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Food for Life – Animal Meats and Animal Products

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Health reform, like other lifestyle changes, needs to come as a result of a desire in our hearts to serve God. The following quotations are a brief representation of the issue of use of animal meats and animal products. Be sure to look for the upcoming issues that will continue to look at this subject.

“The time has come when we must carry in our lives the influence that the Saviour carried in his life. We are to instruct and educate the suffering ones how to resist disease, by teaching them how to eat and drink and live healthfully, and how to love and fear God. By reading and studying the Word of God, those who in their hearts desire to serve God will learn to discard the habits that are ruining the health of body and soul.” Review and Herald, January 21, 1909.

“In order to know what are the best foods, we must study God’s original plan for man’s diet. He who created man and who understands his needs appointed Adam his food. . . . Grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables constitute the diet chosen for us by our Creator.” Child Guidance, 380.

“Therefore light must be given to the best methods of introducing health reform. Meat is the greatest disease breeder that can be introduced into the human system. But you can not touch health reform unless you present the most inexpensive methods of living. The enemy must have no advantage in any line. The Lord can only bless those who are keeping every precept he has given in relation to this life.” Spalding and Magan Collection, 136, 137.

“When flesh food is discarded, its place should be supplied with a variety of grains, nuts, vegetables, and fruits, that will be both nourishing and appetizing. This is especially necessary in the case of those who are weak, or who are taxed with continuous labor.” Child Guidance, 384.

“It is a mistake to suppose that muscular strength depends on the use of animal food. The needs of the system can be better supplied, and more vigorous health can be enjoyed without its use. The grains, with fruits, nuts, and vegetables, contain all the nutritive properties necessary to make good blood. These elements are not so well or so fully supplied by a flesh diet. Had the use of flesh been essential to health and strength, animal food would have been included in the diet appointed man in the beginning.” Ibid.

Restoring the Temple – Condiments and Fats

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Under the head of stimulants and narcotics is classed a great variety of articles that, altogether, used as food or drink, irritate the stomach, poison the blood, and excite the nerves. Their use is a positive evil. Men seek the excitement of stimulants, because, for the time, the results are agreeable. But there is always a reaction. The use of unnatural stimulants always tends to excess, and it is an active agent in promoting physical degeneration and decay.

“In this fast age, the less exciting the food, the better. Condiments are injurious in their nature. Mustard, pepper, spices, pickles, and other things of a like character, irritate the stomach and make the blood feverish and impure. The inflamed condition of the drunkard’s stomach is often pictured as illustrating the effect of alcoholic liquors. A similarly inflamed condition is produced by the use of irritating condiments. Soon ordinary food does not satisfy the appetite. The system feels a want, a craving, for something more stimulating. . . .

Spices Irritate the Stomach and Cause Unnatural Cravings

“Our tables should bear only the most wholesome food, free from every irritating substance. The appetite for liquor is encouraged by the preparation of food with condiments and spices. These cause a feverish state of the system, and drink is demanded to allay the irritation. . . . Food should be prepared in as simple a manner as possible, free from condiments and spices, and even from an undue amount of salt. . . .

“You have perhaps seen a picture of the stomach of one who is addicted to strong drink. A similar condition is produced under the irritating influence of fiery spices. With the stomach in such a state, there is a craving for something more to meet the demands of the appetite, something stronger, and still stronger. . . .

Their Use a Cause of Faintness

“Spices at first irritate the tender coating of the stomach, but finally destroy the natural sensitiveness of this delicate membrane. The blood becomes fevered, the animal propensities are aroused, while the moral and intellectual powers are weakened, and become servants to the baser passions. The mother should study to set a simple yet nutritious diet before her family. . . .

“With all the precious light that has continually been given to us in the health publications, we cannot afford to live careless, heedless lives, eating and drinking as we please, and indulging in the use of stimulants, narcotics, and condiments. Let us take into consideration the fact that we have souls to save or to lose, and that it is of vital consequence how we relate ourselves to the question of temperance. It is of great importance that individually we act well our part, and have an intelligent understanding of what we should eat and drink, and how we should live to preserve health. All are being proved to see whether we will accept the principles of health reform or follow a course of self-indulgence. . . .

Soda and Baking Powder

“The use of soda or baking powder in breadmaking is harmful and unnecessary. Soda causes inflammation of the stomach, and often poisons the entire system.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 339–342.

Salt

“Do not eat largely of salt, avoid the use of pickles and spiced foods, eat an abundance of fruit, and the irritation that calls for so much drink at mealtime will largely disappear.

“Food should be prepared in such a way that it will be appetizing as well as nourishing. It should not be robbed of that which the system needs. . . .

“I use some salt, and always have, because from the light given me by God, this article, in the place of being deleterious, is actually essential for the blood. The whys and wherefores of this I know not, but I give you the instruction as it is given me.” Ibid., 344.

Pickles and Vinegar

“The blood-making organs cannot convert spices, mince pies, pickles, and diseased flesh meats into good blood. . . .

“The salads are prepared with oil and vinegar, fermentation takes place in the stomach, and the food does not digest, but decays or putrefies; as a consequence, the blood is not nourished, but becomes filled with impurities, and liver and kidney difficulties appear.” Ibid., 345.

Butter

“Let the diet reform be progressive. Let the people be taught how to prepare food without the use of milk or butter. Tell them that the time will soon come when there will be no safety in using eggs, milk, cream, or butter, because disease in animals is increasing in proportion to the increase of wickedness among men. The time is near when, because of the iniquity of the fallen race, the whole animal creation will groan under the diseases that curse our earth.

“God will give His people ability and tact to prepare wholesome food without these things. Let our people discard all unwholesome recipes.

“Butter is less harmful when eaten on cold bread than when used in cooking; but, as a rule, it is better to dispense with it altogether.

Replacing With Olives and Nuts

“Olives may be so prepared as to be eaten with good results at every meal. The advantages sought by the use of butter may be obtained by the eating of properly prepared olives. The oil in the olives relieves constipation, and for consumptives, and for those who have inflamed, irritated stomachs, it is better than any drug. As a food it is better than any oil coming secondhand from animals.” Ibid., 349.

Allow Others Their Convictions

“The time has not come to say that the use of milk and eggs should be wholly discarded. There are poor families whose diet consists largely of bread and milk. They have little fruit, and cannot afford to purchase the nut foods. In teaching health reform, as in all other gospel work, we are to meet the people where they are. Until we can teach them how to prepare health reform foods that are palatable, nourishing, and yet inexpensive, we are not at liberty to present the most advanced propositions regarding health reform diet.

“We must remember that there are a great many different minds in the world, and we cannot expect every one to see exactly as we do in regard to all questions of diet. Minds do not run in exactly the same channel. I do not eat butter, but there are members of my family who do. It is not placed on my table; but I make no disturbance because some members of my family choose to eat it occasionally. . . .

“Those who love and serve God should be allowed to follow their own convictions. We may not feel justified in doing as they do, but we should not allow differences of opinion to create disunion.” Ibid., 351, 352.

Nature Nugget – Brood Parasitism

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About one percent of the 9,000 plus bird species on this planet does not construct nests and raise their own young. These birds pawn this job off onto birds of other species. They do this by laying their eggs in other birds’ nests, letting them do the incubating and rearing for them.

In North America, the three species of cowbirds are well known for this behavior. Bronzed Cowbirds are found in the southwestern United States and along the Gulf Coast as far east as Louisiana. The Shiny Cowbird is native to the Caribbean area and is currently expanding its range through Florida and along the Gulf Coast as far west as Texas. The Brown-headed Cowbird is found throughout the United States and most of Canada. It is known to parasitize the nests of more than 200 bird species and lay up to 40 eggs per year.

When a cowbird parasitizes a nest, it removes one of the host species’ eggs and replaces it with one of its own eggs. The cowbird egg has a shorter incubation period, which means it will usually hatch before the other eggs do. The cowbird young also grows faster than the host species’ young and will dominate the food brought to the nest. If there is a plentiful supply of food, all the young will survive. If not, only the cowbird young will survive.

Brown-headed Cowbirds are birds of open country, preferring to feed around livestock. In spite of being an open country bird, they will penetrate dense forested areas a short distance to lay their eggs in the nests of birds living there. But woodland birds living deep in the forests far from open areas are safe from the cowbirds. Before the settling of North America, the eastern part of this country was heavily forested, and the Brown-headed Cowbirds were found only on the Great Plains where they followed buffalo herds around and were not very common.

Most species of birds that occurred with the cowbirds on the Great Plains were used to the cowbirds parasitizing their nests and were not easily fooled by a strange egg showing up in the nest. They would usually respond by either abandoning the nest, removing the cowbird’s egg, or building a new nest layer over the top of the cowbird egg. Enough birds were fooled to keep a small population of cowbirds surviving.

With the settling of eastern North America, the vast forests were opened up and fragmented for farming and livestock. This allowed the cowbird to invade the area, where it quickly adapted to feeding around livestock in place of buffalo. The eastern forest birds in this area were not used to the cowbird’s nest parasitism and were easily fooled by them, resulting in a population explosion for the cowbirds and a decrease in the host species populations. Only the birds that lived deep in the few large, unfragmented-forested areas left were safe from the cowbirds. Most of the eastern host species are slowly adapting to the cowbirds, but a few species are not and are threatened or endangered because of habitat loss and cowbird brood parasitism.

Just as the only birds that are safe from the cowbird’s attack are the ones living deep in the forests out of their reach, so the only people who are safe from Satan’s attacks are those who dwell in the arms of Jesus. “Dangers and perils surround us; and we are only safe when we feel our weakness and cling with the grasp of faith to our mighty Deliverer.” Testimonies, vol. 3, 473. “Our only safety is in keeping fast hold of Jesus. Never are we to lose sight of Him.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 59.

David Arbour writes from his home in DeQueen, Arkansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: landmarks@stepstolife.org.

The Pen of Inspiration – Thoughts for the New Year

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A new year has dawned upon us. What is the character of the history that has been recorded in heaven, as day by day has glided by with its burden of good or evil? Have not many of you, my brethren and sisters, a spotted record to meet? Have you not failed to improve many of the opportunities which the old year afforded you for forming correct habits and building right characters? Have you made of yourselves all that God designed you should? Do you know more of the truth than you did one year ago? Have you practiced self-control, seeking daily to be sanctified through the truth, that your life might reflect light upon the pathway of others?

God has left each one a work to do for himself. Have you been faithful in this work? Have you studied to conform your character in every particular to the law of God? Have you sought to discover and remedy every defect in yourselves that would have a tendency to lead others from the path of strict rectitude? Has your life been so molded by the word and Spirit of God as to make you a blessing to all with whom you associate?

You are in danger from corruption within and temptation without. There are evil habits and traits of character which are constantly inclining you to selfishness and weakness of principle. During the past year, Satan has been diligent in his efforts to turn you away from beholding yourselves; and many of you have erred in leaving God’s own established standard to follow an imperfect one of your own devising. But none need err from the way, for God has given his own beloved Son to be our guide to Paradise. We are to copy his pure, spotless, and holy life; and through his grace we may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Year by year increasing light is shining upon our pathway. . . . If that light has been faithfully improved, we may look for still greater light in the year that is before us. Dear brethren and sisters, the increased light that you receive places you under greater obligation to God. Your Christian growth should be in accordance with the privileges you enjoy. Each day as it passes should find you better prepared to meet new trials and bear new responsibilities. Do you appreciate this fact? Do you realize your duty to others? Consider the influence that every word and act of your life may have upon those around you. A lasting impression may be made, which will react upon yourself in blessing or in cursing. This thought gives an awful solemnity to life, and should drive us to God in humble prayer that he will guide us by his wisdom.

If all could realize this subject as it has been presented to me, many would live much more carefully than they now do. It is easy for professed Christians to extol Jesus, his perfections and his loveliness, while, under the appearance of great devotion, they are very exacting toward others, exercising over them an iron rule. It is easy for them to talk of the truth, and the importance of keeping the commandments of God, when they have never made a practical application of the principles of truth in their every-day life. They have not made a success of serving God, and so have lost the precious comfort and support which is derived from communion with him.

We belong to Jesus. He has bought us with his precious blood; and we owe him a debt of gratitude which we can never repay, but which we should daily acknowledge by willing, unselfish service. If we realize this as we should, we shall be Christlike. Like him, we shall deny self that we may do others good. But during the past year, how much time has been devoted to self-serving that ought to have been given to the Lord. How much money has been needlessly expended on trifles to gratify taste and please the eye. How much has been spent for the gratification of appetite, when plain, simple food would have been better and more nourishing, giving greater physical and mental strength.

Some have failed to present to God the tithes and offerings which belong to him. Such should awaken to a sense of their duty. The words of the prophet Malachi apply to them: “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse; for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed, for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.” [Malachi 3:8–12.]

Wherever there has been any neglect on your part to give back to the Lord his own, repent with contrition of soul, and make restitution, lest his curse rest upon you. Many are in a cold, backslidden state on account of their robbery of God; and now the Lord calls upon them to redeem the past. “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse,” he says, “and prove me now herewith.” When you have done what you can on your part, withholding nothing that belongs to your Maker, you may ask him to provide means to send the message of truth to the world. The work of God would have been much farther advanced than it now is, had each member of the church suitably expressed his gratitude to God for the priceless gift of eternal life through Christ.

To each of us some work is assigned in the vineyard of the Lord. There is enough for all to do; none need stand idle. Have you been faithful in your appointed task, doing what you could to win others to the truth? How many have been led to the cross of Christ through your individual efforts? Have you by precept and example pointed your fellowmen to the Lamb of God, or have you, by assimilating to the world, directed their thoughts and affections into a wrong channel?

Many of you have made great mistakes the last year; will you repeat these mistakes during the year upon which you have just entered? Human judgment is finite; and men in their blind self-will often trust to their own opinion, and take a course that cuts directly across the path of God’s providence, and defeats his ends. You need to examine yourself carefully to see what is the tendency of your course. The Spirit of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, and it will reveal to you your standing and the nature of your work.

God alone can tell what will transpire during the year . . . . It may be in our lives and in the history of our cause more eventful than any that has preceded it. . . . Evidences that the Lord is at work should not lead us to settle down satisfied and at ease. The light of truth is to go into remote and darkened corners of the earth. Each unfolding of his providence, each token that his hand is in the work to move it forward with power, is designed to arouse us to greater zeal and earnestness, while we look for still more wonderful and glorious triumphs of the truth in the future.

Will each of you who believe present truth earnestly inquire, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” His Spirit is at work upon minds, preparing them to receive the truth. Let your efforts be fully up with the openings of his providence. Do something, do it now; and let the record of the new year be one that you will not be ashamed to meet.

Review and Herald, January 20, 1885.

Ask the Pastor – Can you please explain the last two verses of John 14?

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Question:

Can you please explain the last two verses of John 14?

Answer:

John 14 was the last effort Jesus put forth to explain to His disciples what was going to take place to finalize the plan of salvation. These last two verses unfold the deep commitment of Jesus and express the surety of victory over the devil who had brought so much woe, misery, and death to God’s creation.

The context of these verses centers in the promise of the Holy Spirit, who would be sent by the Father to teach them right and those things they did not understand and to instruct them continually in what was essential for their salvation and victory. (Verses 25, 26.)

In addition to the promise of the Holy Spirit, Jesus also promised them peace—a peace which would far surpass anything that the world was capable of giving. (Verses 27, 28.) The two promises Jesus had just spoken to them, of the Holy Spirit and of peace, are followed by a command of not being troubled or being afraid. If we somehow could just grasp these truths, then obeying this command would be a very simple matter.

Jesus then repeats to them what He had already told them earlier in the chapter about going away. The reason for this was to establish the truth of His word prophetically. Once the prophetic word has been established in the heart, the mind is set on fire to tell others what is true.

Coming now to the last two verses, Jesus says that He is not going to speak much longer with them, because the prince of this world is coming. Here Jesus is saying that He has already given them all the information necessary to make it through to the end. Nothing more, essentially, can be added at this point. The devil is on his way to bring the final test. What the important question now is, Have they learned the lessons that He has taught them? Jesus has learned and is able to go through, because He has been obedient to His Father.

His obedience has come because He loves His Father. This is the only place in Scripture where Jesus declares His love for the Father. The Father has stated in other texts that He loves the Son, but this is the only one where Jesus says this. Love produces obedience to the Father. If there is no love, there will be no will to do the Father’s wishes. Jesus is saying that He has done exactly what the Father has asked of Him, because He loves the Father.

This is an important aspect that many people do not learn. They may say that they love God or that they love their parents, but they do not do what is asked of them. As a result, they are always falling into trouble, which the devil brings, and have no defense, because they are not obedient to God or to their parents. This text spells out for us just how important it is to learn obedience, first to our parents’ wishes and then to God’s wishes, as we grow and mature in life. If we fail in this, then our whole life will end up in chaos. We may think everything is okay, but if we are not obedient to the Father, we will suffer loss. That is the point Jesus is making as He closes this section of Scripture.

Pastor Mike Baugher is a retired minister of the gospel. If you have a question you would like Pastor Mike to answer, e-mail it to: landmarks@stepstolife.org, or mail it to: LandMarks, Steps to Life, P. O. Box 782828, Wichita, KS 67278.

Children’s Story – Wellington

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Grandma lives on a farm in Missouri where she raises English Bulldogs. One of her special bulldogs is named Wellington. Wellington is a good-looking, broad-chested, block-headed, male English Bulldog.

Wellington had always been kept in an enclosed, 8-foot by 12-foot kennel, close to Grandma’s house. One day, Grandma decided to move Wellington to a new, outdoor run. This run was a 16-foot by 16-foot area with a nice wooded dog box made especially for him. But once there, Wellington barked and barked. His neighbor, also an English Bulldog, fought with him through the fence. Wellington would whine and bark, then they would fight again. On and on Wellington barked and fought, long into the night. Wellington did not like being cast into the outdoor darkness where there was “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

You see, Wellington liked his kennel close to his master’s home with his family. He did not like being outside the kennel. He wanted to be back home; that is why he barked long into the night. When Grandma came out the next morning to let Wellington out of the run for some exercise, where do you suppose he went? He ran as fast as he could right to his old home. He shoved the door open with his strong, burly chest and front paws, then ran to his kennel, unlatched the kennel gate, and hurried inside, where he sat with a big grin of contentment on his face. He was so happy to be back home! Wellington made it quite clear he did not like being outside the kennel. His heart’s desire was to be inside the kennel.

Are you like Wellington? Do you like to be close to your Master, or do you like to be outside the “kennel”? Wellington did not like being outside the kennel. The Bible calls it being cast out into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 8:12.). Wellington did not want to be cast out! He ran as fast as his stubby legs and big, strong body would move him, straight back to the master’s home. Do you run on the straight and narrow path for the kingdom of heaven, or are you looking to be outside the kingdom, doing your own thing in the outer darkness, far removed from the safety of the Master?

Wellington is a fine example of how we are to be in our actions, focus, and direction. He walks and acts like a champion, as we should walk and act as sons and daughters of the King. All he thought about that long, dark night was how he could return to the safe home of his master, just as we should always be striving for the heavenly home so we can be with our Saviour.

What are the requirements to enter the heavenly home? “Blessed [are] they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” Revelation 22:14. When we walk on the straight and narrow path into that heavenly home, we will have a big grin of contentment on our faces, just like Wellington had.

“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide [is] the gate, and broad [is] the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait [is] the gate, and narrow [is] the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Matthew 7:13, 14. Will you join me on the straight and narrow path to the heavenly home of happiness?

The Ten Commandments, Part VII – The Sabbath of Creation and Redemption

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In Deuteronomy 5 is recorded what is often referred to as the second giving of the law. What we know as the fourth commandment (Exodus 20:8–11) is given again in Deuteronomy 5:12–15: “Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day [is] the sabbath of the Lord thy God: [in it] thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that [is] within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and [that] the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.”

A comparison of this passage of Scripture with Exodus 20:8–11 reveals some differences: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day [is] the sabbath of the Lord thy God: [in it] thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that [is] within thy gates: For [in] six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them [is], and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.” These are the words of the fourth commandment written on the two tables of stone by the very finger of God. (See Exodus 31:18.) This commandment, the Sabbath commandment, closes the first table of stone that was given to Moses by God.

One difference between the account of Deuteronomy 5 and that of Exodus 20 is that instead of the former saying, “remember,” it says, “keep.” “Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it . . . .” This is what you might call “ministerial license” on the part of Moses, as he attempted to emphasize a point to the children of Israel because of all the difficulties they had encountered as they traversed through their 40-year wandering experience. He is trying to make the point that they needed to keep the Sabbath holy.

Logical Sequence

The first four commandments, which were written on the first table of stone, outline for man what his responsibilities are to his Creator. As we consider these first four commandments, we can see that they are arranged in a very logical sequence of order. This is not a coincidence; God set these down in a very specific way. Seeing such a logical sequential order confirms that these are of divine origin.

The first commandment proclaims to us the true object of worship. Worship of the true God was a problem in the days of the children of Israel. A variety of other gods commanded their attention for worship. The first commandment warns against having false gods.

The second commandment outlines the true mode of worship and prohibits false forms of religion. When we look at all of the various religions and “isms” that have inundated mankind around the world, they all have their origin in this second law as to their rightness and wrongness.

The third commandment gives the proper approach to this God who has been revealed to us in the first two commandments. It gives a proper approach to worship, and it warns against profanity, irreverence, and hypocrisy in our relationship to God.

The fourth commandment designates the special time for worship by consecrating each seventh day, the Sabbath day, as a memorial of creation and as a memorial of deliverance from bondage to sin.

Egypt Symbolism

Many times I have talked with people, particularly with pastors, about the seventh-day Sabbath. Quite often someone will point out the differences found between Deuteronomy 5 and Exodus 20, to let me know that these commandments are fluid and that they can change—particularly the one that deals with the Sabbath—and that it is not necessarily limited to just the creation story but that it also had implications of deliverance from Egypt.

Then I have asked, “Have you ever been to Egypt?” No, they have never been to Egypt, but they have certainly been in the land of sin, of which Egypt is symbolic. The Book of Revelation makes it explicitly clear that the land of Egypt is symbolic of sin. (See Revelation 11:8.)

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23. Moses brought this fact out when he said, “And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and [that] the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.” We, as Christians living in the twenty-first century, can relate to this verse also.

There is a difference between the two writings of the commandments. One was written by the very finger of God, in stone, so that those words could never, ever be changed. The other was contained within the law of Moses, which was written on paper, and it could be changed. It is very easy to drive a nail through paper. It is not an easy task to drive a nail through a piece of stone. You can nail a book of paper to a cross, but you cannot nail a stone to a cross, and you cannot change it. So these differences are there for a very specific reason.

In the very beginning of time, “God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” Genesis 1:3. Then, the process of creation took place. After six days of creation, Jesus and the Father rested from their work. They established the Sabbath. We are told specifically, in Genesis 2:3, that the Sabbath day was blessed. It was hallowed. It was set apart. It was a day of rest that was established from the very beginning of creation, before there was ever a Jew, before there was ever sin, before there was ever anything that would try to include it as something that was temporary. God established it, and what God has blessed is blessed forever.

Brief History

When sin took the course that it did with Adam and Eve’s fall in the garden, the plan of salvation that had been conceived in the mind of God was put into operation, right at that point. The promise of a Saviour was there, yet to be fulfilled some 4,000 years later.

The Bible records for us how that all took place. It says that Jesus came in the form of human flesh. He lived; He died; and He rose again. The Bible also tells us that when Jesus was finished with His work of redemption, when at last His head fell into the hollow of His shoulder, after crying out, “It is finished,” His body was taken down off the cross just about sundown on a Friday afternoon. Jesus Christ, the Lord of all—not only the Lord of creation but also the Lord of redemption—rested in His tomb on the seventh day. He rested from His work of reclaiming man from the bondage of sin—man who had been living in the land of Egypt, man who had been contaminated with sin.

Sabbath a Seal

The Sabbath has been given as a sign or a seal. Revelation 7 tells us about a group called the 144,000, and it says that in their foreheads is found the seal of God. That seal of God is in contrast to the mark of the beast. God’s seal is the seventh-day Sabbath; the mark of the beast is Sunday keeping, that counterfeit day of worship that has been raised up by the devil to try to thwart the plans of God.

God’s redeemed will not only recognize Him as the Creator of all, but they will recognize Him as the Redeemer of all as well. The fact that they have recognized Him as Creator and the fact that they have accepted Him as their Redeemer shows that the Sabbath is doubly binding upon them. It seals them in their decision making process, so they are never again wanting to depart from the ways of God.

Proper Balance

In order to maintain this special relationship with God, which is so vital, He has asked that, at regular times, man turn from his secular pursuits to spiritual things. Man, in his fallen condition, needs to understand that all of his time and all of his activities are planned and ordered of God; his spiritual and his physical life depend upon each other. Because of this interdependence, if we are going to be properly balanced as human beings, it is of the utmost importance that we keep the seventh-day Sabbath.

Man, because of his selfish nature, is bent on doing as much as he can for himself. Usually that means, more than anything else, spending his time for himself. God knew that man needed to have some time away from himself to focus on spiritual things. This was the wonderful wisdom of God in setting aside the Sabbath day.

If you leave off either the physical or the spiritual, man becomes unbalanced. This is one of the reasons why we see so much carnage and destruction in the world today. Man, even though he may look sane, is really insane, because all that he wants to do is direct things to himself. It is very difficult to understand that Someone else has a claim on our lives other than ourselves.

Pivotal Point

The fourth commandment, given as a command to worship the Creator, implies the absolute necessity for the setting apart of a special time to worship God. The Sabbath commandment is a pivotal point between the first table and the second table of the Law of God. It is a binding influence between the divine and the human. The Sabbath has been said to be the meeting place between God and man. This must surely be one of the reasons why the devil has attacked it so vigorously. The Sabbath, as the weekly appointment for communion and worship, brings heaven and earth together.

It is God’s Sabbath, but we men and women are to keep it. The Sabbath commandment commands our worship, but it also commands our work. Have you ever noticed that? We give emphasis to the point that we are supposed to rest on the Sabbath day. Six days of each week are reserved for work, for labor, and the seventh day is set apart for rest from our work and all worldly activities.

Living in the society in which we do, that seems to be the thing that needs the most correcting, because Saturday, the holy Sabbath day, is the time for garage sales and auctions. The grocery stores and businesses do their biggest volume of sales on Saturday. It is hard for us, especially in a western society where our minds are turned towards the accumulation of things, to set that day aside for the worship of God. But I have felt, as well as witnessed, the blessings that come from the observance of God’s holy time.

Sacred and Common

The Sabbath commandment combines in a unique way the sacred and the common, outlining our duty to God and our duty to man. It divides all time into secular time and holy time, and it defines man’s duty to each allotted share of time that God has established.

One thing that has been present in every age of this earth’s history, and particularly this age in which we live, is the need for a Sabbath rest—even the Pope recognizes this! He recognizes that there is a need for a Sabbath rest, but he has the wrong day. He claims the day on which we need to rest is Sunday.

Habit

Our lives are rushed with so many things that we sometimes fail to take the time to even think. Much of our routine is carried on by habit. Did you know that?

Each morning when I arise, I go through my routine, as I am sure you also do. Much of what we do is governed by habit, and if we have developed good habits, we are going to grow in the “nurture and admonition of the Lord.” Ephesians 6:4. If we have developed bad habits, however, they become very difficult to change.

This is one of the reasons why so many individuals have difficulty when they are confronted with the true Sabbath of the Lord. They find it hard to change the habit patterns that they have established during their lifetimes so they can give the Sabbath time back to God as His own and, in so doing, be blessed and benefited because of it.

Innumerable people with whom I have studied will acknowledge that Saturday is the Sabbath, but because of family, because of work, because of personal preferences, they find it is inconvenient to reverence it.

Need for Rest

There is a need for a Sabbath rest. It seems that we have no time for leisure, no time for spiritual exercise, no time for study, no time for reflection or meditation, except as we decidedly acknowledge the Sabbath commandment and rest according to God’s will.

There are those in the field of marriage counseling who many times find that disorders between couples occur because they are not spending quality time together as they should. The counselor, upon learning this state of things, will say, “What you need to do, if your schedule is so tight, is to ‘X’ out a certain time, so you can spend that time together.”

God knew that a long time ago, so He “Xed” out every Sabbath day and called it holy. He blessed it and sanctified it. As we enter into that experience with Him, we will find a change taking place in our own hearts and lives. We will have a balance in our lives. God wants us to choose the time that He has chosen and not choose the time that we have chosen. He wants us to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

How

Since God says, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy,” we need to ask ourselves how this is to be accomplished. What does it mean to keep the Sabbath day holy? How do we keep it holy?

Have you ever watched a little child in clean clothes at play where there is mud and water? There seems to be a magnetic draw between little children and mud and water! If they begin to play in it, one thing is for certain—not just their hands will get dirty. Once mud is on their hands, children generally wipe it off onto their clothing.

It is just as impossible for us to keep God’s Sabbath day holy, if we are placing ourselves within proximity of sin and defilement. Just as little children’s hands are drawn to mud and water and to wiping the mud off onto themselves, man, in his sinful nature, is drawn by temptation to do sinful things. Unless we find ourselves deliberately absenting ourselves from all the secular draw and all the secular temptations that come to us, we are going to find ourselves like little children, getting our hands into it. Then we are going to get it on our clothes, and we are going to be defiled.

No Exceptions

The parallel is very apparent. God’s Sabbath day is holy. It is a sanctified day, and we are asked to keep it holy. The only way that we can keep it holy is to refrain from those secular activities that would pollute us on the Sabbath day. Those activities are covered by the commandment itself.

“Six days thou shalt labour”; six days we are to do all our work. How does that speak to the person who is retired? Well, God says, “All right, you have six days to do whatever you want to do, within reason. The seventh day is Mine.” If your wife has a “honey-do” list for you when you are retired, get it done in six days. The seventh day belongs to God.

The rule applies across the board. It does not make any difference whether you have regular employment or whether you are retired, you have six days to work.

The same principle applies to the tithe. God says that one-tenth of our increase belongs to Him. It does not even belong to us. (See Deuteronomy 14:22; Leviticus 27:32; Genesis 28:22.) A large number of people say that they are going to return their tithe to this or that church. Actually, as stewards, they are not returning their tithe, but God’s tithe.

The same thing is also true of time. The seventh day belongs to God. It is His holy day. The Bible says so. It is not our holy time to adjust our schedule however we might want it to be.

Work is Vital

Six days of work are commanded in this fourth commandment, and those six days of work are as vital as the rest time that God says should also take place.

If the concept of Sabbath keeping, as it is found in the fourth commandment, would be taught and impressed upon the minds of young children, creating in them a work ethic, it would save this old world a lot of misery and woe.

For instance, there are some people who think that they do not have to work, that they can get what they want easier by stealing something that does not belong to them. Learning the Sabbath concept would help them in keeping the commandment that says, “Thou shalt not steal,” because they would have a work ethic of working six days, rather than going out and taking what did not belong to them.

So, we are not only reminded to rest, but we are also commanded to work.

The Devil’s Attack

For the whole human family, the Sabbath commandment is really the foundation for true well-being—physical, mental, and spiritual. Again I ask the question, Is it any wonder that the devil has made such a special attack on this commandment? Even to the most casual observer, it is obvious that there is an attack upon this commandment, more than on any of the other commandments.

If the fourth commandment was observed as it should be from the standpoint of not only God being the Creator but also Jesus Christ being the Redeemer, we humans would be in a whole lot better shape. These two aspects are absolutely tied to the observance of the seventh day as the Sabbath.

Character Development

There are those who stress the part of the fourth commandment that deals with rest and forget the other part that deals with labor. I would like to suggest to you that no one could be a Christian and be indolent. No one can keep the Sabbath unless he is also willing to work, because the two concepts go together. We, as Seventh-day Adventists, have been somewhat remiss in bringing out those points and emphasizing them, but they are there, nonetheless. If we put them both together, we will see character traits developed that would not be developed otherwise.

We often speak about the character formation that Jesus desires to take place. The Sabbath commandment has more to do with character development than we realize. No other commandment tells us that we are going to become sanctified by refraining from breaking it. It does not say, “Thou shalt not steal, and you will become holy because of it.” But the Sabbath commandment says, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” And in Exodus 31, it says that through the observance of the Sabbath, man recognizes that God is making him holy. This is the only commandment that deals with holiness, as far as that which is brought into man’s experiences because of observance.

A Special Blessing

The Sabbath has to become a special blessing to us as Seventh-day Adventists, if we are going to fulfill the role and the commission that God has given to us. The Sabbath has to become special for us.

There is at times the tendency, when Seventh-day Adventists are asked concerning their denominational affiliation, to skirt around the issue. Some may respond, “Well, I am a Christian.”

“But what kind of a Christian are you?”

“I am a Protestant Christian.”

This is a hesitancy that should not be. Sometimes it is wise to be discrete, if we know that there are existing prejudices, but the question we each need to ask ourselves is, Are there prejudices that I am recognizing, or am I exercising my own self-preservation?

The devil is very anxious to destroy the Sabbath and Sabbath keeping, because if he succeeds, he will destroy the relationship that he knows God wants to have between Himself and His people. It does not matter how rigidly Sunday keepers keep Sunday; they are not keeping God’s appointed Sabbath. The special relationship that exists between God and the Sabbath keeper is not the same relationship that God has with those who are breaking one of His commandments.

God may wink at their ignorance; God may bless them in their ignorance; but there is something that is still lacking in that relationship. This is why, when we come down to the end of time, things are going to narrow down in such a way that the focal point is going to be on the Sabbath and Sunday, because of the tremendous impact that the Sabbath has upon the lives of human beings. If we human beings are going to live with God in the kingdom of heaven, we are going to have to be observant of the Sabbath day. If that has been revolting to us, then we are not going to be there.

Joint Observance

Do you realize that the Sabbath commandment is the only commandment in which God can join with man in its observance? It would be nonsense for God to observe the first commandment that says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” So with the second and the third. So with stealing, lying, and adultery. All these have no place as far as reference to God is concerned.

But there is one commandment that, in its observance, God can join with man. This is one of the reasons the devil attacks it so vigorously. Man, of course, is following God’s example in Sabbath keeping.

Isaiah 66 tells us that the Sabbath is going to be kept in the New Earth. “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, [that] from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.” Verses 22, 23. The Sabbath is going to be kept.

New Moon

It is sometimes questioned, If we are going to keep these new moons in the earth made new, then why should we not be keeping the feast days today?

It is often easy for us to expound on the keeping of the seventh-day Sabbath, but what about the new moon? How often does a new moon come? A new moon comes once a month. Is there ever a time in the earth made new that we are going to gather around the throne of God once a month? Most certainly! We are told, in Revelation 22:1, 2, “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, [was there] the tree of life, which bare twelve [manner of] fruits, [and] yielded her fruit every month,” that is, new moon.

When it talks about the creation of the new heavens and the new earth, it is dealing with this. Not only is the seventh-day Sabbath still to be a very integrated part of life in heaven, but something else that is interesting and a blessing to us is that we are going to gather around the tree of life each new moon and there partake of its fruit.

We are going to live in the country, Isaiah tells us. We are going to build houses, and we are going to inhabit them. We are going to plant vineyards, and we are going to eat the fruit of them. (Isaiah 65:21.) But then, on the Sabbath day, we are going to find ourselves back in the New Jerusalem, that place where Jesus has gone to prepare a mansion for us. And on that High Sabbath or that high occasion, that once a month gathering, we are going to partake of the fruit that is growing on the tree of life.

Validation

Do not ever tell me the Bible is not inspired! Do not ever tell me that there is no God in heaven! There are just too many things that have come together, written hundreds of years apart, which validate that there is a God in heaven. That God in heaven loved us so much, He came down to this earth and took upon Himself human flesh. And remembering the Sabbath day, from creation until the time that He died on Calvary’s cross and rested in that tomb, He says, “Here is a twofold reason why you, too, who are my disciples, need to rest on the Sabbath day with Me. It is a time when we can come together. It is a time that we can unite our hearts together. It is a time when I can make you holy.”

To be continued . . .

A retired minister of the gospel, Pastor Mike Baugher may be contacted by e-mail at: landmarks@stepstolife.org.

Surrender, Part I

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We need to look at our sin problem and ourselves from a new perspective. When it comes to righteousness, we are nothing but in the way! And yet, we are to seek for it: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33. We are told to seek for God’s righteousness, but in reality, it is He who seeks us, and we respond to His seeking, as we are told in Romans 3:11: “There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.”

Verse 12 continues, “They are all gone out of the way . . . .” We have all gone out of the way to ignore God and His authority. We want our own authority; we want to do our own thing. The fact is that we, like Eve, want to be our own gods. Oh, we want God to feed us, clothe us, protect us, and take care of us, but we do not want Him to tell us what to do, unless what He tells us is in agreement with what we think or with what we want to do.

Deep down inside, we desire to be our own gods, to call our own shots, to do our own thing, to have our own kingdoms.

The word kingdom comes from two words—king and dominion. A kingdom is a place where one king has total and complete control and authority. We want to have our own kingdoms. We want to be our own authority.

The temptation to be our own god appeals to the unfallen as well as the fallen. When it appealed to Eve, she was in an unfallen state. Before her, it appealed to an unfallen angel, the highest of all the angels, the one closest to the throne of God. A desire arose in Lucifer’s heart to have his own authority, to call his own shots, to be his own king, his own god.

Problem of Pride

Isaiah 14:12–15 gives the reason for Lucifer’s fall: “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” Lucifer wanted his freedom. He did not want to be under God’s authority. He wanted to establish his own authority.

Pride was the problem. Pride turned an angel into the devil. Ellen White wrote: “There is nothing so offensive to God or so dangerous to the human soul as pride and self-sufficiency. Of all sins it is the most hopeless, the most incurable.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 154. “Pride [goeth] before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18.

Pride is an overly high opinion of one’s self, and it leads to rebellion. We need to ask ourselves, How are we doing with pride? Pride is a very dangerous sin—the most dangerous and incurable, we are told. We do not have to have a fallen nature for it to arise, and the reason this is important to us is because it can happen after we have been converted. This is why conversion is not a one time event. It is a daily, moment-by-moment experience.

Satan Spreads the Misery

Lucifer, or Satan, sold his idea to a third of the angels, and they were all cast out of the kingdom of God to this earth, where Satan went about setting up his kingdom. He well knew the power of pride, since he had already fallen for it, so that is the tool he used. He went to the ones who had been created in the very image of God, who, if they had stayed on track, would have become more and more like God throughout eternity. He convinced them that if they would come out from under God’s authority, and develop their own authority, they would become like God.

The bottom line of the lie he told them was, “Come out from under God’s authority, and you will gain status, you will gain knowledge, you will gain authority, you will gain freedom.” As one preacher has said, “As long as a train stays on those twin ribbons of steel, it has a lot more freedom than what we call a ‘free train.’ When a train jumps the tracks and takes off across the meadow, it is free all right, but it is only free to crash.”

The enticement was, “Adam and Eve, come out from under God’s authority and get your own authority.” But the truth was that they already had authority. We are told in Genesis 1 that they were given dominion—in other words, authority and jurisdiction—over the whole world, over the fish, the fowls, and the beasts of the field. Psalm 115:16 says, “The heaven, [even] the heavens, [are] the Lord’s: but the earth hath he given to the children of men,” and in Psalm 8:4–6, we read, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all [things] under his feet.”

Through trickery, though, Satan deceptively snatched that dominion away from them. Adam and Eve had been given authority, as mentioned previously, over all things on earth, and if they had exercised their authority, they probably could have ordered the serpent out of the garden. Adam had been placed in the garden to keep it, to protect it. It was in his possession. He was to take care of it; he was to guard it, but instead, he lost it and the whole world with it to the devil.

How Could This Happen?

How could this happen? First, in spite of being warned to the contrary, Adam allowed Eve to wander away from his side. “The angels had cautioned Eve to beware of separating herself from her husband while occupied in their daily labor in the garden; with him she would be in less danger from temptation than if she were alone.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 53. Alone, Eve became deceived, and then she became Satan’s evangelist. Adam was her first convert. As a result of their actions, they both entered into slavery.

Romans 6:16 says, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” The Greek word doulos, which is here translated servant, properly signifies slave. So Adam and Eve became slaves to Satan, and the slave owner owns what the slave owns. This is how Satan gained Adam and Eve’s possessions, how he took this world under his dominion.

Adam and Eve yielded their dominion and their authority, and this is why, when Christ came 4,000 years later, Satan could offer the world to Him. “And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.” Luke 4:5, 6. The Greek word exousia, translated power, means “authority or jursdiction.”

As long as Adam and Eve were under God’s authority, they had power or authority. As soon as they tried to get more authority, by coming out from under God’s authority, they lost all authority, even over their own wills.

Rebellion of Sin

Every single sin, no matter how big or how little we think it is, is rebellion against God’s authority. This is the underlying issue. Sinning says, “I want to be my own god.” As it says in the parable in Luke 19:14, “We will not have this [man] to reign over us.” This is what we are saying when we sin. We are telling God, “I want to be my own king, and I want my own kingdom. I do not want You to be King over me.” We certainly would not say those words to Him directly, but our actions are actually saying it. Do you see why there is no such thing as a little sin?

“He who willfully breaks one commandment, does not, in spirit and truth, keep any of them. ‘Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.’ James 2:10.

“It is not the greatness of the act of disobedience that constitutes sin, but the fact of variance from God’s expressed will in the least particular; for this shows that there is yet communion between the soul and sin. The heart is divided in its service. There is a virtual denial of God, a rebellion against the laws of His government.” Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, 51.

For what many would consider one little sin, Adam and Eve lost their noble place of authority and joy and communion with God, and they were placed in the position of bondage and fear and servitude to a new master.

Either/Or

A man had legally lost the world’s dominion, and it had to be legally reclaimed by a man. The second Adam had to come and redeem what the first Adam lost. The whole history of humanity boils down to those two men. We are either in Adam or we are in Christ. We are either in the flesh or we are in the Spirit. If we choose to be in Christ, then we can experience Christ’s victory. If we choose to stay in Adam, then we stay in Adam’s bondage.

The question is, How do we make the switch? We are all born into Adam. We have all inherited his nature, and his tendency to rebellion. The only way out is to be reborn into Christ.

We read, in 1 John 5:4, “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, [even] our faith.” When we are born again, we are born to win.

Christ Conquered

Christ defeated Satan when He was in the wilderness of temptation, on the same ground, with the same test on which Adam fell. How did Christ win the victory? He did not do it by pulling rank. He did not do it by using power that He brought with Him from heaven. He did not do it by being God. He did it by being a man, totally and completely dependent upon and surrendered to God. His weapons were the Spirit of God and the Word of God. With these weapons, He conquered. Adam could have done this. We can do the same thing.

Because of Christ’s victory, authority again changed hands. Christ’s followers no longer have to remain in bondage to the world, to the flesh, and to the devil. The sad part is that most people do not know this. Many Christians do not realize this. Most have probably heard it or read it, but they either do not believe it, because the news seems too good to be true, or, like many throughout history, they believe the truth that we can be free, but they do not know the truth about how to be free. They do not have a clue.

People do not know how to be victorious because they do not learn from God. God tells us how, but a majority of people has been trying a failed plan. This faulty plan did not work the first time somebody tried it, and it will not work today, but many of us keep trying it anyway.

You know, the definition of insanity is to keep trying the same thing over and over, expecting different results. We have been in this state of insanity for about 6,000 years, and God wants us to come out of it. He has tried desperately to teach us another way.

In 1888, God tried to teach the way, but it apparently appeared to be too simple and too humbling to self, so that way has been repeatedly rejected. It is still the only way. Whether we accept it or reject it, it is still the only way. We need to look at the way; we need to humble ourselves to receive it. God wants us to come back under His plan and under His authority. He wants us to take back some of the lost dominion. We would not get it all back right now; we would not have dominion over the animals, for example, but we could have dominion over the flesh and the devil, in the area of temptation. This is what we need. We can have victory!

Not Over Until Under

One thing is certain. We will never be over the things that God wants under us until we get under the things that God sets over us. We must learn to submit to Him. Do you know that there is a large number of Christians who are very committed to the truth and the cause of God, but they are not submitted to the God of the truth and the cause?

Romans 8:37 tells us that we can be more than conquerors through Christ.

“For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:17. So, by one man’s offence—Adam’s—death reigned, but if we are no longer in Adam but in Christ, then we reign over the world, the flesh, and the devil. But we will never be over until we are under.

A Biblical Example

The centurion understood this concept very well. In Matthew 8:5–10 is the story of a centurion who came to Jesus and asked Him to heal his servant. Jesus said, “Yes, I will come and do it.”

But the centurion said, “No, You do not need to come to my place of dwelling. Just speak the word only, and my servant will be healed.” And the centurion began to explain to Jesus, “I know how this works, because I am a man under authority.” The centurion understood. “The only reason I have authority over 100 Roman soldiers is because I am under the authority of the Roman Government.” And he understood that Christ had authority over evil and sickness and death because He was under the authority of His Father. He was over because He was under.

Not of Ourselves

In John 5:30, Jesus makes this very clear: “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.”

Jesus sent out 70 disciples as lambs among wolves. Their experience is recorded in Luke 10:17: “And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.” How could they have that kind of power? Verse 16 says, “He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.”

Do you see the chain of command? There is the Father over Jesus and Jesus over the 70, and the 70 over the devil. It is an authority thing.

Verse 18 says, “And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” Well, He not only beheld it, but He was the One who cast him out. In verse 19, it says, “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” The first power in this text is translated from the Greek word exousia meaning “authority.” The second power is translated from dunamis, which is actually referring to “strength.” In other words, “Behold, I give unto you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the strength of the enemy [Satan].”

Authority vs. Power

Authority is a lot better than power. You can have power and have no authority, but when you have authority, you have more than power. You know, when a little skinny police officer holds up his hand and blows his whistle in front of an eighteen-wheeler truck and that eighteen-wheeler comes to a stop, is it because of that little policeman’s power to stop it? No, it could have just run right over him. It is all about authority. The policeman represents authority, and that is why the truck stops. He is under, so he is over.

The devil has power, but he has no authority. Apostasy has no authority, except what men will allow it to have. You may usurp some authority on your own, and people who do not know any better may submit to it, but it will not last long. Someday your little kingdom will come down around you. To have real authority, you must be under real authority.

The devil recognizes whether or not you have authority. He is not fooled. Acts 19:13–16 says, “Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of [one] Sceva, a Jew, [and] chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.”

These exorcists were fortunate. The name of Jesus is not a magical charm, and if we are not surrendered to Jesus, the devil knows it. I say that these exorcists were fortunate because he let them know right away that they did not have any authority. We may not like the way they found out, but it is a good thing that they did find out right then and there. Most of the time the devil is smarter than that, and he does not let us know right away. He plays games with us, and we could end up like the group in Matthew 7:21–23 that comes to the end of time and says, “Lord, Lord, look at all these things we did in Your name. We prophesied; we even cast out devils,” but Christ says, “I never knew you.” It was not Christ who helped them cast out the devils. Who helped them cast out the devils? It was the devil; he was playing a game with them. They did not have any authority over him, but he did not let them know that.

Committed but not Submitted

There are very many who are committed, but they are not submitted. They are committed to the truth, but they are not submitted to God. They are not surrendered. The foolish virgins of Matthew 25 are an example.

“Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five [were] foolish. They that [were] foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.” Verses 1–8.

You know the rest of the story. The door was shut. The five foolish virgins did not make it inside. All ten were virgins—symbolic of a pure religion and a pure doctrine—and they carried lamps.

“Thy word [is] a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Psalm 119:105. They had the Word of God, and they were not scoffers. They were waiting for the bridegroom to come. Was sleeping the problem? No, all ten slept, both the wise and the foolish, so that was not the problem.

“The class represented by the foolish virgins are not hypocrites. They have a regard for the truth, they have advocated the truth, they are attracted to those who believe the truth; but they have not yielded themselves [they are never surrendered; they have never submitted] to the Holy Spirit’s working. They have not fallen upon the Rock, Christ Jesus, and permitted their old nature to be broken up. This class are represented also by the stony-ground hearers. They receive the word with readiness, but they fail of assimilating its principles. Its influence is not abiding. The Spirit works upon man’s heart, according to his desire and consent implanting in him a new nature; but the class represented by the foolish virgins have been content with a superficial work. They do not know God. They have not studied His character.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 411.

Surrender

So, commitment without surrender can be very dangerous. In fact, it can be downright scary. The word commitment really did not come into large usage among English-speaking Christians until the 1960s. Whenever a word gains popularity, it usually pushes out another word, and in the 1960s, the word commitment pushed out the word surrender. Christians used to talk about being surrendered; now we talk about being committed.

Dangers

As a Bible worker, I am becoming concerned about this, because at the end of a Bible study, I always want a commitment, but I am starting to rethink this. We need to get people to surrender; commitment is not enough. If they have commitment without surrender, we well know the results. We see people come into truth and then fall away.

In 1 Corinthians 13:3, it talks about a people that are so committed to the truth and the cause of God that they are willing to become martyrs for Him. It says that they are willing to give their bodies to be burned. That is commitment! Yet, they are still not saved.

Others become committed but not surrendered, and, eventually, they become discouraged, because they see they are not progressing. If they are honest with themselves, they know that their hearts have not changed; they are still rotten inside; they are just going through the outward motions. They are putting on a show. They usually end up becoming liberal, or what we call antinomians, and they come up with new theologies such as, we do not have to keep God’s Law, because we cannot keep it.

So, you see that commitment without surrender is very dangerous. Commitment without surrender can make us very sincere, legalistic, Pharisaical zealots, but it will never change our hearts. There is no joy in that kind of religion. It may puff up the flesh, but it will never make us Christlike Christians.

Many people are fighting a very worthy battle, but they are fighting it at the wrong time, with the wrong tools, and in the wrong way. When we fight the battle without first surrendering, then we are doing all those things. We can fight all we want, for all we are worth, but we are still going to lose. So why are we so reluctant to surrender?

Hardest Thing To Do

Surrendering seems to be the hardest thing in the world to do. One reason is fear. We are afraid of what God is going to do with us and what He is going to ask of us, if we fully surrender. That just shows that we really do not know Him. To know Him is to love Him. To love Him is to trust Him. To trust Him is to obey Him. To obey Him is to be blessed by Him. The key is knowing Him. What is He like? What is His character like? How does He think and feel?

We will never know the answers to these questions if we are not spending time with Him each day. If we are not doing this, then we do not stand a chance. But as we spend time with Him each day, getting to know Him and to trust Him, a safe environment will develop in which to surrender.

To be continued . . .

Steve Currey is a Bible worker for Steps to Life. He may be contacted by e-mail at: stevecurrey@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Are You Serious about Being Saved? Part II

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We have seen how important a perfect character is—we cannot go to heaven without it. We have also reviewed some aspects of the perfect character. Most important of all, though, is what we need to do so that we can become perfect.

Obviously, we cannot become perfect unless God works a miracle in our lives, and the miracle God wants to work in your life and in my life is available to every single person in the world. However, not every single person in the world is serious about being saved.

In most cities of the United States, there are some very large Christian churches. Thousands of people attend these churches every week, but many of these Christians want an easy religion. They want a religion where the Lord will do it all, so they do not have to do anything. These people may reason that we are all going to the same place. I am sorry; we are not all going to the same place. People who believe this lie must not read very much of the Bible. Revelation 19:20, 21 states very plainly: “Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh.” We are not all going to the same place; we are going to two different places.

If we want to go to heaven, we have to become serious about being saved. We do not have any time to lose. I know that I do not have any time to lose, because I have so much that needs to be changed. I am praying to the Lord about it day and night. I want you to pray for me, because I need a lot of help, and I will be glad to pray for you too. I have decided that no matter how impossible it might seem from a human standpoint, what God says to do, He will give the power to do.

What Must We Do?

It is through Christ and through Him alone that anyone can remedy the defects in his or her character and become perfect. We cannot do it unless we have divine help. You see, every person actually lives alone. We may live with lots of other people, but each of us lives alone, because nobody knows what is going on in our minds except God and us. Other people cannot read our minds. It is what is in our minds—our thoughts and our feelings—more than anything else that determines the condition of our characters.

Many people think that an individual’s character involves his or her words and actions, and that is true. But your words and your actions are just the result of what is already in your mind—your thoughts and your feelings. If you study the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus spoke about this subject, you will notice that He put the emphasis on what was going on in the mind, not on what was being done or said.

Although it is only through Jesus that we can have perfection of character, there are some things that we must do. God would not give us instruction if it was not important, and God’s prophet gives each of these points to us.

Number 1: We are not going to come to perfection of character except through certain spiritual gifts that God has put in the church, especially the gifts of the prophets and apostles. In Ephesians 4:1–16, Paul makes it very clear that it is through these spiritual gifts that the church is going to come into harmony and unity and to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Jesus Christ. That is perfection. There are some things that you and I have to do.

Number 2: We have to receive Jesus into our hearts as the Lord of our lives; then we have to believe. We have to believe that Jesus can take a person like me and, by His grace, make me into a perfect character. If we do not believe this, it will not happen.

Number 3: This one is very comforting to me, because I used to get discouraged about this subject, until I started reading statements in the Spirit of Prophecy concerning it. Mrs. White says that we are not going to come to perfection of character suddenly; it is going to happen step by step. (See Selected Messages, Book 1, 240.) God knows how long you are going to live, and He knows how many steps you need to take. Just ask Him to help you take the next step.

Number 4: If we want to reach perfection of character, we need to be learning daily about Jesus. “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 11 Corin-thians 3:18. Incidentally, that means being changed from one stage of perfection to the next. Both the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy clearly teach that there are stages of perfection.

Number 5: Having a connection with God’s work is one of the means by which God purposes to bring you and me to perfection. God has a work that He is doing in the world today. Are you a part of it, or are you a spectator? If you want to reach perfection of character, you must get involved in what God is doing in the world. There are many different ways to be involved, and it is between you and the Lord as to exactly how you get involved. But you cannot just be a spectator, watching other people be involved in God’s work, and expect that in some way you are going to come to character perfection.

Number 6: Perfection of character comes only by conflict and battle. “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.” Acts 14:22. If you are not willing to fight the battle against whatever defects of character you are experiencing, God will not give you the victory. Only God can give you the victory, but He gives the victory only to those who are willing to be in the battle.

Number 7: In God’s plan, Ellen White wrote, every disappointment becomes a means to help a person come to perfection of character. (See Manuscript Releases, vol. 7, 149.) None of us like disappointments, but we all have them. We have to be willing to go through these disappointments, because this is part of God’s plan to bring us to perfection of character.

Number 8: No one will arrive at perfection of character without striving for it. There are many texts in the Bible about this, but read Philippians 3:8–14 or 1 Corinthians 9:24–27. The expressions the apostle uses in these passages are so strong that some of the most popular Bible translations have watered them down a little bit. But whatever version of the Bible you have, read the texts where Paul talks about struggling and striving and fighting for perfection of character.

Number 9: If we are going to reach perfection of character, it must happen in both our thoughts and our actions. (See Testimonies, vol. 4, 568.) We must be studying the Word of God and praying. We must be meditating, and we must be facing our defects of character and praying, “Lord, help me to overcome these.” But in addition to our thoughts, there must also be action. Mrs. White says, “Being good and doing good are indispensable to the perfection of character.” The Youth’s Instructor, October 25, 1900. Do not think that you can reach perfection of character just by having a good devotional life. That is not enough.

Number 10: “Those who expect one day to stand before the throne of the God of gods and Lord of kings, should live each day in such a way that the approval of God can rest upon them. They should seek daily to remove the blemishes in character that lead to sin, and bring into their lives the perfection of character that all must reveal who have a part in the kingdom of heaven.” Ibid., October 29, 1907. God does not work unless you and I cooperate. What are blemishes of character? You probably got a good idea when we looked at a few descriptions of the aspects of character perfection. Impatience, for instance, would be a blemish of character. If you have a problem with your tongue or your mind, or if you are not keeping perfectly one of the Ten Commandments, those are blemishes in your character. If in your thoughts, words, actions, or feelings you are unchristlike, there is a blemish in your character.

Number 11: One of the most effective means for obtaining perfection of character is the exercise of mercy toward our fellow men. “What a change would be wrought in our world if men would keep the way of the Lord, giving supreme love and loyalty to God, and manifesting love and respect for their neighbors. Those who would do this would manifest the character of Christ, and would continually exercise justice and mercy toward their fellow-men.” Review and Herald, October 1, 1895. The only people that you need to exercise mercy toward are people who are not perfect.

Number 12: “It is your own efforts, through the grace of Christ, that will bring you perfection of character.” The Signs of the Times, May 5, 1887. Only through Christ can this happen. Only Christ can do it, but He only does it for people who are putting forth effort in that direction.

Number 13: We are to depend completely on God to bring about perfection of our characters. We are to strive for it, but we are to depend on God to bring it about. Once you begin to depend completely on Him to make it happen, then you are not going to be nervous or scared or frightened or anxious.

Number 14: Ellen White wrote, “Perfection of character cannot be attained when the laws of nature are disregarded; for this is transgression of the law of God.” Review and Herald, November 12, 1901. This is something to think through. When the laws of nature are disregarded, we cannot reach perfection of character.

Number 15: Perfection of character is attainable by everyone who will strive for it. God has promised that if you will do your part, He will make it happen.

Number 16: Perfection of character is the result of willing obedience to the truth.

Number 17: There are eight steps, sometimes called Peter’s ladder, that will lead you to perfection. (See 11 Peter 1:5-11.) Writing of this, Ellen White said, “This [knowledge] is the third step in the path toward perfection of character.” Review and Herald, February 21, 1888.

The rungs on this ladder are faith, moral excellence, knowledge, temperance or self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. If you work your way up this ladder, when you get to the top, you will be perfect. This is something for you to study out—the ladder that will lead you to perfection of character.

Number 18: If you want to reach perfection of character, you must repent and forsake sin.

Number 19: If you want to reach perfection of character, you must practice self-denial and self-sacrifice. This is not talking about torturing the body. Self-denial or self-sacrifice is to deny yourself anything that you know would be displeasing to the Lord.

Number 20: Ellen White wrote, “Perfection of character is a lifelong work, unattainable by those who are not willing to strive for it in God’s appointed way, by slow and toilsome steps.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 500. In other words, it is something on which you daily have to be willing to work. This is the means that God has ordained, and this is the only way it can happen.

Number 21: Character perfection can only happen to a person who has become familiar with God’s Word. I hope you are on a Bible study program. If you are not on one, decide right now that you are going to spend some time every day studying your Bible. Each day, study the life of Christ, so you will know what perfection is, and you will know what to imitate.

Number 22: Character perfection can only happen when every thought is in subjection to Christ. “For the weapons of our warfare [are] not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” 11 Corinthi-ans 10:4, 5.

Number 23: This point is something about which we really need to pray, because it is not very evident today. Unity in the church would result in perfection of character. “Jesus says . . ., ‘I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one [this unity brings perfection of character]; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.’ The Lord has made every provision whereby man may have full and free salvation, and be complete in him.” Review and Herald, November 1, 1892. Unity in the church will result in perfection of character.

Number 24: Perfection of character is the result of a life of constant resistance to evil and cooperation with divinity. You have to be willing to fight. The apostle Paul once wrote to the Hebrews, “You have not yet resisted unto bloodshed, fighting against sin.” Hebrews 12:4.

Number 25: “Perfection of character is attained through exercise of the faculties of the mind, in times of supreme test, by obedience to every requirement of God’s law.” Medical Ministry, 168. This is a statement which you need to read a few times and study carefully. It is a very powerful statement.

Number 26: If we want to obtain perfection of character, we must cease—that is, stop—criticism. This is a huge problem in Adventism, but we must stop it, if we wish to go to heaven.

Number 27: Part of being perfect is beholding Jesus and talking of His love.

Number 28: Character perfection comes as the result of stern battles with self.

Summary

“None need fail of attaining, in his sphere, to perfection of Christian character. By the sacrifice of Christ, provision has been made for the believer to receive all things that pertain to life and godliness. God calls upon us to reach the standard of perfection and places before us the example of Christ’s character. In His humanity, perfected by a life of constant resistance of evil, the Saviour showed that through co-operation with Divinity, human beings may in this life attain to perfection of character. This is God’s assurance to us that we, too, may obtain complete victory.

“Before the believer is held out the wonderful possibility of being like Christ, obedient to all the principles of the law. But of himself man is utterly unable to reach this condition. The holiness that God’s word declares he must have before he can be saved is the result of the working of divine grace as he bows in submission to the discipline and restraining influences of the Spirit of truth. Man’s obedience can be made perfect only by the incense of Christ’s righteousness, which fills with divine fragrance every act of obedience. The part of the Christian is to persevere in overcoming every fault. Constantly he is to pray to the Saviour to heal the disorders of his sin-sick soul. He has not the wisdom or the strength to overcome; these belong to the Lord, and He bestows them on those who in humiliation and contrition seek Him for help.” The Acts of the Apostles, 531, 532.

[Bible texts quoted are literal translation.]

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

A Finished Work—The Method

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A very special promise for our time is given in Romans 9:28: “For he will finish the work, and cut [it] short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.”

The Lord is going to finish His work. In the first article of this series, you may remember that our study concerned the challenge that this presents to us today—the giants and the fortified cities that are in the land even now. In this article, let us look again at the challenge and also at a finished work—the method.

Entering the Promised Land

In the first chapter of the Book of Joshua, we find, in our study of the conquest of the Promised Land, that the children of Israel, having journeyed in the wilderness for 39 additional years, were to enter at last into the Promised Land. God presented the method by which they would finish the work that was given to them.

Notice the Lord’s introduction to Joshua: “Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying, Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, [even] to the children of Israel.” Joshua 1:1, 2.

This is the first recorded time that the Lord communicated directly to Joshua. Previously, when the Lord communicated to Moses, Joshua was a minister—a servant or co-worker—with Moses, and had not had that privilege. But now the Lord was communicating directly to Joshua and giving him the methodology he was to follow.

Crossing Jordan

The Lord’s introduction to Joshua was, “Arise, and go over Jordan.” Did the Lord tell him how this was to be done? We do not find it recorded here; we are only given the instruction that the Lord gave: “Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, and I will be with you.”

Now, humanly speaking, did this make a lot of sense? Was it a good time to ford the Jordan? No! It was flood season! It was springtime, and the Jordan was a raging torrent. Raging torrents are not what someone would want to venture into, yet this was the direction that God gave to Joshua. He did not tell him how it was going to take place; He did not tell him to build a bridge; He did not tell him to go by another route and bypass the Jordan. He said, “Arise, go over this Jordan.”

The Lord expected Joshua to explicitly follow His directions, even when they made no sense. And they did not make any sense! How could a person cross Jordan at this time? The Lord did not try to explain all of the details of how it was going to happen. He wanted Joshua and the children of Israel to manifest faith that if God gave the directions, He would also supply the means for how the task could be accomplished.

In Joshua 3, we read of the children of Israel marching down into Jordan. The priests advanced first, and we may wonder what they were thinking as they started marching down the banks of the Jordan, far in advance of the rest of the congregation, carrying the symbol of the presence of the Lord. As they drew closer and closer to the raging water, what might have been the thoughts going through their minds? Then, as their feet dipped into the torrent, the waters were cut off. (See Joshua 3:13–17.) God called them to explicitly obey His directions and instructions, and they followed His command.

Another Sign of Obedience

“At that time the Lord said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time.” Joshua 5:2.

After they obeyed the directions to arise and go over this Jordan, the Lord came to Joshua and said, “Now I want you to again circumcise the children of Israel.” Since their rebellion, 39 years before, circumcision had been stopped—postponed to indicate the withdrawal of God’s favor and blessing. God now asked Joshua to obey Him, to follow His directions—not just when they did not make sense but when they hurt as well.

A Battle Plan

“And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, [Art] thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but [as] captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? And the captain of the Lord’s host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest [is] holy. And Joshua did so.” Joshua 5:13–15.

His directions are recorded in verses 2 and 3 of chapter 6: “And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, [and] the mighty men of valour. And ye shall compass the city, all [ye] men of war, [and] go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.”

March Around It

Here we learn that even when it does not make sense to us and even when it hurts, the directions which God gives are to be followed, for the Lord Jesus, Captain of the Lord’s host, directs the battle plan. What was the battle plan for the children of Israel to take Jericho? March around it!

Humanly speaking, is it possible to conquer a city by marching around it? Of course it is not. But here we see God asking Joshua and the children of Israel to explicitly obey His directions even when it seemed impossible. Even when it made no sense, He asked them to explicitly obey His directions. Even when it hurt, He asked them to obey His directions, and even when it seemed like an impossibility, He asked that His directions be obeyed.

The children of Israel could have done a number of other things. They could have taken an alternate course. They could have patterned after what the other contemporary armies were doing at the time, but God said, “In order to conquer Canaan, you have to be operating on a different principle than the Canaanites. To conquer Canaan, you have to operate by explicitly following the directions that I give to you.”

Still Applies Today

If the work is going to be finished today, we have to learn the same lessons as they did. We have to learn that the only way the work of God is going to be finished upon the earth today is by explicitly following the directions that He has given in His Word and in the Spirit of Prophecy.

I recently listened to an audiotape of a sermon that was recorded about 30 years ago. The minister who was speaking said that if God could have finished the work by using a plan other than the blueprint He has given, He would have already done it. The only way that the work is going to be finished today is by explicitly following the directions that God has given.

Forget the Side Issues

The devil brings about many traps. In Ellen White’s day, when she was urging and appealing for the church leaders and members to work the cities, a theological issue arose which resulted in a theological debate. There were prominent men on both sides of the question, debating this issue back and forth, and she counseled, “Do not speak about it. Do not worry about it. Work the cities!”

She said, “Wherever we go, we shall find men ready with some side issue.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 6, 245. She continued in telling of a man who had come to her with the message that the world was flat. She did not try to show from the Bible that the earth was round. She did not try to show from science that the earth was round; she referred him to Matthew 28:16–20.

Forget the side issues! Forget those minor theological issues. That is not our work. Those are not the directions God has given to us. God has directed for us to work the cities, to look those giants in the face, and advance as quickly and as aggressively as possible.

Worldly Pattern

Are we following the directions today? Are we studying the directions that God has given for the finishing of His work? A wealth of material is available for our use. There are people who tell us that we need new methods and new ideas, but those new methods and those new ideas need to be based solidly on the directions that God has already given us in His Word and in the Spirit of Prophecy.

We see many around us implementing contemporary methods. They look to other churches and pattern after the world, but the work will never be finished by patterning after the world. Joshua could not pattern after the world. If Joshua had patterned after the world, Jericho would still be standing. Are we patterning after the world today? Are we patterning after the world in our work? Are we patterning after the world in our own lives?

This has been one of the problems throughout the history of God’s people. They pattern after the world, without realizing it, because it is so prevalent around them. For example, consider when Sarah encouraged Abraham to lay with her handmaid, Hagar. It did not seem like such a wrong thing to them, because everyone else was doing it. They were just using then known contemporary methods. But, in doing so, they were not following God’s pattern.

There is nothing wrong with contemporary methods—just as long as they are based upon the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. The only way God’s work is going to be finished is if we look at the directions—at the blueprint that God has given—and follow that blueprint. Anything short of this will fail.

Directions Given

Consider briefly some of the directions that God has given to us. In the Book of Colossians, a time is recorded when the work was finished. Paul said that the gospel had been “preached to every creature which is under heaven.” Colossians 1:23. The gospel had been preached to every creature under heaven in a day when there was no Internet, no satellites, no television or radio; there was not even a postal service per se.

Interestingly, when I was in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, I noticed that none of those things—electricity, postal service, etc.—existed there. It was amazing, however, when there were no modern methods of communication, how quickly news traveled. When my travel companions and I arrived in a village, a number of hours away from a larger city, it was only 10 or 20 minutes before a secret service agent was right there to get our names, to register us, and to check out what we were doing. Even though they had no telephone service or other modern modes of communication, notification occurred very rapidly. The “bush telegraph” worked better than some e-mails work today!

“And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judæa and Samaria, except the apostles. . . . Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.” Acts 8:1, 4. The believers were scattered abroad, and they were preaching the Word. Not just the apostles were preaching the Word, but the believers also were preaching.

The Entire Membership

Sometimes it is easy for us to look to ministers or ministries to finish the work, but it is not going to be ministers and ministries alone that are going to finish it. They have a part to play, yes, and they need to be focused on finishing the work and laying broader and more aggressive evangelistic plans, but what finished the work in the days of the apostles, what took the gospel to the entire world at that time was not just the preaching of the apostles, but the sharing of the Word of God by every believer as well. It was people such as Aquila and Priscilla who, ministering at their workplace, led one of their co-workers, Apollos, into a more perfect way. (See Acts 18.)

“The work of God in this earth can never be finished until the men and women comprising our church membership rally to the work and unite their efforts with those of ministers and church officers.” Testimonies, vol. 9, 117.

Are the ministers and the church officers going to finish the work? The work will be finished by the entire membership rallying together, each one playing his or her part to complete the task. If we do not do it, God will use other means to finish the work, and He will finish it without us. The entire membership—that is you and me.

I read a statement recently that said, “I am just a nobody trying to tell everybody about Somebody who can save anybody!” That is what we need to do! We need to be nobodies trying to tell everybody about Somebody who can save anybody. We have a work to do, but until we unite and do what we can—not just in giving out literature, not just in sending our money to those who are doing big projects, but by ourselves personally taking up the work that lies nearest us—we will never finish the work. God will finish it, but He will pass us by.

A Personal Work

“Servants of God, with their faces lighted up and shining with holy consecration, will hasten from place to place to proclaim the message from heaven. By thousands of voices, all over the earth, the warning will be given.” The Great Controversy, 612. [Emphasis supplied.] How many voices? Thousands of voices. It will not just be one or three or ten major evangelists. There will be thousands of voices—the voices of God’s people.

“In visions of the night, representations passed before me [Ellen White] of a great reformatory movement among God’s people. Many were praising God. The sick were healed, and other miracles were wrought. A spirit of intercession was seen, even as was manifested before the great Day of Pentecost. Hundreds and thousands were seen visiting families and opening before them the word of God. Hearts were convicted by the power of the Holy Spirit, and a spirit of genuine conversion was manifest.” Testimonies, vol. 9, 126. [Emphasis supplied.]

This will be personal work. It will be personal voices. All of these other mechanisms—the Internet, television, radio, and satellite—are good, and they play a part in finishing the work, but the work is not going to be finished solely through them. It has to be finished by personal voices, by your voice and by mine.

The work will be finished by personal work. As quoted above, hundreds and thousands will be visiting families and opening the Word of God to them. This means we will be going to our neighbors, to our co-workers, and to our friends, giving them Bible studies.

You and I have a work to do. The only way that the work is going to be finished is if we look those giants in the face, if we look at those challenges and are not diverted by the difficulties. We must study and pray to learn what God’s methods are, what the instructions are that He has given for finishing the work. Then, as the Lord leads us to the area of ministry that He has for each of us and as we do our personal work, His work is going to be finished.

When a fire is lit, not just under the ministers but also under the entire church, God’s work is going to be finished. We need to listen, as did Joshua, for the Captain of the hosts’ voice. Listen to His voice; study the directions He has given, and lift up and do the part that God has given to us to perform. May we be faithful in that work.

Cody Francis is currently engaged in public evangelism for Mission Projects International. He also pastors the Remnant Church of Seventh-day Adventist Believers in Renton, Washington. He may be contacted by e-mail at: cody@missionspro.org.