There is one thing the seed needs, which God does not give. If it does not have this, the seed will not germinate; it will not grow. “But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the Word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.” Luke 8:15. Jesus does not speak, in this parable, about the sunshine, the water, and the air. Why? Because He knows that His heavenly Father will supply that to the seed. But for us to grow, it is necessary to have good ground. Having good ground is up to us. God has nothing to do with producing good ground or bad ground, thorny ground or stony ground. We have everything to do with the kind of ground into which God’s Word falls.

Jesus Gives the Answer

God wants to be practical. God wants us to understand what good ground is so we can produce good ground for the seed to grow and develop. Jesus gives us a clear representation of what it means to have good ground.

Revelation 3:20, helps us see what good ground means and what God is asking of us in regard to having good ground. “Behold,” Jesus says, “I stand at the door, and knock.” Where is He in regard to the door? When you are standing at a door and knocking, you are on the outside.

He is on the outside, but He is knocking, knocking that He might come inside. Remember, the kingdom of God begins within you, and the heavenly Gardener needs to be where the seed is, to allow that seed to develop and grow. So He is knocking, and He says, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.” Jesus is saying, the good ground is the person who hears His voice and responds to the point of opening their heart to Him.

Faith Opens the Door

Here is where we get real practical. How do we open our hearts to God? If we ever have that experience, we should know that we have to exercise faith to open our heart to God, and faith is something that God gives as a gift to every man who comes into this world. (See Romans 12:3.)

Jesus said, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him [God]: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6. So faith opens the door! If we are going to be a consistent good-ground hearer, the door must remain open.

To be continued . . .

Wake Up and Blow the Trumpet – An Appeal to Live the Truth and Share It

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For weeks I have not been able to sleep after half past three o’clock. My mind is deeply exercised in regard to our condition as a people. We ought to be far in advance of any other people on the earth because we have greater light and greater knowledge of the truth, which lays us under increased accountability to advance that light and not only profess to believe the truth but to practice it. When we do practice the truth we are then following Jesus, who is the light of the world; and if we as a people are not constantly elevating, becoming more and more spiritually minded, we are becoming like the Pharisees—self-righteous—while we do not the will of God.

Less of Self

We must have a greater nearness to God. Much less of self and much more of Jesus Christ and His grace must be brought into our everyday life. We are living in an important period of this world’s history. The end of all things is at hand; the sands of time are fast running out; soon in heaven it will be said: “It is done.” “He that is holy, let him be holy still,” “he which is filthy, let him be filthy still.” [Revelation 21:6; 22:11].

Let our testimonies be sharpened up; let us have a firmer hold on God. I cannot refrain from prayer at one, two, and three o’clock in the morning for the Lord to work upon the hearts of the people. I think of all heaven being interested in the work that is going on upon the earth. Ministering angels are waiting about the throne to instantly obey the mandate of Jesus Christ to answer every prayer offered in earnest living faith. I think of how many who profess the truth are keeping it apart from their lives. They do not bring its sanctifying, refining, spiritualizing power into their hearts. I think how this grieves Jesus.

I think of His great sorrow as He wept over Jerusalem, exclaiming, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not.” [Luke 13:34]! God forbid that these words shall apply to those who have great light and blessings. In the rejecting of Jerusalem it was because great privileges were abused, which brought the denunciation upon all who lightly regarded the great opportunities and precious light that were entrusted to their keeping. Privileges do not commend us to God, but they commend God to us. No people are saved because they have great light and special advantages, for these high and heavenly favors only increase their responsibility.

Woe Unto Thee

The more and increased light God has given makes the receiver more responsible. It does not place the receiver in any safer position unless the privileges are wisely improved, prized, and used to advance God’s glory. Christ said, “Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.” [Matthew 11:21].

When Jerusalem was divorced from God it was because of her sins. She fell from an exalted height that Tyre and Sidon had never reached. And when an angel falls he becomes a fiend. The depth of our ruin is measured by the exalted light to which God has raised us in His great goodness and unspeakable mercy.

Oh, what privileges are granted to us as a people! And if God spared not His people that He loved, because they refused to walk in the light, how can He spare the people whom He has blessed with the light of heaven in having opened to them the most exalted truth ever entrusted to mortal man to give to the world?

We are far from being the people God would have us to be, because we do not elevate the soul and refine the character in harmony with the wonderful unfolding of God’s truth and His purposes. “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” [Proverbs 14:34]. Sin is a disorganizer. Wherever it is cherished—in the individual heart, in the household, in the church—there is disorder, strife, variance, enmity, envy, jealousy, because the enemy of man and of God has the controlling power over the mind. But let the truth be loved and brought into the life, as well as advocated, and that man or woman will hate sin and will be a living representative of Jesus Christ to the world.

Needed—Real Bible Religion

The people claiming to believe the truth will not be condemned because they had not the light, but because they had great light and did not bring their hearts to the test of God’s great moral standard of righteousness. The people who claim to believe the truth must be elevated by living it out. Real Bible religion must leaven the life, refine and ennoble the character, making it more and more like the divine model. Then will the home be vocal with prayer, with thanksgiving and praise to God. Angels will minister in the home and accompany the worshiper to the house of prayer.

Let the churches who claim to believe the truth, who are advocating the law of God, keep that law and depart from all iniquity. Let the individual members of the church resist the temptations to practice evils and indulge in sin. Let the church commence the work of purification before God by repentance, humiliation, deep heart searching, for we are in the antitypical day of atonement—solemn hour fraught with eternal results.

Let those who teach the truth present it as it is in Jesus. Under the subduing, sanctifying, refining, influence of the truth of God they are as clean vessels. Let them be leavened with Bible religion, and what an influence would go forth from them to the world! Let the individual members of the church be pure, steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the love of Jesus, and they will then be a light to the world. Let the men standing as watchmen and as shepherds of the flock proclaim the solemn truth, sound the notes of warning to all people, nations and tongues. Let them be living representatives of the truth they advocate, and honor God’s law by strict and holy compliance with its requirements, walking before the Lord in purity, in holiness, and a power will attend the proclamation of the truth that will reflect light everywhere.

Internal Corruption Brings Denunciations of God

God never forsakes people or individuals until they forsake Him. Outward opposition will not cause the faith of God’s people, who are keeping His commandments, to become dim. The neglect to bring purity and truth into practice will grieve the Spirit of God and weaken them because God is not in their midst to bless. Internal corruption will bring the denunciations of God upon this people as it did upon Jerusalem. Oh, let pleading voices, let earnest prayer be heard, that those who preach to others shall not themselves be castaways. My brethren, we know not what is before us, and our only safety is in following the Light of the world. God will work with us and for us if the sins which brought His wrath upon the old world, upon Sodom and Gomorrah and upon ancient Jerusalem, do not become our crime.

The least transgression of God’s law brings guilt upon the transgressor, and without earnest repentance and forsaking of sin he will surely become an apostate. You inquire in regard to the course which should be pursued to secure the rights of our people to worship according to the dictates of our own conscience. This has been a burden on my soul for some time, whether it would be a denial of our faith and an evidence that out trust was not fully in God. But I call to mind many things God has shown me in the past in regard to things of a similar character, as the draft and other things. I can speak in the fear of God, it is right we should use every power we can to avert the pressure that is being brought to bear upon our people. I know that were our people spiritualized by the truth the greatest love would be maintained.

Policy Does Not Save

[We are] not to provoke those who have accepted this spurious sabbath, an institution of the Papacy, in the place of God’s holy Sabbath. Their not having the Bible arguments in their favor makes them all the more angry and determined to supply the place of arguments that are wanting in the Word of God, by the power of their might. The force of persecution follows the steps of the dragon. Therefore great care should be exercised to give no provocation. And again let us as a people, as far as possible, cleanse the camp of moral defilement and aggravating sins. When sin is making its march upon the people who claim to be elevating the moral standard of righteousness, how can we expect God to turn His power in our behalf and save us as a people that did righteousness?

All the policy in the world cannot save us from a terrible sifting, and all the efforts made with high authorities will not lift from us the scourging of God, just because sin is cherished. If as a people we do not keep ourselves in the faith and not only advocate with pen and voice the commandments of God, but keep them every one, not violating a single precept knowingly, then weakness and ruin will come upon us. It is a work that we must attend to in every one of our churches. Each man must be a Christian.

Let the sin of pride be put away, let all superfluities of dress be overcome, and repentance toward God be exercised for the highhanded robbery toward Him, which has withheld money that should flow into the treasury to sustain the work of God in its mission fields. Let the work of reformation, of true conversion, be set before and urged upon the people. Let our works, our deportment, correspond with the work for this time, that we may say, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” Let us humble our souls before God by humiliation, fasting and prayer, repentance of sin, and putting it away.

The Trumpet Must Give a Certain Sound

The voice of the true watchman needs now to be heard all along the line, “the morning cometh, and also the night” [Isaiah 21:12]. The trumpet must give a certain sound, for we are in the great day of the Lord’s preparation. All the struggles to carry our appeals to the highest authorities in our land, however earnest and strong and eloquent may be the pleas in our favor, will not bring about that which we desire unless the Lord works by His Holy Spirit in the heart of those who claim to believe the truth. We may struggle as a mighty man in swimming against the current of Niagara, but we shall fail unless the Lord pleads in our behalf. God will be honored among His people. They must be pure, they must be divested of self, steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. The Lord will elevate the humblest soul that trusts in Him. He will unite His power with human effort if that man will honor Him as did Daniel. But as a people we need the beauty of righteousness, holiness, and truth. The most harmonious theory will not save us. The God that ruled in Babylon is the same God that rules now.

There are many doctrines current in our world. There is many a religion current that numbers its thousands and tens of thousands, but there is but one that bears the superscription and the stamp of God. There is a religion of man and a religion of God. We must have our souls riveted to the eternal Rock. Everything in God’s world, both men and doctrines and nature itself, is fulfilling God’s sure word of prophecy and accomplishing His grand and closing work in this world’s history.

We are to be ready and waiting for the orders of God. Nations will be stirred to their very center. Support will be withdrawn from those who proclaim God’s only standard of righteousness, the only sure test of character. And all who will not bow to the decrees of the national councils and obey the national laws to exalt the sabbath instituted by the man of sin to the disregard of God’s holy day, will feel, not the oppressive power of popery alone, but of the Protestant world, the image of the beast.

The Church—the Loyal and True

Satan will work his miracles to deceive; he will set up his power as supreme. The church may appear as about to fall, but it does not fall. It remains, while the sinners in Zion will be sifted out—the chaff separated from the precious wheat. This is a terrible ordeal, but nevertheless it must take place. None but those who have been overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony will be found with the loyal and true, without spot or stain of sin, without guile in their mouths. We must be divested of our self-righteousness and arrayed in the righteousness of Christ.

The remnant that purify their souls by obeying the truth gather strength from the trying process, exhibiting the beauty of holiness amid the surrounding apostasy. All these, He says, “I have graven . . . upon the palms of My hands.” [Isaiah 49:16]. They are held in everlasting, imperishable remembrance. We want faith now, living faith. We want to have a living testimony that shall cut to the heart of the sinner. There is too much sermonizing and too little ministering. We want the holy unction. We need the spirit and fervor of the truth. Many of the ministers are half paralyzed by their own defects of character. They need the converting power of God.

Rendering to God

That which God required of Adam before his fall was perfect obedience to His law. God requires now what He required of Adam, perfect obedience, righteousness without a flaw, without shortcoming in His sight. God help us to render to Him all His law requires. We cannot do this without that faith that brings Christ’s righteousness into daily practice.

Dear brethren, the Lord is coming. Lift up your thoughts and heads and rejoice. Oh, we would think that those who hear the joyful news, who claim to love Jesus, would be filled with joy unutterable and full of glory. This is the good, the joyful news which should electrify every soul, which should be repeated in our homes, and told to those whom we meet on the street. What more joyful news can be communicated! Caviling and contention with believers or unbelievers is not the work God has given us to do.

If Christ is my Saviour, my sacrifice, my atonement, then I shall never perish. Believing on Him, I have life forevermore. Oh, that all who believe the truth would believe in Jesus as their own Saviour. I do not mean that cheap faith unsupported by works, but that earnest, living, constant, abiding faith, that eats the flesh and drinks the blood of the Son of God. I want not only to be pardoned for the transgression of God’s holy law, but I want to be lifted into the sunshine of God’s countenance. Not simply to be admitted to heaven, but to have an abundant entrance.

The Cause is One

Are we so insensible as a peculiar people, a holy nation, to the inexpressible love that God has manifested for us? Salvation is not to be baptized, not to have our names upon the church books, not to preach the truth. But it is a living union with Jesus Christ, to be renewed in heart, doing the works of Christ in faith and labor of love, in patience, meekness, and hope. Every soul united to Christ will be a living missionary to all around him. He will labor for those near and those afar off. He will have no sectional feeling, no interest merely to build up one branch of the work over which he presides and there let his zeal end. All will work with interest to make every branch strong. There will be no self-love, no selfish interest. The cause is one, the truth a great whole.

Well may the question be asked with earnest, anxious heart, “Is envy cherished, is jealousy permitted to find a place in my heart?” If so, Christ is not there. “Do I love the law of God, is the love of Jesus Christ in my heart?” If we love one another as Christ has loved us, then we are getting ready for the blessed heaven of peace and rest. There is no struggling there to be first, to have the supremacy; all will love their neighbor as themselves. Oh, that God would open the understanding and speak to the hearts of our churches by arousing the individual members.

The Lord appoints and sends forth ministers not only to preach, for this is a small part of His work, but to minister, to educate the people not to be fighters but to be examples of piety. There are workers in every department appointed to do their work. When Jesus ascended on high He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. Some have entered the work with a human commission rather than the divine. They have educated themselves as debators, and the churches under their care show the character of their work. They were not ready; they were not fitted for the work. Their hearts are not right with God. In short, they have a theory but not true conversion and sanctification through the truth. The great issue so near at hand will weed out those whom God has not appointed, and He will have a pure, true, sanctified ministry prepared for the latter rain.

Our prayer should ascend to the throne of grace with fervor for the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into His vineyard. My heart aches as I look around upon the mission fields and see so feeble efforts to get the truth before the people. No censure can be attached to our leading men. I believe, brethren, you are one with me in heart, in sentiment, in regard to our great need, and in the earnest desire and earnest efforts to meet the mind of the Spirit of God in these things.

Wanted—Wide Awake Christians

Those who are at ease in Zion need to be aroused. Great is their accountability who bear the truth and yet feel no weight or burden for souls. Oh, for men and women professing the truth to arouse, to take on the yoke of Christ, to lift His burdens. There are wanted those who will not have merely a nominal interest but a Christlike interest, unselfish—an intense ardor that will not flag under difficulties or cool because iniquity abounds.

I want to speak to the ears of our people in America in every church. Awake from the dead, and Christ will give you life. Souls are perishing for the light of truth as it is in Jesus. We are standing upon the very borders of the eternal world. Fair-weather Christians will not be wanted for this work. The sentimental and tasteful religion is not needed for this time. There must be intensity brought into our faith and in the proclamation of truth. I tell you, a new life is proceeding from satanic agencies to work with a power we have not hitherto realized. And shall not a new power from above take possession of God’s people? The truth, sanctifying in its influence, must be urged upon the people. There must be earnest supplications offered to God, agonizing prayer to Him, that our hopes as a people may not be founded on suppositions, but on eternal realities. We must know for ourselves, by the evidence of God’s Word, whether we are in the faith, going to heaven or not. The moral standard of character is God’s law. Do we meet its requirements? Are the Lord’s people bringing their property, their time, their talents, and all their influence into the work for this time? Let us arouse. “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.” [Colossians 3:1].—Letter 55, 1886. (Written from Basel, Switzerland, to G. I. Butler and S. N. Haskell, December 8, 1886.)

[All emphasis supplied.]

Will the Real Seventh-day Adventist Protestant Please Stand Up?

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Seven score and eighteen years ago our pioneers brought forth, line upon line, our distinctive message for the sole purpose of fulfilling a mission by manifesting it to the world. We are now at a crossroads, a fork, a great divide, attesting whether or not the Second Advent Movement will withstand in the hallowed footsteps of its founders.

“I was shown three steps—the First, Second, and Third Angels’ Messages. Said my accompanying angel, ‘Woe to him who shall move a block or stir a pin of these messages. The true understanding of these messages is of vital importance. The destiny of souls hangs upon the manner in which they are received.’ I was again brought down through these messages, and saw how dearly the people of God had purchased their experience. It had been obtained through much suffering and severe conflict.” Early Writings, 258, 259.

Dedicated to the Work

Our brave predecessors struggled against all odds. We may long forget what we do, but we can never forget what they did, what God did through them, for us! Those courageous pioneers now dead, struggled for us, so that we could be dedicated to the great task of completing the work that they started.

“Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.” Revelation 14:13.

It has been said that all a man hath will he give for his life. While we are required to contribute our substance, these honored dead gave their lives and devotion to our cause. The greater merits are due to them, and we should be highly determined that these shall not have died in vain.

“God had led them along step by step, until He had placed them upon a solid, immovable platform. I saw individuals approach the platform and examine the foundation. Some with rejoicing immediately stepped upon it. Others commenced to find fault with the foundation. They wished improvements made, and then the platform would be more perfect, and the people much happier. Some stepped off the platform to examine it and declared it to be laid wrong.” Early Writings, 259.

We expect to maintain this task come what may. Whether we triumph or are conquered, through life or death, come rain or shine, whether men embrace or forsake us, it must be well understood, once and for all, that we will not surrender or turn away from our stern purpose in making known our old, historical, timely, beloved messages to the world.

Proclaiming the Final Invitation

We urge you again, we admonish you not to let go but to be steadfast and do all you can do, which is your duty as well. It is your business to rise up and preserve this work. Do it for yourselves. Do it for your Lord. Do it for those that are still in Babylon, to whom the Lord declares, “Come out of her, My People.” Revelation 18:4. Let us readopt our mission, and together, let us harmonize with it. Let all Seventh-day Adventists, lovers of the Three Angels’ Messages, join in this great and marvelous work.

If we do this, we will not only save souls, but we will save ourselves and fulfill our destiny by proclaiming the final invitation from God to this dying world. The millions and millions of celestial inhabitants, and the holy people in the world made new, shall rise up and call us blessed, for we labor in the final era of the plan of salvation.

For now, this unpopular work must continue. The cause of God must not be surrendered, even though there may be one or a hundred obstacles.

Do Not Falter

So many find fault with our course of action, which can sometimes bring sorrow. Yet it is a perfect certainty that if we stick to our resolution, if we do not falter or give up, one day, very soon, God will turn all our sorrow into everlasting joy. We would be most happy indeed if we could be a humble instrument in the hands of the Almighty, by perpetuating the real issues of the great controversy.

We must never remain silent. It is the eternal struggle between the two principles, right and wrong, that we endeavor to proclaim. These are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and have ever continued to struggle. In your hands, my fellow Adventist, is the momentous issue of the great controversy. Get involved. When you do, you will be assailed. You will be in conflict. You will meet with aggressors, but you will be registered in heaven as a co-laborer with God. Heaven will guide, preserve, protect, and defend your efforts.

My fellow Adventists, we are not enemies. We must not become enemies. Though many difficulties may have strained our bonds of fellowship, let it not affect our bonds of affections. The same Spirit that leads in every mission, every battlefield, whether past or present, will yet swell in our hearts again.

Kiss the Protestants Good-bye

“Romanism is now regarded by Protestants with far greater favor than in former years.” The Great Controversy, 563.

“It is not without reason that the claim has been put forth in Protestant countries that Catholicism differs less widely from Protestantism than in former times. There has been a change; but the change is not in the papacy. Catholicism indeed resembles much of the Protestantism that now exists. . . . Instead of standing in defense of the faith once delivered to the saints, they are now, as it were, apologizing to Rome for their uncharitable opinion of her.” Ibid., 571, 572.

“The Protestant churches are in great darkness, or they would discern the signs of the times. . . . Protestants have tampered with and patronized popery.” Ibid., 565, 566.

We, as Seventh-day Adventists, have already seen what has happened to Protestantism today. There was a time when Protestants would protest all the corrupt practices of apostate churches and promote true, biblical Christianity. By this unholy union with Rome, we shall see how Protestants have ceased to be what they once were. Rome has perpetuated a change, a “liberation” of the Protestants. This was accomplished through Vatican II. Adventists have seen this and know this to be true, so why do we believe that, if we do the same thing, somehow we cannot be affected in the same way? Why, then, should Seventh-day Adventists make compromises and concessions with ecumenical Babylon? We would be very foolish to do this, knowing what the consequences would be. It would be appropriate for us to review how this change has taken place and to review our Protestant-Christian heritage.

One “Catholic” Church

Soon after Christ’s ascension into Heaven, churches began to appear. In the New Testament, the word church means an assembly or body of people. The first Christian church was in Jerusalem. Most of its members, if not all, were Jews who had accepted Jesus Christ as the Messiah. As the disciples of Christ began to carry the gospel to the Gentile nations, there were many churches established. Even though there were several churches started, God looked down from heaven and saw only one church made up of all true Christians.

The term catholic, which means universal or one, was used to describe the great church of all believers. The idea of a catholic church was gradually accepted to mean a single, visible, large, organized church for all Christians. Perhaps their motives were at first innocent—a desire to unite all believers (which Christ had taught) and to defend Christian beliefs, but the visible catholic church soon began to distort and change Christianity.

In time, the organization of the churches had changed. Bishops had come to the forefront and had become very powerful. A single bishop ruled several churches. The bishops tried to maintain and to justify their supremacy in the church by the idea of apostolic succession. They said that the apostles were the guardians of the gospel. Instead of emphasizing the New Testament as the Christians’ permanent link to the apostles, they claimed that the apostles had appointed bishops as their successors. They also claimed that these successors had, in turn, appointed successors of their own and that much, if not all, of the authority of the apostles had, therefore, been passed down in an unbroken line to the bishops of this day. During the first century, the bishops of Rome began using the scripture to support the Petrine theory, that Christ made Peter the head of the Catholic Church, and that Peter passed his power to the bishop of Rome. Yet, the Bible never shows Peter acting as if he were the head of the church nor does it refer to Peter as the church foundation.

The Petrine theory permitted the supremacy of the church in Rome to emerge, resulting in the idea of the Roman Catholic papacy that the bishop of the Church of Rome is supreme over all churches. The bishop of Rome, eventually called the pope, meaning papa or father, began to rule the Catholic Church as supreme ruler or king.

The Reformation

The word reformation is a term that describes the fragmentation of the Roman Catholic Church during the Sixteenth Century. Several Christian groups rose up to protest the way the established Roman church was distorting the truth and denying people access to the Word of God. Bible-believing Christians protested the corrupt practices of the Catholic Church and at first sought to reform the church, restoring it to the authority of the Scriptures, rather than to withdraw from it. The followers of this movement were called Protestants. By the 1530s all of Scandinavia, the British Isles, and much of Germany, Austria, and France had severed their ties with Rome. The Protestant Reformation so shook the Roman church that the pope soon responded with the Counter-Reformation. The main objectives were to prevent any more Catholics from becoming Protestants and to force Protestants back into the Roman fold. The Counter-Reformation put life into the Inquisition. Throughout Europe, the Inquisition used torture and terror to destroy Protestantism.

Babylonian Captivity of the Church

Most of the Protestants compared the pope to ancient Babylon, which had taken the Chosen People captive. They declared that the pope held the church in captivity by his distortions of Biblical Christianity. They believed in the freedom of the Christian. They declared that one thing, and one thing alone, is necessary for life, justification, and Christian liberty. That one thing is the most holy Word of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Protestants said nothing new; they simply revealed that what the Catholic Church had put between man and Christ was a distortion of the Word of God. They only tried to restate the Bible and restore the authority of the Scriptures to men’s lives. The work of the Reformation resulted in the formation of the first Protestant churches. Roman Catholic doctrines and practices incompatible with the gospel of Christ were rejected. The sermon came to occupy a central place in public worship; in it the preacher exposed sin and then proclaimed forgiveness, life, and salvation in Christ through faith in the gospel. The formation of these Independent-Protestant churches completed the breach with Rome. In spite of intense persecution from Rome, the newly formed Protestant churches continued to greatly influence the world.

Second Vatican Council and the Ecumenical Developments

The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) brought about enormous changes to the Catholic Church. Vatican II produced 16 council documents in all. During the third session of 1964, The Decree on Ecumenism was produced. The decree describes the ecumenical movement as one of seeking Christian unity.

We know, from Bible prophecy (Revelation 13), that the decree on ecumenism is really an attempt to destroy the Protestant Spirit and to bring Protestants back to the already existing unity of the Roman Catholic Church.

Protestants once taught that the Roman Catholic Church was the whore and beast of Revelation 17. During the Reformation there were men like Martin Luther, John Knox, and John Calvin; and then you had the great preachers like Moody, Finney, Spurgeon and so on. They all believed the same thing—that the papacy was the anti-Christ. It wasn’t until lately, after Vatican II, that things have changed.

Liberals, Moderates, and Conservative Protestantism

In the past, when a person professed to be a Protestant Christian, this meant that they identified their theological beliefs by the list shown on page 7. But recently, after Vatican II, Protestants are finding themselves internally divided. Protestants today talk about the existence of two Christian religions. They are not referring to a split between Roman Catholics and Protestants, as in the past, but rather a division among the Protestant denominations. The terms, such as fundamentalist, conservative, evangelical, mainline, modernist, and liberal, all refer to Protestants today.

Religious conservatives and fundamentalists are viewed negatively, as overly strict on moral issues, close-minded, intolerant of other religious views, fanatical about their beliefs, too harsh, too much emphasis placed on guilt or sin, too concerned about their own salvation, and too rigid and simplistic. Many people would not like to have them as neighbors.

Liberals, mainline, and modernists are viewed as substituting social concerns for the true Gospel, too compromising with the world, morally loose, having a shallow knowledge of the Bible, and influenced too much by the world. The chart on the previous page spells out some of the differences between liberals and conservatives. Moderates fall somewhere in between.

Roman Catholic leaders have been trying to accelerate a change in the Protestant churches. They call it the modernization of the church. Vatican II is responsible for changes within Protestantism. The Roman church is trying to liberate (called liberation theology) Christians from fundamentalism. Rome’s objective is complete—Keep the Protestants fighting among themselves so that they are not protesting.

Protestants must wake up. Romanism, as a system, is no more in harmony with the gospel of Christ now than at any former period in her history. (See The Great Controversy, 566.) Does this mean our fight is with the Roman Catholic people who have been betrayed by their leaders? No! Our job is to rip that mask off her face, and let Roman Catholics and Protestants see that to which they are really tied. They have to be set free. They have to find Christ as the answer. It is not Mary and the rest of the unscriptural practices that will save them. It is our job to win them to the truth.

Protestants are in great darkness, or they would discern the signs of the times. Liberalism and modernism (New Theology) have taken over Protestantism and have even made their way into the ranks of Seventh-day Adventism. Historic Seventh-day Adventists must proclaim the Three Angels’ Messages, the only remedy for this spiritual disease that plagues this world. Catholics and Protestants must wake up! They can only do so by the faithful missionary efforts of the true, Protestant-historic Seventh-day Adventists.

“We are not to cringe, and beg pardon of the world for telling them the truth. We should scorn concealment. Unfurl your true colors to the gaze of men and angels. Let it be understood that Seventh-day Adventists can make no compromise.” Review and Herald, January 31, 1893.

Seventh-day Adventists should never apologize to Rome for the Three Angels’ Messages. Rome should apologize and repent for what it has done. We are not out to please pastors, churches, or denominations. The truth is worth everything, and we must be willing to share it regardless of the opposition. It is worth enduring persecution, when it is for the truth’s sake. But how do we expect to stand for the truth during the terrible crisis that is before us, when we have been compromising, acting political with the truth, and apologizing to Rome? Why do we keep deceiving ourselves?

“The persecutions of Protestants by Romanism, by which the religion of Jesus Christ was almost annihilated, will be more than rivaled when Protestantism and popery are combined.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 16, 239.

“Protestants will throw their whole influence and strength on the side of the papacy; by a national act enforcing the false sabbath, they will give life and vigor to the corrupt faith of Rome, reviving her tyranny and oppression of conscience.” Signs of the Times, June 12, 1893.

The fields are ripe for the harvest now! It is now time to go forward with the work and win precious souls for Christ. God bless you; may you “Prepare to meet thy God.” Amos 4:12.

The First Lie, Part I

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Some time ago, when we had some visitors from Europe, we had a special weekend. We visited and studied God’s word together and we studied some of the pillars of our faith. After that weekend, I received many questions; the one most frequently asked was, Are there other pillars of the Adventist faith that we need to know?

There are many people going to Seventh-day Adventist churches who do not know the pillars, the foundations of our message.

Rooted and Grounded

If you really want to get rooted and grounded in the Adventist message, ask the Lord to help you find somebody with whom you can study the Bible. I personally believe that my own ministry would not amount to very much if I were not out studying the Bible with people. It keeps you in contact with reality.

What are the questions on people’s minds? If you are studying the Bible with people, it is easy for you to think that the pillars of the Seventh-day Adventist faith are fundamental things. We have studied these doctrines, and we have studied them over and over with other people, so we do not study them in the church. We assume that people in the church know them, but Ellen White has told us that many people in our churches want to understand the way of salvation (see Evangelism, 350), but they do not. They need to know the fundamental doctrines.

Facing the Hard Texts

We need to know the objections that people have to our faith, so we are going to look at some hard texts that, if you live until Jesus comes, I can guarantee people are going to use to try to overthrow your faith.

We will start with the sixth commandment. In John 8:44, Jesus is talking to the Jewish people. It is one of the strongest rebukes that He gave to them. Jesus said to the Jewish leaders, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”

I do not believe the devil understood that he was a murderer. When he began walking down this path, he did not see where it was going to lead him. Thousands of years ago if you had said to the devil, You are getting ready to break the sixth commandment, he would have said, Oh, no, I am not; I am just trying to make things better. But he was starting down a path that was going to lead him to attempt to destroy God.

If you were told straight out, You can be part of the kingdom of light and life, or you can be part of the kingdom of death and darkness, which would you choose? That would not be a hard choice to make, would it? Everybody would choose life. Well, if that is the case, how did the devil get any followers? The answer is found in John 8:44. He is the father of lies. In order to get people to follow him, he had to tell a lie, because no one would intentionally choose death over life.

His kingdom is literally the kingdom of death and darkness, and it is filled with murderers. He is called the Prince of Darkness. To get any followers he had to use deceit, and he used deceit first of all on the angels. Then he used deceit on Eve. What was the first lie that the devil told Eve in the Garden of Eden? You will not die. (See Genesis 3:4.)

The Father of Lies

God said, If you eat of this fruit, you are going to die. The devil said, No, you will not. He was trying to get Eve to do something that would cause her death. He was trying to do something that would bring death to every single descendant that she had. He was breaking the sixth commandment. I have come to the conclusion that all murderers are liars. Jesus linked murdering and lying in John 8:44.

The devil, in the Garden of Eden, murdered Adam and Eve. He caused their death. In order to get them to take the hook, he had to put some bait on it, and that was a lie. The lie was that they would not really die. After Adam and Eve sinned, the devil had murdered them. He had brought about their death and the death of every living thing. Trees died; plants died; animals died, and all men and women died.

So the devil was proved to be a liar. God told the truth. But the devil has told this same lie over and over again, right up to the present time, and has gained repeated victories. Ellen White says the lie that you will not really die is one of the two lies by which the devil will gain control over the whole world in the last days. (See The Great Controversy, 588.)

Obviously the devil is a liar, because everybody does die. So what the devil did then, was to create this fiction that there is something in you that does not die. Now in the English language it is called the soul or the spirit. This apparently is a belief of almost all heathen religions also.

Chasing Fables

I have a book at home on Tutankhamun. Some time ago, when my wife and I were in Cairo, we went to the Cairo Museum, and we actually saw some of the things that are pictured in this book. We saw a gold plated box with four women on each of the four sides. They were goddesses in the Egyptian religion.

At the top there were the hooded heads of cobras, probably 25 or 30 on each side. On the top of each one of these hooded heads of the cobras, was a sun disc. We saw carved snakes everywhere in the Museum. The snake is a symbol of Satan worship as far back as we can go. It is interesting that Satan worship and sun worship are that closely related. There must have been 100 snakes around the box.

We read that when Tutankhamun died, they made a mummy of him, but they cut out his internal organs—heart, liver, kidneys and those kinds of things, and they put them in this box. The carved goddesses were placed around the box to guard these organs.

When these people were buried, a food supply and a chariot with lots of clothes and money were buried with them. They still do this today in heathen countries. That is why, over the centuries, the graves have been robbed.

Why did they bury all of these things with these Egyptian kings? They did it because the devil had convinced them that there was an afterlife.

The Spirit of “Ka”

They had been taught, and they believed, that there was what they call the “ka.” They had different words for it in the Egyptian language. It was something within you that went on living when you died. They thought that, as long as you could keep the body intact, then, at some future time, this spirit “Ka,” whatever it is, could come back and enter the body again.

You find this, incidentally, in all the heathen religions. You find it in the Greeks. Where did the church in the Middle Ages develop that idea of the immortality of the soul? Did they get it from the Bible? No, they did not. They got it from Plato, who was a Greek philosopher, who got it from the Egyptians, who got it from the high priests of their heathen religion, which was actually demon or devil worship.

This is the lie that the devil started telling at the beginning of time. He told it to Eve, he convinced the ancient nations, and this lie has come into the Christian Church. It has come clear up to our time.

If you believe this deception, what further deception are you ready to accept? Let us put it a different way. Suppose you have a relative who dies. Suppose the form of one of these dead relatives should appear to you at some time.

I have gone through this scenario in my mind many times. What would I do? Well, I would immediately have to ask the Lord to deliver me from this demon. I understand what happens to a person when they die, and therefore if a form of one of my dead loved ones or relatives comes to me, I know immediately that somebody is trying to trick me. I am not going to go and put my arms around them, because it is not who it looks like. Are you clear on that point?

Misunderstanding the State of the Dead

Interestingly enough, most of the people who translated the Bible, and this includes the Old King James Bible from 1611, did not understand the truth about the state of the dead. They were coming out of the Dark Ages. Martin Luther, in the beginning of his career, was trained to be a priest, and he studied Aristotle and Greek philosophy. If you are mixed up on the state of the dead, is there a possibility that your own thinking could color your translation of the Bible? There most certainly is. That is exactly what happened. In fact, the most serious errors in the Old King James Bible have to do with the state of the dead.

We need to know what these errors are. They remain uncorrected in most of the English translations, so we need to understand these things. We will go over some of the “hard” texts. I believe that this is so serious, and the devil is deceiving so many millions of people today, that we should know every text in the Bible that can be thrown at us on this subject, and we should know how to answer.

Some of the texts say, unequivocally, what happens to a person when they die. In the book of Genesis there is a hard text. Let us see if we can understand this.

Collecting Objections

When a person becomes a professional salesman, the professional salesman collects objections. He knows what all the objections are to his product. Not only does he know what all the objections are, the professional salesman has written down the best answers to every objection. When you are talking to him, and you bring up an objection, he will casually give you the answer word for word—the very best answer there is to your objection. If you still object, he will give you, word for word, the second-best answer to your objection. And if you still object, he can just as casually give you the third-best answer to your objection.

Do you think that the children of light should be as wise and as intelligent as the people of this world? I believe we should. As Christians who expect that Jesus is coming soon, who want to help others get ready, we should know what the objections are to what we believe, and we should be able to look in the Bible and explain them. Let us see if we can.

Genesis 35 talks about the death of Rachel. “And so it was, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she called his name Ben-Oni; but his father called him Benjamin.” Genesis 35:18. What do you do with that text? Someone says, Well, a person has a soul, and when they die their soul departs. It says so right here in this text. What is your answer?

The word soul comes from a very common Hebrew word. It is translated as soul over 400 times in the Bible, but it has another translation. It is translated as the English word life over 100 times in the Bible. If you put the other translation in this text, it would read, “And so it was, as her life was leaving (or departing) for she died, that she called his name Ben-Oni, but his father called him Benjamin.”

If you have ever talked with somebody who is dying, or who has come very close to death and has been revived, they will tell you that life departs from the feet first, and they can feel the life leaving their body. The feeling comes right up, and when it gets up to the heart, that is the end, life departs. But that does not mean that there is some conscious entity that goes up in the clouds somewhere. Life just departed.

What Really Happens When We Die?

Let us consider some texts in the book of Job that prove exactly what happens to a person when they die. We will also look at some hard texts that people think we cannot answer. You might think the book of Job would be a depressing book to read, yet this book has been one of the favorites for people who are in trouble, for thousands of years.

The book of Job was one of the favorite books among the Waldenses, those who were being persecuted and martyred for their faith. There were Waldenses who could quote the entire book of Job, word for word. In Job 3, he is bemoaning the day of his birth and then in verses 11–19 he says, “‘Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb? Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse? For now I would have lain still and been quiet, I would have been asleep; Then I would have been at rest With kings and counselors of the earth, Who built ruins for themselves, Or with princes who had gold, Who filled their houses with silver; Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, Like infants who never saw light? There the wicked cease from troubling, And there the weary are at rest. There the prisoners rest together; They do not hear the voice of the oppressor. The small and great are there, And the servant is free from his master.’”

So the dead do not hear anything; they are not doing anything; they are resting. They are asleep. “As the cloud disappears and vanishes away, So he who goes down to the grave does not come up. He shall never return to his house, nor shall his place know him anymore.” Job 7:9, 10.

Visited by Demons

The dead are not going to come back home. If somebody comes to your house in the form of your dead loved one, it is a fraud. The devil is trying to deceive you by impersonating your loved one. Ellen White says that the devil can impersonate, and that the impersonation is perfect. (See Signs of the Times, September 3, 1894.) That is quite a statement. The form, the features of the face, the sound of the voice, are a perfect impersonation.

That spirit might tell you something that only you and the dead person knew, but it is still a fraud. It is more deceptive; that is all, because Job says that the real person who dies is never going to come to his house again.

Now let us look at a hard text and see if we can figure it out. “‘But man dies and is laid away; indeed he breathes his last And where is he? As water disappears from the sea, And a river becomes parched and dries up, So man lies down and does not rise, Till the heavens are no more.’” Job 14:10–12.

He tells us how long he is going to lie down. When will he rise again? When the heavens are no more. Now you can find out when that is if you look in the last chapters in the book of Revelation. They will not awake nor be roused from their sleep until the heavens are no more. (See Job 14:12.)

Let us look at a few texts that will give us Job’s understanding of death.

“If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, ‘Til my change comes. You shall call, and I will answer You; You shall desire the work of Your hands.’ ” Job 14:14, 15.

A Proof Text?

I was taught to use Job 14:21 as a proof text to explain the state of the dead. I never use it however, and you will see why if you read verse 22.

When a person dies, “His sons come to honor, and he does not know it; They are brought low, and he does not perceive it. But his flesh will be in pain over it, and his soul will mourn over it.” Now what are you going to do with that? I do not need to bring up all the objections that a person might have.

Job 14:21 is very clear, but what are you going to do with verse 22? Let us investigate verse 22 a little bit. Look, first of all, at Isaiah 58:7. “Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; when you see the naked, that you cover him, and hide not yourself from your own flesh?” Whose flesh is it talking about?

This is a Biblical expression, and it is talking about your family, your loved ones. We still use that terminology today concerning our family—we say they are our own flesh and blood.

In Job 14:22 he says, “His flesh will be in pain over it.” He is talking about his relatives. His loved ones are in pain. Are you in pain if you have a loved one die? Yes, you are in a lot of pain. His flesh, his kinfolks, his relatives, are going to be in pain. That makes sense, does it not?

However, we are only half way through. What do you do with the last part of the verse? “His soul will mourn over it.” That is just about as much trouble as the first part of verse 22.

Next month we will look at the word mourn, and see what the Bible is trying to tell us.

To be continued. . . .

Editorial – The Church that Appears to Fall- Part II

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A professed Christian church that becomes united to the world and to the papacy is, by those acts, standing under sentence of being divorced of God. It is proper for a church to be subservient to civil laws of any state where she resides, as long as they do not violate the law of God, but churches and individuals are forbidden to amalgamate the things of God with the things of the state. (See Romans 13,14; I Peter 2; Acts 5:29; Matthew 22:21.)

A divorce generally takes some time. There are hearings; an opportunity for counseling and to make amends and restitution to the injured; time to decide whether the decision is final or whether there can be reconciliation, and a return of the affections according to the original covenant.

Where are your affections today, friend? To what is your heart united? To what is the church that you attend united? Is it united to this world, to the papacy? If so, then, when your church is finally divorced from God, you, if you are still part of it, will be divorced from God also, without hope. Are you praying that this will not happen to you?

“The mingling of churchcraft and statecraft is represented by the iron and the clay. This union is weakening all the power of the churches. This investing the church with the power of the state will bring evil results. Men have almost passed the point of God’s forbearance. . . . But the time will come when God will punish those who have made void His law, and their evil work will recoil upon themselves.” Ellen G. White Manuscript 63, 1899.

“The spirit of the papacy,—the spirit of conformity to worldly customs, the veneration for human traditions above the commands of God,—is permeating the Protestant churches, and leading them on to do the same work of Sunday exaltation which the papacy has done before them.” The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, 390, 391.

The Sunday crisis is simply the final working out of a long process of the spirit of conformity to worldly customs and veneration of human tradition about the commands of God. If you, or the church that you attend, are going down that road, and if you do not repent, you will be divorced from God.

“God never forsakes people or individuals until they forsake Him. Outward opposition will not cause the faith of God’s people, who are keeping His commandments, to become dim. . . . Internal corruption will bring the denunciations of God upon this people as it did upon Jerusalem. . . . My brethren, we know not what is before us, and our only safety is in following the Light of the world. God will work with us and for us if the sins, which brought His wrath upon the old world, upon Sodom and Gomorrah and upon ancient Jerusalem, do not become our crime.” Ibid., 321.

“The least transgression of God’s law brings guilt upon the transgressor, and without earnest repentance and forsaking of sin he will surely become an apostate.” Ibid., 322.

Apostasy is a transliteration of a Greek word that means “to fall away.” If you are in this category, the invitation of Jesus to you is to repent and forsake your sins before it is too late. (See Revelation 2:21.)

To be continued…

Bible Study Guides – The Eternal Reward

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June 23 – 29, 2002

MEMORY VERSE: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23.

INTRODUCTION: “The central theme of the Bible, the theme about which every other in the whole book clusters, is the redemption plan, the restoration in the human soul of the image of God. From the first intimation of hope in the sentence pronounced in Eden to that last glorious promise of the Revelation, ‘They shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads’ (Revelation 22:4), the burden of every book and every passage of the Bible is the unfolding of this wondrous theme,—man’s uplifting,—the power of God, ‘which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ 1 Corinthians 15:57.

“He who grasps this thought has before him an infinite field for study. He has the key that will unlock to him the whole treasure house of God’s Word.” Education, 125, 126.

SUGGESTED READING: Education, 301–309.

  1. What was the first promise made to man by God that there would be possibility for victory over sin? Genesis 3:15.

NOTE: “Through the long centuries of ‘trouble and darkness’ and ‘dimness of anguish’ (Isaiah 8:22) marking the history of mankind from the day our first parents lost their Eden home, to the time the Son of God appeared as the Saviour of sinners, the hope of the fallen race was centered in the coming of a Deliverer to free men and women from the bondage of sin and the grave.

“The first intimation of such a hope was given to Adam and Eve in the sentence pronounced upon the serpent in Eden. . . . [Genesis 3:15 quoted.]

“As the guilty pair listened to these words, they were inspired with hope; for in the prophecy concerning the breaking of Satan’s power they discerned a promise of deliverance from the ruin wrought through transgression.” Prophets and Kings, 681, 682.

  1. When is it time to prepare for eternity? Hebrews 3:15; 4:7.

NOTE: “Oh, that now, while it is called today, you would turn to the Lord! Your every deed is making you either better or worse. If your actions are on Satan’s side, they leave behind them an influence that continues to work its baleful results. Only the pure, the clean, and the holy can enter the city of God, ‘Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts,’ but turn to the Lord, that the path you travel may not leave desolation in its track.” The Adventist Home, 358.

  1. Of what kind of harvest are we assured? Galatians 6:7, 8.

NOTE: “The harvest of life is character, and it is this that determines destiny, both for this life and for the life to come.

“The harvest is a reproduction of the seed sown. Every seed yields fruits after its kind. So it is with the traits of character we cherish. Selfishness, self-love, self-esteem, self-indulgence, reproduce themselves, and the end is wretchedness and ruin. . . . Love, sympathy, and kindness yield fruitage of blessing, a harvest that is imperishable. In the harvest the seed is multiplied. A single grain of wheat, increased by repeated sowings, would cover a whole land with golden sheaves. So widespread may be the influence of a single life, of even a single act.” Reflecting Christ, 341.

  1. What does the Bible say will be the reward of the wicked? Malachi 4:1.

NOTE: “God does not desire the destruction of any. ‘As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?’ Ezekiel 33:11. Throughout the period of probationary time His Spirit is entreating men to accept the gift of life. It is only those who reject His pleading that will be left to perish. God has declared that sin must be destroyed as an evil ruinous to the universe. Those who cling to sin will perish in its destruction.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 123.

  1. What promise is made to the righteous? 1 John 2:25; 5:11–13.

NOTE: “Fellow pilgrim, we are still amid the shadows and turmoil of earthly activities; but soon our Saviour is to appear to bring deliverance and rest. Let us by faith behold the blessed hereafter as pictured by the hand of God. He who died for the sins of the world is opening wide the gates of Paradise to all who believe on Him. Soon the battle will have been fought, the victory won. Soon we shall see Him in whom our hopes of eternal life are centered. And in His presence the trials and sufferings of this life will seem as nothingness. The former things ‘shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.’ ‘Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.’ ‘Israel shall be saved . . . with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.’” God’s Amazing Grace, 372.

  1. What kind of plans does God have for the saved? Psalms 31:19; 73:1.

NOTE: “All the treasures of the universe will be open to the study of God’s redeemed. Unfettered by mortality, they wing their tireless flight to worlds afar—worlds that thrilled with sorrow at the spectacle of human woe and rang with songs of gladness at the tidings of a ransomed soul. With unutterable delight the children of earth enter into the joy and the wisdom of unfallen beings. They share the treasures of knowledge and understanding gained through ages upon ages in contemplation of God’s handiwork. With undimmed vision they gaze upon the glory of creation—suns and stars and systems, all in their appointed order circling the throne of Deity. Upon all things, from the least to the greatest, the Creator’s name is written, and in all are the riches of His power displayed.” The Great Controversy, 677.

  1. What experiences of this world will never again be repeated in heaven? Revelation 21:4; Isaiah 33:24; 60:18.

NOTE: “We are homeward bound. He who loved us so much as to die for us hath builded for us a city. The New Jerusalem is our place of rest. There will be no sadness in the city of God. No wail of sorrow, no dirge of crushed hopes and buried affections, will evermore be heard. Soon the garments of heaviness will be changed for the wedding garment. Soon we shall witness the coronation of our King. Those whose lives have been hidden with Christ, those who on this earth have fought the good fight of faith, will shine forth with the Redeemer’s glory in the kingdom of God.” Testimonies, vol. 9, 287.

  1. What are we told about the music in Heaven? Psalm 87:7; Isaiah 24:14; Revelation 14:2, 3.

NOTE: “There will be music there, and song, such music and song as, save in the visions of God, no mortal ear has heard or mind conceived.” Education, 307.

  1. What are some of the activities in which the saved will engage? Isaiah 65:21–25.

NOTE: “There every power will be developed, every capability increased. The grandest enterprises will be carried forward, the loftiest aspirations will be reached, the highest ambitions realized. And still there will arise new heights to surmount, new wonders to admire, new truths to comprehend, fresh objects to call forth the powers of body and mind and soul.” Education, 307.

  1. What mysteries of God will be revealed to the redeemed? 1 Corinthians 13:12.

NOTE: “Then much will be revealed in explanation of matters upon which God now keeps silence because we have not gathered up and appreciated that which has been made known of the eternal mysteries. The ways of Providence will be made clear; the mysteries of grace through Christ will be unfolded. That which the mind can not now grasp, which is hard to be understood, will be explained. We shall see order in that which has seemed unexplainable; wisdom in everything withheld; goodness and gracious mercy in everything imparted. Truth will be unfolded to the mind free from obscurity, in a single line, and its brightness will be endurable. The heart will be made to sing for joy. Controversies will be forever ended, and all difficulties will be solved.” Signs of the Times, March 25, 1897.

  1. What will be the one reminder of sin in heaven? Zechariah 13:6.

NOTE: “One reminder alone remains: our Redeemer will ever bear the marks of His crucifixion. Upon His wounded head, upon His side, His hands and feet, are the only traces of the cruel work that sin has wrought. Says the prophet, beholding Christ in His glory, ‘He had bright beams coming out of His side: and there was the hiding of His power.

“The cross of Christ will be the science and the song of the redeemed through all eternity.” The Faith I Live By, 361.

  1. What are we told about the grandeur of heaven? Revelation 21:1–5.

NOTE: “There, immortal minds will contemplate with never-failing delight the wonders of creative power, the mysteries of redeeming love. There will be no cruel, deceiving foe to tempt to forgetfulness of God. Every faculty will be developed, every capacity increased. The acquirement of knowledge will not weary the mind or exhaust the energies. There the grandest enterprises may be carried forward, the loftiest aspirations reached, the highest ambitions realized; and still there will arise new heights to surmount, new wonders to admire, new truths to comprehend, fresh objects to call forth the powers of mind and soul and body. . . .

“As knowledge is progressive, so will love, reverence, and happiness increase. The more men learn of God, the greater will be their admiration of His character. As Jesus opens before them the riches of redemption and the amazing achievements in the great controversy with Satan, the hearts of the ransomed thrill with more fervent devotion, and with more rapturous joy they sweep the harps of gold; and ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of voices unite to swell the mighty chorus of praise.

“‘And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.’ Revelation 5:13.

“The great controversy is ended. Sin and sinners are no more. The entire universe is clean. One pulse of harmony and gladness beats through the vast creation. From Him who created all, flow life and light and gladness, throughout the realms of illimitable space. From the minutest atom to the greatest world, all things, animate and inanimate, in their unshadowed beauty and perfect joy, declare that God is love.” The Great Controversy, 677, 678.

By Ruth Grosboll