To prepare people for eternal life.
IssueM Articles
1 cup dried yellow or green split peas
5 cups water
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon turmeric or saffron
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 tomato, finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
Rinse split peas. Bring water to boil in a large pot, and add peas. Return to boil, stir, then lower heat, and simmer 1 to 2 hours until tender. Add spices, salt, and tomato to peas, and cook 30 minutes. Serve with plain brown rice and vegetable curry.
Aside from not smoking, the most important determinants of good health are what we eat and how active we are. Fiber is one of those nutrients that many of us know is important but that remains a bit of a mystery.
Basically, the term fiber refers to carbohydrates that cannot be digested. Fiber is present in all plants that are eaten for food, including fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes. However, not all fiber is the same, and there are a number of ways to categorize it. One is by its source or origin. For example, fiber from grains is referred to as cereal fiber. Another way of categorizing fiber is by how easily it dissolves in water. Soluble fiber partially dissolves in water. Insoluble fiber does not dissolve in water. These differences are important when it comes to fiber’s effect on your risk of developing certain diseases. Soluble fiber includes oatmeal, oat bran, nuts and seeds, apples, pears, strawberries, and blueberries. Foods such as whole grains―whole wheat breads, barley, couscous, brown rice, and bulgur―carrots, celery, zucchini, cucumbers, and tomatoes are considered to be insoluble fiber sources.
Long heralded as part of a healthy diet, fiber appears to reduce the risk of developing various conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, diverticular disease, and constipation. Despite what many people may think, however, fiber probably has little, if any effect on colon cancer risk. But just because fiber plays little role in preventing colon cancer does not mean you should abandon a high-fiber diet.
High intake of dietary fiber has been linked to a lower risk of heart disease in a number of large studies that followed people for many years. Fiber intake has also been linked with the metabolic syndrome, a constellation of factors that increases the chances of developing heart disease and diabetes. These factors include high blood pressure, high insulin levels, excess weight (especially around the abdomen), high levels of triglycerides, the body’s main fat-carrying particle, and low levels of HDL (good) cholesterol. Several studies suggest that higher intake of fiber may somehow ward off this increasingly common syndrome.
Fiber is an important part of a healthy diet, and you should get a least the minimum recommended amount of 21-38 grams of dietary fiber per day for adults, depending on gender and age. For children over age one, the recommended intake is at least 19 grams per day.
Some tips for increasing fiber intake:
I’ve done a lot of dumb things in my life. One of the dumbest was nearly burning my house down.
I was melting wax to make candles while my parents were at work. I knew that I needed to put the can of wax in a water bath to keep it from burning. But I was too impatient to wait that long.
My sister was watching a video in another room. I sat down to watch with her while I waited for the wax to heat up, totally forgetting about my candle project. The video was almost over when I noticed smoke drifting past me. I’d been so distracted that I hadn’t noticed that my wax had caught fire!
When I ran into the kitchen, I saw flames leaping four feet high and almost touching the ceiling. “Keri,” I yelled, “there’s a fire on the stove!”
Before Keri got into the kitchen I turned the gas off at both the stove and the gas cylinder. I was scared that the gas tank was going to explode!
Keri shouted for me to throw baking soda on the fire, but that seemed to make the flames jump higher. I started to get tongs to carry the can outside. I’ll just let the fire die out, I thought. But before I could return to the flaming can, Keri had tossed a pitcher of water on the fire. It put the fire out but also threw stinky wax (the baking soda made it smell bad) all over the walls, ceiling, stove, and Keri!
It took the two of us four hours to clean up the wax, but smoke stains on the kitchen ceiling still remind me of when I tried to rush candle making.
I’ve also gotten others to do dumb stuff. Where we live, we put trash in big pits to keep it from looking bad or blowing away. Our nextdoor neighbors had just dug a new pit to burn leaves and grass in. As soon as it was finished, Keri and I went over to play in it.
The next day we returned to the pit to play some more. We looked in and saw ashes instead of trash in the bottom of the pit. We thought it was just a thin layer of ash and had already cooled down, but neither of us wanted to jump in first. Suddenly Keri said, “I dare you to jump in.”
“You’ll have to jump in first,” I responded.
I didn’t expect her to actually jump, but she did. As soon as her feet touched the ashes, she began screaming and trying to crawl back out.
I pulled Keri out by her arms, leaving her sandals in the pit. I carried her home on my back, and she started soaking her feet in cold water while I ran the eighth of a mile to the hospital to get my mom. After that I went back to the pit to see if I could get Keri’s sandals. The soles had melted off.
Keri’s feet have healed now, but we still remember both of these incidents. They remind us to think things through before doing things that might hurt others or ourselves.
Over a hundred years ago, God, through His messenger Ellen White, provided much counsel regarding the use of tobacco and its effect upon health.
“Tobacco, in whatever form it is used, tells upon the constitution. It is a slow poison. It affects the brain and benumbs the sensibilities so that the mind cannot discern spiritual things, especially those truths which would have a tendency to correct this filthy indulgence. Those who use tobacco in any form are not clear before God. In such a filthy practice it is impossible for them to glorify God in their bodies and spirits, which are His. And while they are using slow and sure poisons, which are ruining their health and debasing the faculties of the mind, God cannot approbate them. He may be merciful to them while they indulge in this pernicious habit in ignorance of the injury it is doing them; but when the matter is set before them in its true light, then they are guilty before God if they continue to indulge this gross appetite.” Healthful Living, 109.
“It is unpleasant, if not dangerous, to remain … in a crowded room that is not thoroughly ventilated, where the atmosphere is impregnated with the properties of liquor and tobacco. The occupants give evidence by the breath and emanations from the body that the system is filled with the poison of liquor and tobacco.
“Many infants are poisoned beyond remedy by sleeping in beds with their tobacco-using fathers. By inhaling the poisonous tobacco effluvium, which is thrown from the lungs and pores of the skin, the system of the infant is filled with poison. While it acts upon some infants as a slow poison, and affects the brain, heart, liver, and lungs, and they waste away and fade gradually; upon others it has a more direct influence, causing spasms, paralysis, and sudden death. The bereaved parents mourn the loss of their loved ones, and wonder at the mysterious providence of God, which has so cruelly afflicted them, when Providence designed not the death of these infants. They died martyrs to the filthy lust for tobacco. Every exhalation of the lungs of the tobacco slave poisons the air about him.” Ibid., 110, 111.
Science and medical research now confirm the correctness of this counsel.
The fact that tobacco is bad for you is no secret. The Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1965 (Public Law 89-92) required that the warning “Caution: Cigarette Smoking May Be Hazardous to Your Health” be placed in small print on one of the side panels of each cigarette package. [Emphasis added.]
In 1969, Congress passed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act (Public Law 91-222), which prohibited cigarette advertising on television and radio and required that each cigarette package contain the label “Warning: The Surgeon General Has Determined That Cigarette Smoking Is Dangerous to Your Health.” [Emphasis added.]
In 1981, the Federal Trade Commission issued a report to Congress that concluded that health warning labels had little effect on public knowledge and attitudes about smoking. As a result of this report, Congress enacted the Comprehensive Smoking Education Act of 1984 (Public Law 98-474), which required four specific health warnings on all cigarette packages and advertisements:
SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING
The Comprehensive Smokeless Tobacco Health Education Act of 1986 (Public Law 99-252) required three rotating warning labels on smokeless tobacco packaging and advertisements:
WARNING
Warning labels on tobacco packages in the United States are weaker and less prominent than those of many other countries!
Despite these warnings, people continue to smoke, and new smokers adopt the habit every single day. Amazingly, smoking can still be viewed as an adult thing to do, and children continue to be influenced by this. Their parents or guardians smoke; therefore, they should smoke too if they want to be really grown up—or at least that is their perception. Smokers wish they had never smoked that first lousy cigarette and shake their heads in disbelief when they see their own young children or teenagers starting to smoke.
Tobacco can be “ingested” in more than one way. Some people chew it, others inhale it as snuff but the majority smoke it in the form of cigars and cigarettes. Regardless of how tobacco is used, it is dangerous.
When smokers inhale a single “shot” of nicotine from a cigarette, the lungs allow the nicotine to pass into the blood stream almost instantly. The smoker then feels the “hit” from the nicotine in his or her bloodstream and this is the sensation that they later crave.
Do not just assume that the inhalant is “pure” tobacco smoke either. That smoke inhaled from a cigarette contains 40+ carcinogenic substances. These are substances that have been clinically proven to cause various types of cancer. Cigarette smoke also contains 400 other toxins that can be found in rat poison, nail polish remover, and various types of wood varnish. As these carcinogens and toxins gather in the body, they begin to cause serious problems for the heart and lungs.
Of all the diseases associated with smoking, cancer is the most common. Lung cancer is the most common cancer associated with cigarette smoking, but a smoker can also get cancer of the mouth, bladder, kidney, stomach, esophagus, larynx, and pancreas. Some of these cancers can be treated, but others are 100 percent fatal.
Cancer is not the only disease that smoking causes, either directly or indirectly. Seventy-five percent of all fatal cases of emphysema and bronchitis are linked to smoking. Both of these diseases cause extreme breathing difficulties. Emphysema in particular is an extremely nasty disease, as an individual’s ability to breathe on his or her own slowly vanishes.
Smokers have dramatically shorter lives than nonsmokers. On average, a smoker will die 15 to 20 years before a nonsmoker.
The risk from smoking is not just limited to the smoker. The serious effects of secondary smoke are now very well-known. Smoking near others puts their health at risk also. Secondhand smoke is still loaded with chemicals and toxins as it was when first inhaled.
Secondhand smoke is a mixture of the smoke given off by the burning end of a cigarette, pipe, or cigar, and the smoke exhaled from the lungs of smokers. Secondhand smoke contains more than 250 chemicals known to be toxic or cancer causing, including formaldehyde, benzene, vinyl chloride, arsenic, ammonia, and hydrogen cyanide.
Secondhand smoke causes about 3,000 deaths each year from lung cancer in nonsmokers. It also causes irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat, and can also irritate the lungs, leading to coughing, excessive phlegm, and chest discomfort. Secondhand smoke has been identified as the cause of death from heart disease in thousands of adult nonsmokers.
Since their internal organs and immune systems are still developing, children are in the highest risk group. Children exposed to secondary smoke are far more vulnerable to asthma, sudden infant death syndrome (cot death), bronchitis, pneumonia, and ear infections, among other things.
This is what you can do to protect yourself and your family from secondhand smoke:
Resource information: www.quittersguide.com; www.cigarettewarninglabels.com; www.lungusa.org (February 2008).
Is it Sabbath-breaking for me, who keeps Saturday as the Sabbath holy unto the Lord, to sell patterns to a lady who does her sewing on Saturday?
The Bible has much to say about buying and selling and about how to keep the Sabbath.
The children of Israel bought and sold to idolaters. There are several examples of this. In Genesis 23, the record is given of Abraham buying a gravesite from the children of Heth. When the children of Israel were passing through the desert, Moses offered to buy water from the Edomites (Numbers 20.), and when Solomon built the temple, he bought and sold to the heathen. (II Chronicles 4, 5.)
Jesus said, in Mark 2:27, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” The Sabbath has been given to us as a gift from God. The Sabbath is also a sign to the people of God that they belong to Him and that He is their God. (Exodus 31:13; Ezekiel 20:20.)
If we are God’s people and He is our God, we will keep the Sabbath according to the Ten Commandments. Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” John 14:15. If we do not love the Lord, we will not be blessed by keeping His commandments. He also stated this another way: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Matthew 22:37–40.
Jesus also said, “That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matthew 5:45. In other words, God does not discriminate between those who serve Him and those who do not. He blesses them all with the natural resources.
We find in the Bible that man was made to be a free moral being, and he has the right to choose to serve whomever he wishes. As Joshua said, “If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that [were] on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15.
Elijah said, to the people of Israel, “How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord [be] God, follow Him: but if Baal, [then] follow him.” 1 Kings 18:21.
In the fourth commandment, God recognizes the rights of property ownership, as He specifically states, “thy stranger within thy gates”: “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.” Exodus 20:10. He does not say that you are responsible for the stranger outside thy gates. We should recognize ownership as well.
Once you sell a pattern, you are not responsible for what the buyer does with it, because it belongs to them. Thus we may conclude that it is not wrong to sell to non-Sabbathkeepers. It is the buyer’s choice as to how and when the product will be used.
There are 67 species and 19 subspecies of sunflowers in the genus Helianthus, and all are native to North America. Sunflowers are currently commercially grown around the world for various uses. Native Americans have been using wild sunflowers for thousands of years for a variety of uses, such as flour to make bread, nut butter, cooking oil, hair treatment, wart removal, and treatments for snake bite and sun stroke. One perennial species, the Jerusalem artichoke, was grown by American Indians as a root vegetable which they called “sun roots.”
Of all the sunflower species, the most important and familiar species is the common sunflower. Believed to have been domesticated by Native Americans even before corn was, the common sunflower found its way to Europe by Spanish explorers around 1500 where it was initially used as an ornamental. Then its value as a source of cooking oil was discovered, which led to the commercialization of the species in Russia where two types of seed were then developed—one for oil and one larger variety for human consumption. Russian immigrants brought the commercialized varieties back to North America where it is now one of the leading cash crops grown today.
The common sunflower is second only to soybeans as one of the world’s leading oil seed crops. Recent new uses for the oil seeds and plants include the production of biodiesels, which burn 75 percent cleaner than petroleum diesel and have higher lubricating qualities, and rhizofiltration, where the sunflowers are used to remove toxic wastes from the environment.
Sunflowers love the sun. As they are growing, sunflowers will face their flowers in the direction of the sun, tracking it along during the day. That is why a field full of sunflowers will always be pointed the same direction. This phenomenon is known as Heliotropism. However, nearing maturity, most sunflowers stop tracking the sun and just face east to catch the morning sunrise.
Just as sunflowers love and follow the sun, so should we love and follow the Son of God. All true Christians should be pointed in the same direction and, like the maturing sunflowers, be watching the east for the return of the Son.
“Like the sunflower, which turns its face constantly toward the sun, you must look continually toward the Source of light, that you may catch every ray possible.” Historical Sketches of the Foreign Missions of the Seventh-day Adventists, 141.
“We may keep so near to God that in every unexpected trial our thoughts may turn to God as naturally as the flower turns to the sun. The sunflower keeps its face sunward. If it is turned from the light, it will twist itself on the stem, until it lifts up its petals to the bright beams of the sun. So let everyone who has given his heart to God, turn to the Sun of Righteousness, and eagerly look up to receive the bright beams of the glory that shine in the face of Jesus. Thus we may educate the soul to press its way out of the corrupted moral atmosphere of the world, of sin and selfishness, into the atmosphere that is divine and health-giving.” The Signs of the Times, December 16, 1889.
David Arbour writes from his home in De Queen, Arkansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: landmarks@stepstolife.org.
Here [Matthew 7:22–28] are brought before us two classes—the hearer and the doer. There is one that hears and does not; there is one that hears and does. This is he that not only hears but is a doer of the Word of the Lord, and this is the class that is building on the Rock. We want to be among the class that is riveted to the eternal Rock, and not of that class that is building upon the sand. For in these two classes of builders brought to view here, the one is laying his foundation in the sand, the other on the rocks. And the question comes home to us, How are we building?
How we are building is of great consequence. We want to know that the foundation is deep, so that the floods shall not move us. Our salvation cost something; it cost us the blood of the Son of God. While everything has been done that can be done to bring us into right relation with God, we want to think much of every privilege brought to us, and not to be always questioning God’s dealings with us, whether this is right or that is right; but pursue a course that will stand the test of His law, a test that shall work out for us an eternal weight of glory.
God demands of us that we build a character that will stand that close test of the judgment. We will not have His protection in the time when the flood comes, if at that time it is found that we have wasted the hours of probation granted us now to build characters for eternity. For the character which we now build is not only for time, but for eternity. Those that are set forth in this parable as building on the sand are they that feel that they are all right. They come right up before the Lord and say, I have done this, I have done that. “Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?” But this goes for nothing to the Lord. “Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Matthew 7:22, 23.
What is iniquity? Sin. And what is sin? Sin, says the beloved John, is the transgression of the law. [I John 3:4.] Here is a class that is transgressing the law of God, and at the same time they come to Him boasting of what they have done, expecting His favor. And it is this class that is here represented as building on the sand. They have erected a standard of their own.
What is a perfect standard of character? The only standard ever given to man is the law of God, His holy commandments. If we have been building upon this rock, it will stand the test. If we have been erecting a standard of our own, and claim by that standard that we are perfect, and that we have reached perfect righteousness and holiness, we shall know in the day of God. No one will claim that they are perfect and holy if they tremble before the exalted standard of God. Is it safe to do this and cast aside the immutable law of God and then to claim to be holy?
Here is a mirror into which we are to look, and search out every defect of character. But suppose that you look into this mirror and see many defects in your character, and then go away and say, “I am righteous,” will you be righteous? In your own eyes you will be righteous and holy. But how will it be at the bar of God? God has given us a rule, and we are to comply with its requirements and if we dare to do otherwise, to trample this under our feet, and then stand up before God and say, “I am holy, I am holy,” we shall be lost in the great day of accounts.
What if we were to go out into the streets and soil our clothes with mud, and then come into the house and, beholding our filthy garments as we stand before the glass, we should say to the mirror, “Cleanse me from my filth,” would it cleanse us from our filth? That is not the office of the looking glass. All that it can do is to reveal that our garments are defiled; it cannot take the defilement away.
So it is with the law of God. It points out the defects of character. It condemns us as sinners, but it offers no pardon to the transgressor. It cannot save him from his sins. But God has made a provision. Says John, “If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” [I John 2:1.] So we come to Him and there we find the character of Jesus, and the righteousness of His character saves the transgressor—if we have done on our part all that we could.
And yet while He saves the transgressor, He does not do away with the law of God, but He exalts the law. He exalts the law because it is the detector of sin. And it is Christ’s cleansing blood that takes away our sins when we come to Him with contrition of soul seeking His pardon. He imputes His righteousness; He takes the guilt upon Himself.
Now, suppose that someone shall say, “Jesus has pardoned me and I have no need of the law any further. I will no longer live in obedience to the law.” The question may be asked, “Shall we continue to sin that grace may abound”? No. If one should steal the money out of my purse, and then come, and confessing the crime, ask me to forgive him, and I shall pardon him, and then he go and do the same thing again, does not this show that there is no change in his life? So it is with those who have asked God to forgive them and then gone right on transgressing His law. They say, “Lord, Lord,” but He says, “Depart from Me.” [Matthew 7:22, 23.] While I freely pardoned you, you were doing the same thing again. Your very course was leading others in the way of the transgressor. For this reason they were called the workers of iniquity. This very course of action was the means of leading others astray.
Christ offers a prayer to the Father, and He uses these words in this prayer, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” John 17:17. I have sent them into the world as thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. (John 17:17–19.) Mark these words, “I sanctify Myself.” Thus He observes a life of perfect obedience, for He is the perfect pattern. Then He goes on and says, “That they may be sanctified”—by what? Through emotion? through feeling? No. Through the truth. We cannot trust to feeling; we must know the truth.
Now, here is Christ praying to His Father that He will sanctify His followers through the truth. Then there is a truth that sanctifies, that has a sanctifying power upon the believer. And it becomes every one of us in this congregation to inquire what is the truth.
If we are to believe the truth and be sanctified by the truth, then we must search the Scriptures that we may know what is the truth. If we do this, we shall not build upon a false foundation. But if we do not, we shall find at last that we have made a great mistake and laid our foundation in the sand, to be swept away in the time of storm and tempest. I want eternal life if it takes out the right eye and if it takes off the right arm. The question with me is, am I right with God? Am I serving Him in humility and meekness of soul?
We are right amid the trials that shall try every soul of men that dwelleth upon the face of the earth. We may know what is the truth, and we may know what is error. We may know that we are laying our souls upon the foundation; we may know that we are not leading souls away from the truth. God help us that we may every one of us make sure of eternal life.
And here is another Scripture. [Deuteronomy 13:1-5 quoted.] Here the commandments are set before them as a test of character. Said Christ, “I have kept My Father’s commandments.” [John 15:10.] And He is our pattern in all things. Now do we do the commandments from the heart? Are we studying to carry out in our lives the principle of the Sabbath commandment which God has put right in the bosom of His law?
We may go to the heathen and say to them that we love the truth and serve the true God; and they will tell you that they worship the true and living God. We have no other way to tell who the true and living God is, only as we turn to this commandment. That God who made the lofty trees and every thing that is lovely and beautiful under the heavens, He that weighs the hills in the balances—that God is the true and living God; He created the whole universe. And these commandments tell us who the true God is. If Satan can get this fourth commandment out of the Decalogue, then you will not be able to tell who the true and living God is.
Well, who is the true God? The God that created everything that is beautiful in nature. We are to look up through nature to nature’s God. There we are to see the true God, the Maker of the heavens and the earth. The first four of these commandments show our duty to God, and the last six to our fellow men. We cannot break one of these first four and be in favor with God. Neither can we break one of the last six and be in favor with God. These we must urge upon the people.
Here are the words of David, “It is time for Thee, Lord, to work: for they have made void thy law.” Psalm 119:126. David refers to the last days, the very time when we are to know and be sanctified by the truth. We must cling to the truth. We must not let go the truth for friend or foe. There is a time coming when there will be great tribulation, such as never was or ever will be. Men will come claiming to be Christ. And here is a class that say, “I am sinless, I am holy.” I have never heard one claim that who was not a sinner. They are not doers of the Word. …
John saw the temple of God opened in heaven, and in that temple he saw the ark of His testimony. Says John, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Revelation 14:12. The path of true obedience is found in the commandments of God. But Satan is going about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He does not always appear like a lion; he has the power of clothing himself like a lamb, and he has a soft and a tender voice. And how shall we meet him? shall we let him come in and take the control of our hearts? shall we let him have the charge of our minds and lives? We cannot afford it. …
Men will arise saying, Here is Christ, here, here, here; but is He there? While they are trampling the commandments under their feet, Christ says, “Whosoever shall break one of these least commandments, (MacNight) you shall be of no esteem in the reign of heaven. Not as long as the heavens remain, shall one jot or one tittle pass.” (Matthew 5:19, 18.) And one said to me, why do you talk so much about the law, why not talk more about Jesus? We honor both the Father and the Son when we talk about the law. The Father gave us the law, and the Son died to magnify it and make it honorable.
But, says John, in speaking of the deceiver that doeth great wonders, He shall make an image to the beast, and shall cause all to receive his mark. (See Revelation 13:14–16.) Will you please consider this matter? Search the Scriptures and see. There is a wonder-working power to appear, and it will be when men are claiming sanctification, and holiness, lifting themselves up higher and higher and boasting of themselves.
Look at Moses and the prophets; look at Daniel and Joseph and Elijah. Look at these men and find one sentence where they ever claimed to be sinless. The very soul that is in close relation to Christ, beholding His purity and excellence, will fall before Him with shamefacedness. …
Why is it that so many claim to be holy and sinless? It is because they are so far from Christ. … Those that get sight of the loveliness and the exalted character of Jesus Christ, who was holy and lifted up, and His train fills the temple, will never say it. Yet we are to meet with those that will say such things more and more, every year. …
In the days of Martin Luther, there were those that came to him and said, “We do not want your Bible, we want the Spirit.” Martin Luther said to them, “I will rap your spirit on the snoot.” However great their pretences, they are not the children of God. …
I want you to understand that pretences are not the evidences of true character. Now I speak these words to you because wherever there is a little company raised up, Satan is constantly trying to annoy and distract them. When one of the people turns away from his sins, do you suppose that he will let him alone? No, indeed. We want you to look well to the foundation of your hope. We want you to let your life and your actions testify of you that you are the children of God.
Let there be that littleness, that humbleness of soul, that they may know that you have been taught in the school of Christ. And when He shall appear in the clouds of heaven, we shall exclaim, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us.” Isaiah 25:9. Then it is that the crown of life will be placed upon the brow of the faithful ones. Then will come the voice of the Saviour saying, “Well done thou good and faithful servant; … enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” (Matthew 25:21–23.) What, faithful in putting their feet upon the law of God? No, No. These have not the mark of the beast upon them. I want that peace that comes through an obedience to all of the commandments of God.
Sermons and Talks, vol. 1, 13–24.
Depression is so prevalent among Christians that it impedes our work for the Lord. While the world is waiting for this Gospel, the devil is constantly keeping us in a depressed condition.
Depression affects the whole person. Generally, women are more depressed than men, and depression seems to especially affect those between the ages of 15 years and 24 years. Over 19 million people in the United States are depressed. “According to the World Health Organization, four of the ten leading causes of disability in the United States and other developed countries are mental disorders, including major depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. Approximately 23 percent of American adults each year have a diagnosable mental disorder and as many as 5.4 percent of American adults have a serious mental illness.” www.hereinmaine.com February 2008.
As I travel, I find that depression is prevalent within the Christian church. I am not saying that we are never faced with discouragement, but I do not believe, unless there is something biochemically wrong, that a Christian has to be controlled by depression.
There is a relationship between healing and spirituality. Being separated from God brings about depression, I believe. Anyone separated from God is mentally ill.
In the beginning, “The Lord God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Genesis 2:7. These qualities may be associated with the three qualities of which man is made—the mental, the spiritual, and the physical. When Jesus asked, in John 5:6, “Wilt thou be made whole?” He was talking about the totality of man.
There is a direct relationship between the mind and the body. Further insight into this wholeness is given in Deuteronomy 6:5: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” So, heart = mental, soul = spiritual, might = physical. In Luke 2:52, we read: “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.” Here, favor with God = spiritual, wisdom = mental, stature = physical. As you can see, when we deal with wholeness, we deal with the totality of the individual.
When a person has a physical problem, what professional person does he or she see? A physician. When a person has a mental problem, what professional person does he or she see? A psychiatrist or psychologist. When a person has a spiritual concern, what professional person does he or she see? A pastor. We realize that these professional people are important. Have you ever known the pastor, the psychiatrist or the psychologist, and the physician to agree? Usually this is not the case.
When there is a problem within the human realm—in the body, the mind, or the spirit—it should not be departmentalized. The body, mind, and spirit should not be entrusted to three different people when they do not agree with one another. If that is done, the individual is not going to improve.
Jesus was a Counselor, a Physician, and a Preacher! He addressed the whole person. An example of this is given in Matthew 9. When Jesus healed the man sick with palsy, he addressed the whole person. In verse 2, addressing the mental, Jesus said, “Son, be of good cheer.” Continuing in that same verse, He said, addressing the spiritual, “Thy sins be forgiven thee.” Then, addressing the physical, in verse 6 Jesus said to the palsied man, “Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.”
In medical missionary work, the focus has most frequently been on the physical. We recommend some herbs and juice, but we neglect the most important aspect of the individual; that is, the mental and the spiritual aspects. Many people know about herbs, juicing, hydrotherapy, and fever baths, but when it comes to understanding the total physical, spiritual, and mental makeup of an individual, as medical missionaries we tend to overlook the totality. Yes, we will pray with the individual, but we may not understand how that impacts the life of the individual.
Addressing His disciples, Jesus said, “Be of good cheer.” Matthew 14:27. Fear is the opposite of good cheer. Discouragement is the devil’s most effective tool for destroying our peace. This tool may be called anesthesia—before he takes our hearts, he puts us to sleep with discouragement. If he can discourage us and get us to turn inward, rather than outward to Jesus, then he believes he can take us down with him. Even though we realize that God’s power is greater than the devil, we still allow ourselves to become discouraged.
“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33. As Christians, it is a reality that we will have trouble as long as we are in this world.
Abraham is certainly an example of this as he traveled southward from the Chaldean plain. Of his experience, and others, Ellen White wrote: “Again his faith was tested. The heavens withheld their rain, the brooks ceased to flow in the valleys, and the grass withered on the plains. The flocks and herds found no pasture, and starvation threatened the whole encampment. … Trouble after trouble came upon him. …
“The Lord in His providence had brought this trial upon Abraham to teach him lessons of submission, patience, and faith—lessons that were to be placed on record for the benefit of all who should afterward be called to endure affliction. God leads His children by a way that they know not, but He does not forget or cast off those who put their trust in Him. He permitted affliction to come upon Job, but He did not forsake him. He allowed the beloved John to be exiled to lonely Patmos, but the Son of God met him there, and his vision was filled with scenes of immortal glory. God permits trials to assail His people, that by their constancy and obedience they themselves may be spiritually enriched, and that their example may be a source of strength to others.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 128, 129.
God in His providence allowed trials to come upon Abraham. Abraham did not understand the providence, but he did not look back from whence he came, and he did not allow circumstances to control his life.
Mrs. White continues:
“The very trials that task our faith most severely and make it seem that God has forsaken us, are to lead us closer to Christ, that we may lay all our burdens at His feet and experience the peace which He will give us in exchange.” Ibid., 129.
We need to become masters of our circumstances. Yes, trouble will come, but we should greet it with “good cheer,” for peace will follow.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, the thirty-second president of the United States, is credited with having said, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” Fear breeds upon the unknown. Disease, especially terminal disease, brings fear into and puts stress upon a person’s life.
Job said, “By the great force [of my disease] is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.” Job 30:18. Interpreting the word garment as character, Job was intimating that physical condition affects disposition.
Ellen White wrote:
“The relation that exists between the mind and the body is very intimate. When one is affected, the other sympathizes. The condition of the mind affects the health to a far greater degree than many realize. Many of the diseases from which men suffer are the result of mental depression.” The Ministry of Healing, 241. [Emphasis added.]
Mental depression and anxiety may come from things that have not been put to closure in our lives. The devil does not read our minds, but he keeps a profile on each of us. He knows the sins of our fathers, the things with which we have struggled in our lives. There are things in all our lives that we should get rid of, but we all hold on to them. Even as Christians, we have some emotional baggage that we continue to carry and with which we have not dealt.
This quotation continues: “Grief, anxiety, discontent, remorse, guilt, distrust, all tend to break down the life forces and to invite decay and death.” Ibid. Mrs. White is not saying that there is something wrong with grief. It is a natural emotion. But if we should stay in a state of grief, it would destroy us. Most of us have experienced worry, anxiety, apprehension, and unease of the mind. As Christians, these words should not be in our vocabulary, but they are because we doubt the power of God. Often we become uneasy because we anticipate the future. We do not know the outcome. We human beings like to be in control of situations. We think if we could only know what is going to happen tomorrow, we will be satisfied, but that is not the way God deals with us.
The occurrence of depression has increased over time and has impacted over 200 million people. It is estimated that almost 17 million people are affected today, and remember that depression affects the whole person.
Read again the story of Elijah in I Kings 17, 18, and 19. In James 5:17, we are told that Elijah “was a man subject to like passions as we are.”
Elijah experienced the exhilarated adrenaline rush of Mount Carmel and the depressed state of having his life threatened and his mission in shambles. He focused on the circumstances and allowed them to form his decisions. He lost hope, and he wanted to die. He was self-focused—he was looking inward rather than outward to God. He also had high expectation. Now, there is nothing wrong in having expectation, but we better be sure that the expectation is of the Lord.
So, Elijah feared. He was self-centered. He was shaped by circumstance, high expectation, and he ended up with disappointment, resentment, anger, and self-pity.
One minute of anger can suppress the immune system for six hours. Anger is only one letter from danger. An unforgiving spirit, a vindictive spirit eats the heart out, and when we have an unforgiving spirit, the devil is controlling our lives.
An angry man is always full of poison. An angry, bitter, unforgiving spirit produces negative chemical by-products that are health destroying.
Almost a decade ago, scientists stayed away from dealing with faith, religion, and health, because they could not put faith in a test tube. Now, however, they are realizing that those who have a relationship with the Creator and have faith in a God recover quicker from depression than those who do not have faith.
Ephesians 4:26 counsels us, “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.”
Solutions to depression are given in I Kings 19. Ellen White also identifies these solutions:
“As Elijah sleeps under the juniper tree, a soft touch and pleasant voice arouse him. He starts at once in his terror, as if to flee, as though the enemy who was in pursuit of his life had indeed found him. But in the pitying face of love bending over him he sees, not the face of an enemy, but of a friend. An angel has been sent with food from heaven to sustain the faithful servant of God. His voice says to Elijah: ‘Arise and eat.’ After Elijah had partaken of the refreshment prepared for him, he again slumbered. A second time the angel of God ministers to the wants of Elijah. He touches the weary, exhausted man, and in pitying tenderness says to him: ‘Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee.’ Elijah was strengthened and pursued his journey to Horeb.” Testimonies, vol. 3, 291. [Emphasis added.]
In a depressed state, Elijah fell asleep. How does sleep deal with depression? Well, even two hours of sleep before midnight is equal to four hours of sleep after midnight. In the pineal gland, a neurotransmitter called serotonin is synthesized into melatonin as night falls. Melatonin modulates wake/sleep patterns. The duration of melatonin secretion each day is directly proportional to the length of the night. These two neurotransmitters affect us not only physiologically but psychologically. Sleep is recuperative. When we do not get enough sleep, our reasoning power is affected.
An angel came and touched Elijah. Touch is essential to emotional support. There are children who have never experienced the security, the emotional support of a loving touch from father or mother. They have not had emotional security in their homes, and without emotional stability, they have been set up for depression.
Touch is important to healing. Of Jesus we are told: “Jesus kindly received the sick, and disease and approaching death fled at a touch of his hand.” The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 3, 25. [Emphasis added.]
The worst thing to do when a person is depressed is to cast them off as a friend. We need to have an understanding and try to give our depressed friend as much emotional support, based on the Word of God, as we can give. Realize that Job’s friends, as long as they did not open their mouths, gave him support.
Elijah needed food. This is not referring to “comfort food” or eating because of depression. This is referring to the fact that we need nutrients. If an individual does not eat breakfast and does not eat a balanced diet of proper foods, he or she cannot adequately strengthen the brain function to fight depression.
When Elijah was instructed to “Arise,” to get up he had to move. Exercise produces a hormone that food does not produce—endorphins, sometimes called “happy hormones.” Exercise also helps the neurotransmitters mentioned previously, and exercise has the capacity to help decrease stress level.
The angel once again ministered to Elijah. We are social creatures. We need moral support, emotional, and social support. This is why the Bible tells us we should not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. (Hebrews 10:25.)
That “pleasant voice” spoke to Elijah. Elijah needed to hear the Word of God.
These seven aspects—sleep, touch, friendship, nutrition, exercise, social interaction, and spiritual—are all key factors in recovery from depression. When Elijah put them together, he realized that he had a work to do.
It was mentioned previously that Elijah had high expectation. What was Elijah’s expectation when God told him to go and challenge the prophets of Baal? It was reformation. God was on his side, but he expected there would be a revival, a reformation, especially with Ahab and all Israel. That was and is what God wants. However, Elijah did not see the bigger picture. There was other work God had for Elijah to do, so when that reformation did not take place, as Elijah perceived it, he became depressed.
Have you ever been in a situation such as this? You have had an expectation, but it was not met the way you thought it would be, and you were let down? You might not go into depression, but you may become discouraged.
Our expectation must be of the Lord. What we expect of people must be through the eyes of God. If we see that, then we are not going to be let down. People should be trustworthy and honest, based on Christian principles, but in this world, to keep from having blood pressure problems and depression, we should put our expectation in God.
There is a therapy. We know the Elijah therapy as the third angel’s message. Elijah represents the people of God in the last days.
We have a work to do. As we prepare to reach out to the community, God wants His people to be ready to reach out to the community with power, not being controlled by circumstances. We need to shift our focus from ourselves onto the great work that is before us.
The best way to beat depression or discouragement is to go to work for the Lord.
Thomas Jackson is a Health Evangelist and Director of Missionary Education and Evangelistic Training (M.E.E.T.) Ministry in Huntingdon, Tennessee. He may be contacted by e-mail at: godsplan@meetministry.org or by telephone at: 731-986-3518.
Have you ever wondered why there are so many different religions and so many different denominations? In large cities as well as small villages, it seems there is a church on practically every corner. Apparently everyone is trying to get to the same place—heaven. You have perhaps heard comments such as, “It doesn’t make any difference what church you attend. You just need to love Jesus. We are all going to the same place.”
If that is true, then it must not matter in what direction you go when you are traveling to a specific destination! But it does make a difference if someone gives you directions to a destination. If you follow his or her instructions, you will reach the desired site.
When I was traveling one time, I knew that I needed to exit the freeway at Exit 57 and make several left turns to reach my desired destination. I did not count on road construction, however, and a change in signage. I thought I had it made, but two hours later I was still making left turns—and had no idea where I was. Generally, men do not like to stop and ask for directions, and it usually takes me awhile, because I have never considered myself ever to be lost. I have been confused and not known where I was sometimes, but if you had asked me, “Are you lost?” I would have said, “No”! You are lost when you give up. When you turn off the engine of your vehicle or stop whatever it is in your life and say, “I am done,” then it might be said that you are in a lost condition. But finally I telephoned and said, “Brother, I cannot find this place!” Well, I did not call just once; I called twice! I was almost 20 miles short of Exit 57, so it did not matter how many left turns I made, I still was not going to find the place.
You and I need specific directions in order to make heaven our home. It makes a difference how we read the road map, the Bible. Not everyone who reads it is going to reach the same conclusion. You may read a verse and your neighbor may read the same verse, and the two of you can arrive at totally different conclusions of what the text says or means.
This will happen, unless you follow what God says in His Word. Do you remember how He said to find truth? “For precept [must be] upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, [and] there a little.” Isaiah 28:10. If the Bible writers agree on the same subject, and they will if God says it is important, then you and I, by faith, must accept what God’s Word says on that subject.
It is said there are at least 10,000 different religions in the world! Why are there so many different denominations and religions? It needs to be made very clear that no one will be saved because of the denomination to which he or she belongs. The members of every denomination declare that they are right and that their church’s way is the only way. If we feel that way here on earth—and we are not going to change our opinions—what would it be like in heaven? There would be many different groups, and each group would want everyone to join it. It would be chaos! So there must be some things in God’s Word that will help us to understand what God wants us to know is truth.
How would you define a heathen? Many Christians define a heathen as anyone who does not theologically agree with them.
Anyone who gives a different message than what the Bible says can be put in the class of a heathen. It does not mean he or she is a bad person. God looks upon the heart, and He only expects and accepts from an individual what that person understands and knows is truth. How nice it would be for us to understand and accept that God has good people in every church! They love Him with all their heart, and they want heaven to be their eternal home. As they study His Word, God will reveal to them, as He will to us, more of His truths to prepare them—and us—to live with Him. We must never “write off” someone because he or she attends another church and believes differently than someone else.
In Jeremiah 29, we read that God’s people had been taken captive. They were in Babylon, which was under the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar. Basically, they were slaves. Have you ever wondered why God would allow His people, a small group during that time, to go into captivity? Should they not have been allowed to be free so they could tell others about God?
God took responsibility for these people being in captivity. (Verse 4.) It was not His fault; it was the fault of the people. God allowed them to go into captivity to teach them a lesson.
There are a number of lessons to be learned in this life, and sometimes we have to be led in this direction and in that direction in order to learn the lesson that God has for us. The lesson can be as easy or as difficult to learn as we make it. If we are stubborn and rebellious, the Lord will direct us over and over the same ground until the lesson is learned—as long as we are still saying with an honest heart, “Lord, I want to do what is right. I want to be what You want me to be.”
Those who were considered to be the religious leaders of those in captivity were giving a different message to the people than God had given. They were saying, “Do not cooperate with these Babylonians. Let us not do anything they say to do. We are going to be here for only a little while, and then we are going home.” But God said, through His prophet Jeremiah, “Build ye houses, and dwell [in them]; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished.” Verses 5, 6.
It takes more than a day or two to build a house; it cannot be completed and moved into in one day. A garden cannot be tilled, planted, and harvested in a few days’ time either. God was not just talking to those who were of marrying age at the time the message was given, but to those who would come of age to marry, because they were going to be in Babylon for a while. God’s plan for His people is never to diminish, never to regress, never to go backwards, never to just maintain, but to always move forward by His power and by His grace.
God placed His people in Babylon, a city occupied by heathens. The occupants did not know the God of heaven. God allowed His people, because of their rebellion, to go into captivity. But, also, the Babylonians needed to know about the God of heaven, and the captives were going to be witnesses for Him.
In Jeremiah 29:7, God instructed the captives to “seek the peace”: “Seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.” God was telling these slaves to pray for the city and its leadership, because in so doing they would be able to have peace with Him. If they caused turmoil, the captivity would be harder for them, and He did not want the lesson He had for them to be harder, just as He does not want our lessons to be difficult for us.
God warned His people against the false prophets and religious leaders in their midst in verses 8 and 9: “Let not your prophets and your diviners, that [be] in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the Lord.”
God warns His people about two classes of deceivers. The elders had already told the captives that they would not be in Babylon for very long—a totally opposite message than God gave in verses 5 and 6. The false-speaking leaders enticed the dreams of things that they wanted to come to pass, things that they wanted to hear.
Today there are many self-proclaimed preachers, pastors, and evangelists. Just saying, “I am a pastor” or “I am a priest” or “I am a preacher” does not make it so! Too many have called themselves into the office; they have not been called of God. The experience given in Jeremiah 29 is an example of self-proclamation. The so-called religious leaders in the midst of God’s people taught directly against Him.
Many men and women warn of the doom that is coming to this earth. We must be able to discern who is a true prophet of God. Remember, when a person says, “I am a prophet of God,” then he or she must speak as God speaks. If the person does not speak as God speaks, he or she is not His prophet. It matters not what their title may be. It does not matter how much education they have. They may have the learning of the world, but they have not the heart experience that Jesus desires for each of us. They have not true understanding without the Spirit, because spiritual things are spiritually discerned.
Those who studied astrology, who were palm readers, who practiced sorcery, magic, and witchcraft daily surrounded God’s people in captivity. God warned His people repeatedly about the contact they would have with these people. Evidently interest in the tricks of the devil was a weakness with God’s children at that time.
God counseled, “Do not worship the sun; do not worship the moon and the stars. Worship the One who created those things.” (Deuteronomy 4:19.) Jeremiah 10:2 tells us, “Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.” The heathen did not and do not understand that God is behind all these things. God warned His people that they were not to get too carried away with the practices of the heathen. These individuals in Babylon had studied the celestial phenomena in the heavens. They understood eclipses; they understood comets. They understood the orderly conjunction of the stars, the sun and the moon, and the different heavenly bodies. They understood them very well, and they used them to their advantage. God said, “Do not be dismayed at this.”
The devil will use the same wonders again. The Bible tells us that he will work signs and miracles and wonders, but no matter what the devil does, he will always fall short of the power of God. He can never gain the victory if we do not let him have it. Through Christ, we are more than conquerors. (Matthew 24:24; II Thessalonians 2:9, 10; Romans 8:37.)
I Kings 16:30–34 tells of Ahab and how, through raising altars to Baal, he “did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.” He participated in providing altars for human sacrifices. How frightening that must have been! Is it possible that the Babylonians had so mixed with God’s people that they were participating in these rites of sacrificing their children? Sadly, that was the situation.
How could God’s last-day people, as it were, who were supposed to know Him, get so deeply involved in these kinds of rites and ceremonies? If the people who were supposed to know God and keep His statutes and commandments could go so far as to participate in these rites and ceremonies of killing and shedding blood, is it possible that you and I may get off the path if we do not keep our eyes on Jesus? You had better believe it! Take the time to read I Kings 16, 17, 18, and 19. There is told of this great deception that was among the Israelites. It will challenge your thinking how this counterfeit religion took over what was supposed to be good.
Ellen White brings out the very interesting point that God’s so-called people at that time did not really know the difference between Baal, the devil, and the true God of heaven. (See Prophets and Kings, 153.) Do you see why they had to stay in captivity for 70 years? They had to reach the point in their lives where they finally cried out, “Lord, we need You. We need a Saviour.” Do not let your life come to the point where there is nothing left before you finally cry out, “I need a Saviour.”
If you are looking today for a Saviour, He is there. If your heart aches that your life should be changed and you want to be something different, God is there for you. If you are saying, “I want Jesus in my life,” and yet you are afraid to make a move, please do not be afraid. There is no one that could love you more, care for you more, or meet your every need more than Jesus. You can trust your life with Jesus, because He gave His life for you.
Several things help to quickly identify the differences between Baal worshippers and followers of the true God. Baal worshippers always satisfy the flesh. The Lord always satisfies the desires of the soul. There is such a difference! One takes lives; the other gives life.
Israel was committing the same atrocities as the Babylonians were, which was just inhumane. The majority of them were participating in the same kind of worship; they had evidently sunk far into paganism. Interestingly, some began to see that this was not right. They wanted to stop and to come out of it, but they were afraid to expose the error for what might happen to them.
Can this be related to Adventism today? Perhaps in your church teaching is being presented that is not truth. Sometimes we are afraid to expose error or a false teaching for fear that it might cause problems or that we may be disfellowshipped. But we must expose what the Bible exposes.
Now, we have been addressing heathenism in the world and the devil; we have looked at Baal worshippers. Romans 1:25 says, “Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever.” Even today the heathen are giving praise to gods of gold and silver and of wood.
There are many things being promoted in religious organizations today to try to persuade people that that particular denomination is right and that they should attend that church—many things except a plain “thus saith the Lord.”
“God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth.” John 4:24. Does this mean that we need the Holy Spirit to understand truth? Absolutely! One of the functions of the Holy Spirit is to lead us into all truth.
“Those only who read the Scriptures as the voice of God speaking to them, are true learners. They tremble at the voice of God, for to them it is a living reality. They open their understanding to divine instruction and pray for grace. … He prays for the Holy Spirit, the representative of Christ, to be his constant guide, to lead him into all truth.” Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 450.
So there must be truth to answer questions such as, What happens when a person dies? What about heaven and hell? Will there be a rapture? Will it be a Second Coming? Upon what day does God want us to worship? Is it Friday, Saturday, Sunday? There cannot be 10,000 different answers to such questions, because the Bible does not give 10,000 different answers.
Oh, friend, do you want heaven to be your home? The choice is yours. Unlike some heathen religions, you do not have to cut yourself. You do not have to do a lot of penance, beat your head on the wall, crawl so many miles, or say so many prayers. All you have to do is pray, “Lord, I want you to come into my life. Forgive me of my sins; come in and be Lord of my life and help me day by day to be like You.”
Pastor Kenny Shelton is speaker for the television ministry of Behold the Lamb in Herrin, Illinois. He may be contacted by e-mail at: BTLM@GTE.net, or by telephone at: 1-800-238-2856.
There are wonderful truths we as a people have that many of God’s people are rejecting. They do not want to hear about dress reform or the health message. They are not prepared to make lifestyle changes. Becoming disgruntled, many move from church to church, not willing to apply themselves to the truth.
Alas, the people coming at the eleventh hour will appreciate the truths, will love them, will embrace them, and will share them. God has His people. He will not be left without a witness. The task of the eleventh hour workers will be similar to that of those at the day of Pentecost. As the former rain was given in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the opening of the Gospel to cause the spring of the precious seed, so the latter rain will be given at its close for the ripening of the harvest.
Notwithstanding the widespread declension of faith and piety, there are true followers of Christ in the fallen churches. God has His people everywhere, because He does not look as man looks. Man looks at the outward, but God looks at the heart. (I Samuel 16:7.) God deals with people based on their sincerity, on how they deal with Him. Ellen White states:
“Before the final visitation of God’s judgments upon the earth there will be among the people of the Lord such a revival of primitive godliness as has not been witnessed since apostolic times. The Spirit and power of God will be poured out upon His children. At that time many will separate themselves from those churches in which the love of this world has supplanted love for God and His word.” The Great Controversy, 464.
Do you believe that the “many” includes Seventh-day Adventists? Just think about it. “At that time many will separate themselves from those churches in which the love of this world has supplanted love for God and His word.” Has the love of this world taken over the love for God in the Seventh-day Adventist churches? She continues, “Many, both of ministers and people, will gladly accept those great truths which God has caused to be proclaimed at this time to prepare a people for the Lord’s second coming.” Ibid.
The latter rain power will bring forth the eleventh hour people who comprise the procession in the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25. But the procession will also include other people. The other people will be those Seventh-day Adventists who are bold enough to take a stand on truth. And as a result of taking a stand on truth, they have separated themselves from falsehood and are proclaiming the Three Angels’ Messages in their purity. These are the ones upon whom the Holy Spirit will be poured, and though few in number, they will be the ones to proclaim with power the Gospel that will bring the eleventh hour people into the procession.
There are some people who say, “Well, if the ship is sinking, I am sinking with it.” Think about that statement, for Mrs. White says, “I speak not my own words when I say that God’s Spirit will pass by those who have had their day of test and opportunity, but who have not distinguished the voice of God or appreciated the movings of His Spirit. Then thousands in the eleventh hour will see and acknowledge the truth.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 16. In The Great Controversy, 393, she wrote, “The parable of the ten virgins of Matthew 25 also illustrates the experience of the Adventist people.” So, in the passage from Selected Messages, the servant of God is speaking of a movement of thousands at the eleventh hour. It is the procession!
The five wise virgins joined the cry of that swelled procession. While the foolish virgins went to buy oil for their lamps, the procession moved on and left them behind. The five wise virgins with lighted lamps joined the throng and entered the house with the bridal train. Then the door was shut. Who comes through the door last? Seventh-day Adventists.
The question that arises now is, Where is the bride? The answer is given in Christ’s Object Lessons, 406: “They [the ten virgins] see the procession moving on, bright with torches and glad with music. They hear the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.” The ten virgins, when awakened by the cry, heard the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. That is very, very significant.
Who is the bride of Jesus? From II Corinthians 11:2, we read: “I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present [you as] a chaste virgin to Christ.” The bride of Christ is His church.
“But,” some say, “the Seventh-day Adventist Church is God’s church.” Let us read what the servant of God wrote regarding this in The Ministry of Healing, 356: “Christ honored the marriage relation by making it also a symbol of the union between Him and His redeemed ones. He Himself is the Bridegroom; the bride is the church, of which, as His chosen one, He says, ‘Thou art all fair, My love; there is no spot in thee.’ Canticles 4:7.” “There is no spot in thee”? There is no spot in Christ’s church?
“The same power that raised Christ from the dead will raise His church, and glorify it with Christ, as His bride.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 305. So, Christ’s church is His bride.
“Very close and sacred is the relation between Christ and His church—He the bridegroom, and the church the bride; He the head, and the church the body. Connection with Christ, then, involves connection with His church.” Education, 268.
Those people who love God and fear Him, based upon the knowledge that they have, and who serve Him with sincerity of heart, based upon whatever truth has been revealed to them, are His children.
“God is the husband of His church. The church is the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 985. This quotation continues: “Every true believer [she does not say from where they come] is a part of the body of Christ.” Ibid., 986. This is why we are told by the pen of inspiration that even heathen will be saved, because they serve the Lord based upon the knowledge that they have.
“Even among the heathen there are those who cherish the spirit of kindness, who have given all the help within their power to the missionaries that have been sent them. They worship God ignorantly, and to many of them the message of light is never brought; yet they will not perish, for they will receive the blessing, because they have wrought the works of God.” The Signs of the Times, August 7, 1893.
We who have knowledge and are exposed to truth but reject it are in serious trouble. We pride ourselves that we are Abraham’s seed, but a name will never take us to the kingdom; it never will.
Who then are the ten virgins? Ellen White answers this question: “The two classes of watchers [the virgins] represent the two classes who profess to be waiting for their Lord. They are called virgins because they profess a pure faith.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 406. They are professors—the professed people of God. But professing is not enough. The thing that gives them advantage is that they are professing “a pure faith.” So, we may have the truth, but having the truth is not enough, because there is no virtue in having the truth and not living it. That is the problem with the ten virgins.
Notice that the five wise virgins, who represent the faithful members of God’s church, left where they were and joined the procession with the bridegroom and followed on to the matrimonial home. Mrs. White tells us that, “All who wait for the heavenly Bridegroom are represented in the parable as slumbering because their Lord delayed His coming; but the wise roused themselves at the message of His approach, and responded to the message, and their spiritual discernment was not all gone, and they sprang into line. As they took hold of the grace of Christ, their religious experience became vigorous and abundant, and their affections were set upon things above. They discerned where was the source of their supply, and appreciated the love that God had for them. They opened their hearts to receive the Holy Spirit, by which the love of God was shed abroad in their hearts. Their lights were trimmed and burning, and sent forth steady rays into the moral darkness of the world. They glorified God, because they had the oil of grace in their hearts, and did the very work that their Master did before them—went forth to seek and to save those who were lost.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 1099. They joined with the procession. They joined, and they worked vigorously.
In the parable, the wise virgins had oil in their vessels with their lamps. Their lights burned with undimmed flame throughout the night of watching. It was a help to swell the illumination of the bridegroom’s honor. Shining out in the darkness, their lights helped to illuminate the way to the home of the bridegroom and to the marriage feast. The five wise, as they joined the procession, helped to swell the message of salvation. They helped to bring in people from all over, and they all went to heaven.
In the parable, all ten virgins went out to meet the bridegroom. All had lamps and vessels of oil. For a time there was seen no difference between them. So with the church that lives just before Christ’s Second Coming. All have knowledge of the Scriptures; all have heard the message of Christ’s near approach and confidently expect His appearing. But as in the parable, so is it now that a time of waiting intervenes. Faith is being tried. When the cry is made, “Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him,” many are not ready.
This is a tragedy with God’s people living today. There is a delay. It appears that Christ is not coming soon, so everyone is back to business as usual. They are fast asleep. They have no oil in their vessels; their lamps are destitute of the Holy Sprit. Without the Spirit of God, a knowledge of His Word is of no avail. The theory of truth unaccompanied by the Holy Spirit cannot quicken the soul or sanctify the heart. It is good to know the doctrine, but it is more important that the doctrine be inside of you, bringing fruits unto repentance.
One may be familiar with the commands and promises of the Bible, but unless the Spirit of God sends the truth home, the character will not be transformed. Without the enlightenment of the Spirit, men will not be able to distinguish truth from error, and they will fall under the masterful temptation of Satan. The class represented by the foolish virgins are not hypocrites. They have a regard for truth. They maybe at prayer meeting every Wednesday night, at church every Sabbath, and return a faithful tithe, even vegetarians. They are not hypocrites. They have a regard for the truth; they advocate the truth; they are attracted to those who believe the truth, but they have not yielded themselves to the Holy Spirit’s workings. They have not fallen upon the Rock, Christ Jesus, and permitted their old nature to be broken up.
Some people have been in the church for 40 years, and they are still as miserable as the first day they accepted the truth. Their mouths are still foul; they are still short-tempered; they still carry a malicious spirit, hatred, and anger in their hearts. Why? Because they have not fallen upon the Rock and been broken. This class are represented also by the stony ground hearers. They receive the Word with readiness, but they fail of assimilating its principles. Its influences are not abiding. The Spirit works upon men’s hearts according to their desire and consent, and plants in them a new nature. But the class represented by the foolish virgins have been content with a superficial work. It is just enough for them to be called Adventists; it is enough to go to church; it is enough to have a church office … and to fight for it.
The foolish virgins do not know God. They have not studied His character; they have not held communion with Him. Therefore, they do not know Him; they have not learned to trust Him. They do not know how to look and live. Their service to God has degenerated into a form.
A state of slumber is the reason for the lack of preparedness. The lay members are asleep; the ministers are asleep, and the world is perishing in sin. Of this sad state, Ellen White wrote:
“Men and women are in the last hours of probation, and yet are careless and stupid, and ministers have no power to arouse them; they are asleep themselves. Sleeping preachers preaching to a sleeping people!” Testimonies, vol. 2, 337.
At another time she wrote: “We are stewards, entrusted by our absent Lord with the care of His household and His interests, which He came to this world to serve. He has returned to heaven, leaving us in charge, and He expects us to watch and wait for His appearing. Let us be faithful to our trust, lest coming suddenly He find us sleeping.” Ibid., vol. 8, 37.
On this basis, the following counsel was given: “God has honest children among the nominal Adventists and the fallen churches, and before the plagues shall be poured out, ministers and people will be called out from these churches and will gladly receive the truth. Satan knows this; and before the loud cry of the third angel is given, he raises an excitement in these religious bodies, that those who have rejected the truth may think that God is with them. He hopes to deceive the honest and lead them to think that God is still working for the churches.” Early Writings, 261.
About what churches is Mrs. White speaking? The nominal Adventist churches and the fallen churches. In many Adventist churches today, there is a charismatic type of service—praise and worship, drums, a good time celebration—because the devil has brought this deception into the church and given people a false concept of the Holy Spirit when they are on their way to hell.
“But the light will shine, and all who are honest will leave the fallen churches, and take their stand with the remnant.” Ibid. Did you notice that? Mrs. White said, “all who are honest”! She did not say, “all who are Seventh-day Adventists,” but “all who are honest.”
There is one message, not two. All who are honest will take their stand. I appeal to you, to every Seventh-day Adventist as well as other Christians, to take a firm stand on the platform of Scripture to make sure that it is well with your soul. Daily allow the Holy Spirit to prepare you. Give up every hereditary and cultivated tendency to sin, so when Jesus returns, you will not be told, “I know you not.”
My prayer is that you will not necessarily be a wise virgin, but that you will be part of the procession.
Pastor Ivan Plummer ministers through the Emmanuel Seventh Day Church Ministries in Bronx, New York. He may be contacted by telephone at: 718-882-3900.